The broad ax., 1920-05-15
MUSIC PRINTING.


for a sheet Of music. wonder ho'
many Of Us give the slightest though
as TO how il happens thar we can bu
over the Counter. for from ten cent
up. an article thai il has taken nearl
iye centuries to develop.
Doubtless many Of my readers wi
complain because OF my tendency I,
harp back to the Middle Ages. an
win accuse ne Of living in the past
seeing that nearly all Of my article
lhave been more or less historical.
Be that as il may. am Of the opin
ion that il is sometimes refreshing tC
look back a way and get q gIimps,
lof the origin of things. for | have
heard many wise one remark thai
we measure our progress not by ths
heights which we have gained but BY
the depths from which we have come
or words to that effect So this week
am giving you more history which
/ trust you Will find interesting.
am encouraged in this effort by the
many interesting and complimentary
letters and expressions which l have
received from my mapy readers.
In the early stages Of Music Print
ing all the work was done by hand
and the drafting of musical manu-
script as an art was a common oecn-
patton. Along with the notion OF
movable types for letters came the
idea Of movable types for notes Qt
viii be remembered that movable
types for letters was invented by Gut
enberg in l440).
The value Of the movable type Sys-
TEN was at once apparent as it led to
music publishing and musie-seI,ing,
thing which had been quite impos-
sible up to that time
Every cathedral and large church
was obliged to supply its priests and
choir with all needed serviee-bOoks,
which were often marvels Of lsborious
patience and interest The time and
effort required upon them was exees-
sive. which fact made them costly or
priceless and prohibitive to the or
dinaTy Individual. The knowledge Of
the larger works was therefore lin.
tied to few places and persons
To relieve this difficulty, expert
ments were made in the 18th century
with printing music from wooden
blocks, whole page to a block With
the FIRST trial by Gutenberg Of nov
able types for letters. the question at
once arose whether the same device
was not practical for music, but there
was the extreme Difficulty OF printing
both STATS and notes at one i:Hp7es-
sion. This delayed the solution Of the
problem and for a time the musical
portions of books was printed from
blocks while the text was printed
from type.
The earliest known printing Of iuu-
sic from types was in 1916 BY one u
rich Hahn of Rome. followed by IorgI
Reyser of Wurzburg IN 1881. Ottavio
Scotto OF Venice and several Others.
In these cases only Piain-Song was
attempted, and the process involved
two impressions. the stats being IN
red. the notes in black. The first ap-
piication Of this process TO the more
difheult problem Of contrapuntal mr:-
SIC was in 1901 by Petrucci Of Venice
The first to WORK out a one-impres-
sion process, notes and stats together,
was the type-maker Pierre Haultin in
ISIS. whose types were used BY At
taignznt Of Paris.
Further progress consisted in de-
vising better types from which came
the round-headed notes devised BY
Briard Of Avienon in 1880
The publishing of music now was
undertaken in several places and
many cities took up the new industry
with success.
The mechanical difficulties of mu-
sic printing are not generally appre-
GATED The stafE-lines should be con
tinuons across the page and pet upon
and between them must stand notes
and other signs Itis easy 10 make
type for al the iatses. but not easy to
apply them without breaking the lines.
Making two impressions increases the
cost and Is delicate process mechan-
icaily. since even the smallest varia-
ton IN register between the two
printings vitiates the result.
In Petruceio's time the problem
vas solved By making the types Tor
the notes, bars. and other ehzrseters
with small portion Of the staa-iines
attached 70 them Gin an desired com
binstions) and shen setting thsse with |
other types for the remaining portions
Of The STATS, IN complicated mosaic.
80 exact IN adjustment and 50 closely
compaeted that when ahe whole IS
mixed and applied 10 the pager. both
heies and STATS are produced IN sp-
parent continuity and perfeetion.
The above rernafI.. srr,fV- n, or;af-