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Manuscript Inscriptions in Early English Printed Music (Paperback)
Loot Price: R1,300
Discovery Miles 13 000
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Manuscript Inscriptions in Early English Printed Music (Paperback)
Series: Music and Material Culture
Expected to ship within 12 - 17 working days
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Who were the first owners of the music published in England in the
sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries? Who went to 'the
dwelling house of ... T. East, by Paules wharfe' and bought a copy
of Byrd's Psalmes, sonets, & songs when it appeared in 1588?
Who purchased a copy of Dowland's First booke of songes in 1597?
What other books formed part of their music library? In this survey
of surviving books of music published before 1640, David Greer has
gleaned information about the books' early and subsequent owners by
studying the traces they left in the books themselves: handwritten
inscriptions, including names and other marks of ownership - even
the scribbles and drawings a child of the family might put into a
book left lying about. The result is a treasure trove of
information about musical culture in early modern England. From
inscriptions and marks of ownership Greer has been able to
re-assemble early sets of partbooks, as well as collections of
books once bound together. The search has also turned up new music.
At a time when paper was expensive, new pieces were copied into
blank spaces in printed books. In these jottings we find a 'hidden
repertory' of music, some of it otherwise undiscovered music by
known composers. In other cases, we see owners altering the words
of songs, to suit new and personal purposes: a love-song in praise
of Daphne becomes a heartfelt song to 'my Jesus'; and 'Faire
Leonilla' becomes Ophelia (perhaps the first mention of this
character in Hamlet outside the play itself). On a more practical
level, the users of the music sometimes made corrections to
printing errors, and there are indications that some of these were
last-minute corrections made in the printing-house (a useful guide
for the modern editor). The temptation to 'scribble in books' was
as irresistible to some Elizabethans as it is to some of us today.
In doing so they left us clues to their identity, how they kept
their music, how they used it, and the multifarious ways in which
it played a part in their lives.
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