The brief concluding epilogue provides a summary finding of evidence presented in prior chapters. Specific attention is placed on the concept of the Austro-German “review collective” and how it formed the basis for aesthetic criticism of Italian genres (vocal and instrumental) at this time. The lack of a contemporary critical framework for Italian instrumental music, comparable to Austro-German instrumental music, is also considered. Instead, the aesthetic outcomes stressed in the pedagogical methods of solfeggio and partimento are posited as valuable tools for creating a critical vocabulary for discussion of Italian instrumental genres.The Neapolitan social, political, and artistic contexts are likewise summarized to posit crucial relevant frameworks for the instrumental genres examined in the course of this study.

The last twenty-five years of the eighteenth century in Naples witnessed a profound transformation. At the center of this process of innovation, change, and upheaval was Queen Maria Carolina, the consort to King Ferdinand IV. Thanks to the influence of her mother, Empress Maria Theresa, Maria Carolina was not to be a mere spouse or observer; rather, she was destined to be the driving force for sweeping change within the Kingdom of Naples. Despite her well-documented limitations and even ineptitude, Maria Carolina established a formidable presence within contemporary artistic life. Unlike her husband, she possessed cultural sensibilities that were astute, and she was an engaged patron of art, music, and dance. This chapter focuses on Maria Carolina within the artistic sphere of her reign, namely as a cultural icon, with a specific emphasis on her role as a musical patron. Working from diverse sources – including historical research, surviving diaries, and personal correspondence, as well as related documents – this chapter establishes a portrait of Maria Carolina’s musical interests, with a specific focus on the cultivation of instrumental music at court, thereby shedding light on a largely unknown, yet important, sector of Neapolitan artistic life at the end of the eighteenth century.