Printing and the Spread of Music

Printing turned scores into goods and let musical styles cross borders.

Related

RenaissanceBaroqueChansonLute

The question

In the manuscript age, a polyphonic work had to be copied by hand, one copy at a time. Prices were high, errors multiplied, and circulation stayed close to churches and courts. Printing had to solve speed and consistency, and once pages could be produced in quantity music entered a market.

Historical arc

Movable type matured in Europe around 1450. In 1501 Petrucci published the Harmonice musices odhecaton in Venice, printing staff lines, notes and text in three passes. In the 1520s Attaingnant moved to single-impression printing in Paris, cut costs and released chansons and dances in quantity. Susato printed dance collections in Antwerp, Praetorius compiled large sacred collections in Germany, and Playford turned country dances into household reading in seventeenth-century London.

The turning point

The first turn was single-impression printing. Staff, notes and text were pressed at once, runs grew, prices fell, and amateur players became a market. The second turn was copyright. Printing privileges and publishing contracts appeared, and composers gained clearer rights to their work. The third turn was education. Cheap scores gave conservatories, homes and amateur ensembles a common repertory.

What to listen for

Begin with a chanson from Petrucci's circle, its four voices set on one page and ready to sing at home. Then hear an Attaingnant dance, with clear rhythm and repeated chords plainly written for amateurs. Finally hear a Susato dance collection, where one tune can change instruments and occasions. The library versions are synthesised, so notice how print simplified or fixed the texture.

Related

This line belongs to Renaissance and leads into Baroque, with the genre in Chanson and the instrument in Lute.

Sources

• The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd ed., entry "Printing and publishing of music" — dates checked, not quoted
• Tim Carter, Music in Late Renaissance and Early Baroque Italy (Amadeus Press) — context checked, not quoted

Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.