Scholars have debated for years about the role instrumentalists had vis-à-vis choirs and the liturgy in the the 16th and early 17th centuries. We know in Spain, for instance, that groups of instrumentalists began being brought into the churches as formally constituted ensembles in cathedrals - but what did they do? 

Scholars have debated for years about the role instrumentalists had vis-à-vis choirs and the liturgy in the the 16th and early 17th centuries. We know in Spain, for instance, that groups of instrumentalists began being brought into the churches as formally constituted ensembles in cathedrals - but what did they do?