The Dissemination of Music: Studies in the History of Music Publishing by Hans LennebergReview by: John WagstaffNotes, Second Series, Vol. 53, No. 2 (Dec., 1996), pp. 444-446Published by: Music Library AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/900118 .

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NOTES, December 1996 NOTES, December 1996

know. The Twenty-Four Violins did not play in the Chapel Royal; there seems to have been room for only a handful of string players in the gallery allocated to them in the chapel. There was not a single "orchestra" in John Crowne's Calisto of 1675: the instrumentalists were divided into two groups, one in front of the stage and one behind the scenes. It is unlikely that Henry Purcell wrote his Chaconne (ac- tually "Chacony") in G minor for viols; it has all the characteristics of music written for the Twenty-Four Violins.

The later historical chapters cover more familiar material but are not much better. The section on eighteenth-century music, for instance, is largely taken up with un- focused social history occasionally inter- rupted by nuggets of information more or less relevant to the violin. This technique is no substitute for a properly structured ac- count of the development of the repertory and technique of the violin in eighteenth- century England, a subject handled much better by Boyden. I certainly missed a dis- cussion of such topics as the influence of Arcangelo Corelli in England, the dissem- ination of the concerto grosso among pro- vincial orchestral societies, the develop- ment of a solo violin concerto repertory in London, the use of stringed instruments in parish church music, and, most important perhaps, the cultivation of the violin among the leisured classes-a topic for which Ri- chard Leppert's Music and Image: Domes- ticity, Ideology and Socio-Cultural Formation in Eighteenth-Century England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988) would have been useful reading.

I do not feel qualified to comment on Harvey's treatment of English violin mak- ers and their output, except to remark that research into their biography-a necessary accompaniment, one would have thought, to the serious study of their instruments- has lagged far behind the study of the bi-

know. The Twenty-Four Violins did not play in the Chapel Royal; there seems to have been room for only a handful of string players in the gallery allocated to them in the chapel. There was not a single "orchestra" in John Crowne's Calisto of 1675: the instrumentalists were divided into two groups, one in front of the stage and one behind the scenes. It is unlikely that Henry Purcell wrote his Chaconne (ac- tually "Chacony") in G minor for viols; it has all the characteristics of music written for the Twenty-Four Violins.

The later historical chapters cover more familiar material but are not much better. The section on eighteenth-century music, for instance, is largely taken up with un- focused social history occasionally inter- rupted by nuggets of information more or less relevant to the violin. This technique is no substitute for a properly structured ac- count of the development of the repertory and technique of the violin in eighteenth- century England, a subject handled much better by Boyden. I certainly missed a dis- cussion of such topics as the influence of Arcangelo Corelli in England, the dissem- ination of the concerto grosso among pro- vincial orchestral societies, the develop- ment of a solo violin concerto repertory in London, the use of stringed instruments in parish church music, and, most important perhaps, the cultivation of the violin among the leisured classes-a topic for which Ri- chard Leppert's Music and Image: Domes- ticity, Ideology and Socio-Cultural Formation in Eighteenth-Century England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988) would have been useful reading.

I do not feel qualified to comment on Harvey's treatment of English violin mak- ers and their output, except to remark that research into their biography-a necessary accompaniment, one would have thought, to the serious study of their instruments- has lagged far behind the study of the bi-

ographies of English composers. The foot- note references in those sections are depressingly focused on Victorian publica- tions, and the few more recent works, such as Albert Cooper's Benjamin Banks, 1727- 1729: The Salisbury Violin Maker (Hasle- mere: Ashford Publications, 1989) and a valuable series of articles by John Dilworth in The Strad, only serve to draw attention to how much needs to be done. It is par- ticularly unfortunate that Harvey missed the reference to the Cambridge University wait Benet Pryme, discovered by Ian Payne and discussed in Four and Twenty Fiddlers. Pryme was clearly an instrument maker as well as a musician, for an inventory of his possessions taken after his death in 1557 mentions a "shoppe" with many instru- ments, including "vii vyalles & vyolans." This is important not just because it gives us the name of by far the earliest recorded English violin maker. It also suggests we would do well to search for other early instrument makers among professional musicians, for the two professions had not yet completely diverged. Thanks to David Lasocki and Barbara Hanson, it has re- cently become clear how important the Bas- sano family was as wind instrument mak- ers, and there are indications that the Lupo family, their string-playing counterparts at the Tudor court, also made instruments [see the review of Lasocki, The Bassanos, in this issue. Ed.].

To sum up: Harvey's book will undoubt- edly become a standard work of reference, even though it is not as valuable as it could or ought to have been. I cannot really blame the author for that, for I cannot think of any single person at present who could have written a better one. Things will not improve until the separate worlds of violin connoisseurship and musicology come together.

