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Music Printing in Sixteenth-Century Strasbourg

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

William Young
William Young*
Affiliation:
Wayne State University
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Extract

One indication of the extent of musical activity in Strasbourg during the sixteenth century is the sizeable number and superior quality of collections of music and books about music printed there during the period. Scarcely fifty years after Gutenberg printed his first Bible at Mainz, a veritable flood of publications began to pour from the presses of Strasbourg. Although no Strasbourg printer devoted his talents exclusively to publishing music, several printers achieved a measure of prominence in the field. As a consequence of the printers’ diversity of material, the circle of individuals connected in some way with publishing included most of the leading writers, poets, clergymen, musicians, and artists of the day.

From the standpoint of sheer bulk alone hymnals or psalters merit first consideration. The advent of the Reformation in Strasbourg with services in the vernacular dating from 1524 accounts for the sudden interest in sacred music suitable for the congregation.

Type
Research Article
Information
Renaissance Quarterly , Volume 24 , Issue 4 , Winter 1971 , pp. 486 - 501
Copyright
Copyright © Renaissance Society of America 1971

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References

1 See Répertoire bibliographique des livres imprimés en Alsace aux XVe et XVIe siècles (Strasbourg: Heitz, 1938-1960) for a list of all books published in Strasbourg during this period.

2 Hubert, Friedrich, Die strassburger liturgischen Ordnungen im Zeitalter der Reformation (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 1900)Google Scholar, pp. xi-xxxix, lists forty-four separate publications from 1524 to 1561. See also Büchsenschütz, Louis, Histoire des liturgies en langue allemande dans l'église de Strasbourg au XVIe siècle, Paris: A. Coueslant, 1900.Google Scholar

3 The original spelling and capitalization of all book titles cited have been preserved

4 Quoted by Rietschel, George, Die Aufgabe der Orgel im Gottesdienste bis ins achtzehnte Jahrhundert (Leipzig: Alexander Edelmann, 1892), p. 26 Google Scholar; also quoted by Wackernagel, Philipp, Bibliographie zur Geschichte des deutschen Kirchenlieds im 16. Jahrhundert (Frankfurt a.M.: Heyder & Zimmer, 1855), p. 553 Google Scholar.

5 A photographic reprint was edited by D. Deletra, Geneve: A. Jullien, 1919; a modern edition with facsimiles by Sir Richard R. Terry, Calvin's First Psalter, London: Ernest Benn, Limited, 1932; there is a critical study by Pratt, Waldo Selden, The Music of the French Psalter of 1562, New York: Columbia University Press, 1939 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; see also Douen, Orentin, Clément Marot et lapsautier huguenot, 2 vols., Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1878-1879Google Scholar.

6 See Erichson, Alfred, Die Calvinische und die altstrassburgische Gottesdienstordnung (Strassburg: J. H. Ed. Heitz, 1894), p. 34 Google Scholar.

7 In the introduction to his edition of Calvin's Psalter, Terry mentions the tradition that connects Greiter with the tunes either as composer or arranger. Terry also states that scholarly opinion favors the latter view. Terry does not, however, express his own convictions on the matter. Martin Vogeleis in his history of Alsatian music gives credit to both Greiter and Dachstein as composers of the tunes. Concerning the unsuitability of these tunes for French texts see Rokseth, Yvonne, ‘Les premiers chants de l'eglise calviniste,’ Revue de musicologie, 36 (1954), 16–19 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

8 Douen, 1, 342.

9 Reprinted in Johannes Janssen, Geschichte des deutschen Volks seit dem Ausgang des Mittelalters (Freiburg im Breisgau: Herder [1893-1901]), vi, 159.

10 Facsimile by Evangelisches Verlagswerk, Stuttgart, 1953; original printed by Jorg Waldmiiller, called Messerschmid.

11 Fétis, François Joseph, Biographie universelle des musiciens (Paris: Firmin Didot et Cie., 1864), p. 499 Google Scholar.

12 For a detailed description of the contents see the author's unpublished doctoral dissertation: ‘The Keyboard Tablatures of Bernhard Schmid, Father and Son,’ University of Illinois, 1957.

13 A German translation by Hermcrsdorffis in Cdcilia, Jahrgange xv-xvn (1875-78); issued as a separate publication in Trier, 1876. See also de Burbure, Leon, ‘Post-Scriptum sur le Bellum Musicale de Claude Sebastiani,’ Memoires de l'Academic Royale de Belgique, 33 (1882), 57–58 Google Scholar.