Music and the Cultures of Print

Kate van Orden (music, U. of California, Berkeley) presents nine contributions that explore the cultures that coalesced around printed music from the 16th to the early 20th centuries. They investigate turning points in the music publishing industry, examine how musical authorship changed in the face of the new social and material economies produced by print, and consider the reception of printed repertories in church, court, salon, parlor, and street. In highlighting the tensions that exist between musical print and performance, they ultimately raise not just the question of how older scores can be read today, but also how printing multiplied the meanings of musical texts for readers in the past. Contains several b&w illustrations of scores. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Kate van Orden is Assistant Professor of Music at the University of California, Berkeley. She has published on the Renaissance chanson and on French symbolism and music. She also specializes in historical performance on the bassoon and has performed and recorded with such ensembles as Les Arts Florissants, Collegium Vocale Ghent, Tafelmusik, and La Petite Bande.