PETER HOLMAN King's College, University of London

ographies of English composers. The foot- note references in those sections are depressingly focused on Victorian publica- tions, and the few more recent works, such as Albert Cooper's Benjamin Banks, 1727- 1729: The Salisbury Violin Maker (Hasle- mere: Ashford Publications, 1989) and a valuable series of articles by John Dilworth in The Strad, only serve to draw attention to how much needs to be done. It is par- ticularly unfortunate that Harvey missed the reference to the Cambridge University wait Benet Pryme, discovered by Ian Payne and discussed in Four and Twenty Fiddlers. Pryme was clearly an instrument maker as well as a musician, for an inventory of his possessions taken after his death in 1557 mentions a "shoppe" with many instru- ments, including "vii vyalles & vyolans." This is important not just because it gives us the name of by far the earliest recorded English violin maker. It also suggests we would do well to search for other early instrument makers among professional musicians, for the two professions had not yet completely diverged. Thanks to David Lasocki and Barbara Hanson, it has re- cently become clear how important the Bas- sano family was as wind instrument mak- ers, and there are indications that the Lupo family, their string-playing counterparts at the Tudor court, also made instruments [see the review of Lasocki, The Bassanos, in this issue. Ed.].

To sum up: Harvey's book will undoubt- edly become a standard work of reference, even though it is not as valuable as it could or ought to have been. I cannot really blame the author for that, for I cannot think of any single person at present who could have written a better one. Things will not improve until the separate worlds of violin connoisseurship and musicology come together.

PETER HOLMAN King's College, University of London

The Dissemination of Music: Studies in the History of Music Pub- lishing. Edited by Hans Lenneberg. (Musicology: A Book Series, 14.) Lausanne, Switzerland: Gordon and Breach, 1994. [xii, 146 p. ISBN 2-88449-117-1. $45.00.]

The Dissemination of Music: Studies in the History of Music Pub- lishing. Edited by Hans Lenneberg. (Musicology: A Book Series, 14.) Lausanne, Switzerland: Gordon and Breach, 1994. [xii, 146 p. ISBN 2-88449-117-1. $45.00.]

Various kindly appreciations of the life and work of Hans Lenneberg, who died in 1994, have appeared in the musicological press. In reading them, and in studying

Various kindly appreciations of the life and work of Hans Lenneberg, who died in 1994, have appeared in the musicological press. In reading them, and in studying

their subject's legacy, one soon realizes that Lenneberg, notwithstanding that his schol- arly work was sometimes uneven in quality, had one great talent, namely, the ability-

their subject's legacy, one soon realizes that Lenneberg, notwithstanding that his schol- arly work was sometimes uneven in quality, had one great talent, namely, the ability-

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Book Reviews

and indeed, the patience and the curiosity -to explore the small channels and trib- utaries left behind by the musicological mainstream and in so doing, to send back to that mainstream more than might have been expected. He did not leave a weighty biography of any of the received musical greats: but we do have his illuminating and unique Witnesses and Scholars: Studies in Mu- sical Biography (New York: Gordon and Breach, 1988). We have some intriguing work on music in the early circulating li- brary, and, inter alia, a volume on the work of Heinrich Probst, Breitkopf & Hirtel's agent in Paris, which has raised questions as to how publishers of that period mar- keted their products and dealt with the composers who supplied them with their bread and butter, and, occasionally, some- thing more appetizing. It is surprising, given Lenneberg's work in this area, to find him playing the apologist in his introduc- tion to The Dissemination of Music, to the extent of defending the work he and his contributors have been engaged in against the charge of positivism; but it is, none- theless, a spirited defense, beginning with a reminder that big steps are never taken without recourse to data supplied by a host of smaller studies, and ending with a ral- lying call that bears quotation in full: "Aside from its inherent interest in the his- tory of publishing and Rezeptionsgeschichte, I hope this collection will encourage similar work. We need not all work in semiology, gender studies, deconstructionism, and whatever other new trends will be around tomorrow. What we do need is to continue the necessary empirical scudwork not by default, for lack of talent, but rather be- cause without it musicology will simply be rehashing what we already know in increas- ingly desperate guises" (pp. xi-xii). Any- one who has ever questioned (haven't we all?) the point of expending herculean ef- fort for an apparently small reward should keep this credo near at hand.

