Printing Music in Renaissance Rome
Published on 20. September 2023
Book
Hardback
296 pages
978-0-19-766961-7 (ISBN)
Description
In sixteenth-century Italy, Rome ranked second only to Venice as an important center for music book production. Throughout the century, printers in the Eternal City experimented more readily and more consistently with the materiality of the book than their Venetian counterparts, who, by standardizing their printing methods, came to dominate the international marketplace. The Romans' ingenuity and willingness to meet individual clients' needs resulted in music editions in a broader array of shapes and sizes, employing a wider range of printing techniques. They became "boutique" printers, eschewing the run-of-the-mill in favor of tailoring production to varied market demands. Accommodating the diverse requirements of their clientele, they supplied customized volumes, which Venetian presses either could not--or would not--produce.
In Printing Music in Renaissance Rome, author Jane A. Bernstein offers a panoramic view of the cultures of music and the book in Rome from the beginning of printing in 1476 through the early seventeenth century. Emphasizing the exceptionalism of Roman music publishing, she highlights the innovative printing technologies and book forms devised by Roman bookmen. She also analyzes the Church's predominant influence on the book industry and, in turn, the Roman press's impact on such important composers as Palestrina, Marenzio, Victoria, and Cavalieri. Drawing on innovative publications, Bernstein reveals a synergistic relationship between music repertories and the materiality of the book. In particular, she focuses on the post-Tridentine period, when musical idioms, both new and old, challenged printers to employ alternative printing methods and modes of book presentation in the creation of their music editions. Of interest to musicologists, art historians, and book historians alike, this book builds on Bernstein's previous work as she continues to chart the course of music and the book in Renaissance Italy.
In Printing Music in Renaissance Rome, author Jane A. Bernstein offers a panoramic view of the cultures of music and the book in Rome from the beginning of printing in 1476 through the early seventeenth century. Emphasizing the exceptionalism of Roman music publishing, she highlights the innovative printing technologies and book forms devised by Roman bookmen. She also analyzes the Church's predominant influence on the book industry and, in turn, the Roman press's impact on such important composers as Palestrina, Marenzio, Victoria, and Cavalieri. Drawing on innovative publications, Bernstein reveals a synergistic relationship between music repertories and the materiality of the book. In particular, she focuses on the post-Tridentine period, when musical idioms, both new and old, challenged printers to employ alternative printing methods and modes of book presentation in the creation of their music editions. Of interest to musicologists, art historians, and book historians alike, this book builds on Bernstein's previous work as she continues to chart the course of music and the book in Renaissance Italy.
Reviews / Votes
In her landmark book on Print Culture and Music in Sixteenth-Century Venice (Oxford, 2001), Bernstein tackled the large-scale commercial production of Venetian music printers. Here, she explores the irregular and niche output of Roman presses, which ranged from super-sized choirbooks printed on 'carta papale' to charming canzonette engraved with visual flair. Printing Music in Renaissance Rome is a must-have: richly documented, lavishly illustrated, and written with Bernstein's inimitable style and authority. * Kate van Orden, author of Materialities: Books, Readers, and the Chanson in Sixteenth-Century Europe * Printers and publishers provided the interface between composers, performers, and their publics in the complex musical marketplaces of sixteenth-century Italy. While Venice is well known in this regard, Rome is not, yet the Eternal City served not just its own communities but the broader Catholic world. Bernstein's remarkable study takes us deep into its printing houses to reveal how they came to influence musical production and consumption far and wide. * Tim Carter, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Music, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill * Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. * Choice * In Printing Music in Renaissance Rome, Bernstein offers her readers a panoramic view of the musicians, businessmen, and craftsmen who joined together to create a unique market for printed music. She tells new stories of the technical wizardry of those who crafted lasting works of art. She also retells familiar stories from a new perspective: the literal pages on which they are written. These make for heady reading. * Samuel J. Brannon, Notes: the Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association 81:2 * Most importantly, in bringing together so many fields - music history, bibliography, and cultural history, to name only the most obvious - Bernstein offers a model for making more welcoming space for music within the history of the book. * Samuel J. Brannon, Notes * Bernstein tells a vivid story of the rich and varied array of books published in the Eternal City that not only placed Rome at the technological forefront of the printing world, but in fact reflected a greater diversity of musical expression than the volumes printed contemporaneously in Venice. * Mark Kroll, Early Music America * The author's deep knowledge of Renaissance printing, honed over a long and productive career, makes this a captivating and valuable read. Printing Music in Renaissance Rome will inspire scholars for generations to come. * Benjamin Ory, JAMS *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
57 b/ w halftones
Dimensions
Height: 237 mm
Width: 159 mm
Thickness: 22 mm
Weight
736 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-766961-7 (9780197669617)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Jane A. Bernstein
Printing Music in Renaissance Rome
E-Book
02/2024
OUP eBook
€53.99
Available for download
Jane A. Bernstein
Printing Music in Renaissance Rome
E-Book
02/2024
OUP eBook
€59.49
Available for download
Person
Jane A. Bernstein is Austin Fletcher Professor of Music Emerita at Tufts University. Her books include Print Culture and Music in Sixteenth-Century Venice, Women's Voices across Musical Worlds, the 30-volume series The Sixteenth-Century Chanson, and Music Printing in Renaissance Venice: The Scotto Press (1539-1572), which won the 1999 Otto Kinkeldey Award from the American Musicological Society. Elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2005, Bernstein also served as President of the American Musicological Society from 2008 to 2010 and was elected an Honorary Member in 2014.
Content
List of Illustrations
List of Tables
Preface
Abbreviations
Introduction
1. The World of Roman Music Printers and Publishers
2. Methods and Materials
3. Sixtus IV and the Beginning of Music Printing in Fifteenth-Century Rome
4. Printing Palestrina's Music in Sixteenth-Century Italy
5. Marenzio and his Printers in Rome and Venice
6. Spanish Choirbooks, Tridentine Reforms, and the Roman Press
7. "Delight for the Ears, Spiritual Fruit for Souls": Printing the Lauda spirituale
8. Engraving the New Music Repertories
9. Printing Musical Spectacle: Cavalieri's Rappresentatione di anima, et di corpo
Afterword
Appendix 1: Short-Title Catalogue of Roman Music Editions (1476-1608)
Appendix 2: Short-Title Catalogue of Roman Music Editions (1476-1607) by Printers and Publishers
Appendix 3: Table of Dedicatees in Roman Music Editions (1476-1608)
Bibliography
Index
List of Tables
Preface
Abbreviations
Introduction
1. The World of Roman Music Printers and Publishers
2. Methods and Materials
3. Sixtus IV and the Beginning of Music Printing in Fifteenth-Century Rome
4. Printing Palestrina's Music in Sixteenth-Century Italy
5. Marenzio and his Printers in Rome and Venice
6. Spanish Choirbooks, Tridentine Reforms, and the Roman Press
7. "Delight for the Ears, Spiritual Fruit for Souls": Printing the Lauda spirituale
8. Engraving the New Music Repertories
9. Printing Musical Spectacle: Cavalieri's Rappresentatione di anima, et di corpo
Afterword
Appendix 1: Short-Title Catalogue of Roman Music Editions (1476-1608)
Appendix 2: Short-Title Catalogue of Roman Music Editions (1476-1607) by Printers and Publishers
Appendix 3: Table of Dedicatees in Roman Music Editions (1476-1608)
Bibliography
Index