Through the ages, the Kingdom of Sicily was a divided one ( Naples and Sicily) plagued with takeovers by Spain, tussles between kings, and a little-known document called the Treaty of Utrecht. This was a region waiting to exhale. Remarkably, the music produced in Sicily during this period was at its most colorful and innovative. Almost every composer in the region wrote operas, and the high drama of that compositional style overflowed and informed their instrumental works.