The six essays contained in the new study vary widely in subject matter, time period (from the fifteenth to twentieth centuries), and, it must be said, in quality, although each adds something to our knowledge of music's dissemination. Mary Kay Duggan opens with a discussion of how the printing of music incunabula affected the way in which liturgical music was published and distributed: while mass production by

means of the printing press made produc- tion of authoritative texts more of a pos- sibility, it also led to the suppression of local liturgical (and, indeed, scribal) practices. Those who have studied the same author's Italian Music Incunabula: Printers and Types (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992) will find much familiar territory, but it is good to have amplification of some points from her earlier text. Ignoble ped- antry, and a sense of duty to the readers of Notes, requires me to point out that the total for Italian music incunabula in table 1 of the essay should be 154, not 156, and that there are several typographical errors, including that library novice's favorite, "At- taignant" for "Attaingnant." In addition, the reader unfamiliar with Duggan's 1992 book would probably have appreciated an explanation of the abbreviations "R," "M," "G," and "A," used from page 11 onwards (for those interested, they denote Roman plainchant, Mensural notation, Gothic plainchant, and Ambrosian plainchant). Overall the essay is, nonetheless, well writ- ten and well structured.

Sarah Adams's "International Dissemina- tion of Printed Music During the Second Half of the Eighteenth Century" is, how- ever, outstanding for the breadth of pri- mary and secondary sources discussed, for the processing of the information thus gathered, and for the importance of the conclusions drawn. These are: (1) that the international network of agents acting for publishers, that we normally associate with the nineteenth century, was already well established by the end of the eighteenth; and (2) as a consequence, many publica- tions that we have previously considered to have been "pirate" copies of other crafts- mens' work may, in fact, simply be man- ifestations of that network. This may also explain why recourse to law seems to have occurred so rarely: the usual reasoning, that copyright law had yet to be made suf- ficiently robust to make legal challenge worthwhile, may now need to be rethought.

The succeeding contribution, "Venetian Printed Anthologies of Music in the 1560s and the Role of the Editor," by Giulio M. Ongaro, is less well conceived. The author has obviously undertaken much painstak- ing archival work concerning publications of the period, but falls into the trap of trying to draw wide-ranging conclusions from a small body of evidence that really

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NOTES, December 1996 NOTES, December 1996

will not support them. The most valuable part of the essay deals with the singer and composer-cum-publisher Giulio Bona- giunta da San Genesi, and, had Ongaro restricted himself to a more deeply focused examination only of this figure, his piece might have been more satisfying. The same goes for Sandra Mangsen's cautiously (and sensibly) entitled "The Dissemination of Pre-Corellian Trio Sonatas in Manuscript and Printed Sources: A Preliminary Re- port." Statistics are here in profusion: in- terpretation of those statistics and of her other evidence is not, and the whole thing makes for rather laborious reading. The connection with "dissemination" is also ten- uous, in spite of the author's (or editor's?) contriving to introduce it into the title.

Bianca Maria Antolini, who writes on "Copyists and Publishers in Italy Between 1770 and 1830," has covered similar ground elsewhere, and probably could have supplied much more than the six pages of text offered, which amount to lit- tle more than a sketch. We learn principally that: (1) publishers were originally often copyists; and (2) music could be hired as well as purchased. The first conclusion is perhaps not surprising, given what we al- ready know about Italian music publishing; the second would bear further examina- tion, which Antolini will, one hopes, un- dertake in the future.

Finally to Lisa Feurzeig, who offers "The Business Affairs of Gabriel Faure." Since Faur6 has acquired a place in the musical canon as a composer of pleasing music and as a person without any immediately dis- tressing personal habits, Feurzeig has a simpler job than the three preceding con- tributors, who attempt to bring life to some rather dead material. She provides a chro- nological journey through Faur6's com- mercial and personal relations with Chou-

will not support them. The most valuable part of the essay deals with the singer and composer-cum-publisher Giulio Bona- giunta da San Genesi, and, had Ongaro restricted himself to a more deeply focused examination only of this figure, his piece might have been more satisfying. The same goes for Sandra Mangsen's cautiously (and sensibly) entitled "The Dissemination of Pre-Corellian Trio Sonatas in Manuscript and Printed Sources: A Preliminary Re- port." Statistics are here in profusion: in- terpretation of those statistics and of her other evidence is not, and the whole thing makes for rather laborious reading. The connection with "dissemination" is also ten- uous, in spite of the author's (or editor's?) contriving to introduce it into the title.

Bianca Maria Antolini, who writes on "Copyists and Publishers in Italy Between 1770 and 1830," has covered similar ground elsewhere, and probably could have supplied much more than the six pages of text offered, which amount to lit- tle more than a sketch. We learn principally that: (1) publishers were originally often copyists; and (2) music could be hired as well as purchased. The first conclusion is perhaps not surprising, given what we al- ready know about Italian music publishing; the second would bear further examina- tion, which Antolini will, one hopes, un- dertake in the future.

Finally to Lisa Feurzeig, who offers "The Business Affairs of Gabriel Faure." Since Faur6 has acquired a place in the musical canon as a composer of pleasing music and as a person without any immediately dis- tressing personal habits, Feurzeig has a simpler job than the three preceding con- tributors, who attempt to bring life to some rather dead material. She provides a chro- nological journey through Faur6's com- mercial and personal relations with Chou-

dens, Breitkopf (publisher of the famous first violin sonata), Hamelle, Heugel, and Durand, concluding that Faur6 made little profit on his publishing deals, was rather exploited both by Hamelle and Heugel, and achieved some degree of artistic rap- port only with Durand, who published Faur6's works from 1913 until the com- poser's death in 1924. One might argue, in view of the new directions Faur6's music took in his final years, that a lesser pub- lisher than the musically trained Durand might have balked at publishing such mu- sic, and Faure was fortunate to find such sympathy and respect: indeed, it seems that Durand actually suggested the idea for some pieces to the composer (the op. 111 Fantasy being just one example). Feurzeig's well-written contribution could have been improved only by quotation in full of the contract documents between Faure and his publishers; she cannot be blamed for the fact that the publishers under examination would not make them available.

To summarize: The Dissemination of Music provides a useful service in highlighting the breadth of work currently under way in the fields of music printing and publishing. Be- cause much of this work appears in isolated journal articles, and because there is cur- rently no journal dedicated specifically to the field, it is tempting, but erroneous, to suppose that the amount of active research being undertaken is small. Lenneberg would surely have been delighted to see one of today's publishers encouraging fur- ther study, and at the same time emulating the initiative of leading predecessors, by launching a new journal concentrating on the commercial and social aspects of mu- sic's dissemination. Any volunteers?

JOHN WAGSTAFF Oxford University

dens, Breitkopf (publisher of the famous first violin sonata), Hamelle, Heugel, and Durand, concluding that Faur6 made little profit on his publishing deals, was rather exploited both by Hamelle and Heugel, and achieved some degree of artistic rap- port only with Durand, who published Faur6's works from 1913 until the com- poser's death in 1924. One might argue, in view of the new directions Faur6's music took in his final years, that a lesser pub- lisher than the musically trained Durand might have balked at publishing such mu- sic, and Faure was fortunate to find such sympathy and respect: indeed, it seems that Durand actually suggested the idea for some pieces to the composer (the op. 111 Fantasy being just one example). Feurzeig's well-written contribution could have been improved only by quotation in full of the contract documents between Faure and his publishers; she cannot be blamed for the fact that the publishers under examination would not make them available.

To summarize: The Dissemination of Music provides a useful service in highlighting the breadth of work currently under way in the fields of music printing and publishing. Be- cause much of this work appears in isolated journal articles, and because there is cur- rently no journal dedicated specifically to the field, it is tempting, but erroneous, to suppose that the amount of active research being undertaken is small. Lenneberg would surely have been delighted to see one of today's publishers encouraging fur- ther study, and at the same time emulating the initiative of leading predecessors, by launching a new journal concentrating on the commercial and social aspects of mu- sic's dissemination. Any volunteers?

JOHN WAGSTAFF Oxford University

REFERENCE REFERENCE

I manoscritti polifonici della Biblio- teca musicale L. Feininger. By Cle- mente Lunelli. (Patrimonio storico e artistico del Trentino, 16.) Trent: Pro- vincia Autonoma di Trento, Servizio beni librari e archivistici, 1994. [xviii, 198 p. ISBN 88-7702-051-2.] Le fonti

I manoscritti polifonici della Biblio- teca musicale L. Feininger. By Cle- mente Lunelli. (Patrimonio storico e artistico del Trentino, 16.) Trent: Pro- vincia Autonoma di Trento, Servizio beni librari e archivistici, 1994. [xviii, 198 p. ISBN 88-7702-051-2.] Le fonti

liturgiche a stampa della Biblioteca musicale L. Feininger presso il Cas- tello del Buonconsiglio di Trento. By Marco Gozzi. (Patrimonio storico e ar- tistico del Trentino, 17.) Trent: Pro- vincia Autonoma di Trento, Servizio beni librari e archivistici, 1994. [2 v.

liturgiche a stampa della Biblioteca musicale L. Feininger presso il Cas- tello del Buonconsiglio di Trento. By Marco Gozzi. (Patrimonio storico e ar- tistico del Trentino, 17.) Trent: Pro- vincia Autonoma di Trento, Servizio beni librari e archivistici, 1994. [2 v.

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