Showing posts with label Printing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Printing. Show all posts

18 June 2023

Ottaviano dei Petrucci – music printer

Pioneer in printing who worked for a Doge and a Pope

The first page of Petrucci's volume  Harmonice Musices Odhecaton
The first page of Petrucci's volume
 Harmonice Musices Odhecaton
Ottaviano dei Petrucci, who was the first person to print a book of polyphonic music from movable type, was born on this day in 1466 in Fossombrone near Urbino

It is thought that Petrucci was educated at Urbino, possibly at the humanist court of Guidobaldo da Montefeltro, who was Duke of Urbino apart from a brief period from 1482 until his death in 1508.

To learn the art of printing, in 1490 Petrucci went to Venice, then the most advanced centre for printing in Italy.

In 1498, Petrucci petitioned the Doge, Agostino Barbarigo, for the exclusive right to print music for the next 20 years, which was granted. There are no examples of printed music produced by other Venetian printers until 1520.

Over the years, he continued to refine his technique and he held music printing monopolies in Venice until 1511. He produced books of printed music at the rate of a new book every few months. 

Petrucci's collection of 96 chansons, secular songs under the title of Harmonice Musices Odhecaton - One Hundred Songs of Harmonic Music - published in Venice in 1501, was the first book of polyphonic music to be printed from movable type.

His books were crafted with painstaking care and are among the most beautiful examples of printed music from the entire 16th century.

An example of the music that Petrucci was able to produce using printing presses of his time
An example of the music that Petrucci was able
to produce using printing presses of his time
The Harmonice Musices Odhecaton and the books that followed began a flood of printed music that revolutionized the distribution of the art form throughout Europe and beyond, and began the process by which studying, performing, and enjoying music no longer remained an exclusive privilege of the nobility, the clergy, and those they patronized, but became a treasured pastime for the middle classes.

Petrucci’s activities were interrupted by the War of the League of Cambrai against Venice in 1509, and so he returned to Fossombrone where he continued printing.

He applied for a patent with Pope Leo X for the exclusive right to print music, which was granted for several years. The Pope then rescinded the patent when Petrucci failed to produce printed keyboard music.

Papal troops ransacked Fossombrone in 1516 and Petrucci printed nothing for the next three years, possibly because his equipment had been destroyed.

The Venetian Senate asked Petrucci to return to the city in 1536, where he assisted them in printing Greek and Latin texts.

Among his total of 61 music publications are masses, motets, chansons and frottole by the foremost composers of the 15th and early 16th centuries, such as Josquin des Pres, Jean d’Okeghem, Antoine Brumet and Loyset Compere.

Petrucci also published the first book of printed lute music, Francesco Spinaccino’s Intabolatura de Lauto, in 1507.

His later work was considered extraordinary because of the complexity of the notation and the small font that he used.

Petrucci died in Venice in 1539 at the age of 73.

The town of Fossombrone in Marche occupies a position on the banks of the Metauro river
The town of Fossombrone in Marche occupies a
position on the banks of the Metauro river
Travel tip:

Fossombrone, a town of just under 10,000 inhabitants in the province of Pesaro e Urbino in Marche, about 25km (16 miles) east of Urbino, takes its name from the ancient Roman colony of Forum Sempronii. After changing hands several times during the Middle Ages it flourished under the control of Federico III da Montefeltro, the Duke of Urbino, in the 15th century.  The town’s Roman heritage is visible in the remains of a statue of the god Vertumnus, the Furlo Pass, constructed by the Emperor Vespasian to shorten the passage of that mountain, the bridge of Trajannear Calmazzo, and the bridge now called Ponte della Concordia, originally built in 292 by Diocletian, which both cross the Metauro river.  There is an 18th century cathedral, dedicated to Saint Aldebrandus and Saint Augustine, built in neoclassical style.

The beautiful Renaissance Ducal Palace in Urbino is one of the most important munuments in Italy
The beautiful Renaissance Ducal Palace in Urbino
is one of the most important munuments in Italy
Travel tip:

Urbino, which is inland from the Adriatic resort of Pesaro, in the Marche region, is a majestic city on a steep hill.  It was once a famous centre of learning and culture, known not just in Italy but also in its glory days throughout Europe, attracting outstanding artists and scholars to enjoy the patronage of the noble rulers. The Ducal Palace, a Renaissance building made famous by Baldassare Castiglione’s The Book of the Courtier, is now one of the most important monuments in Italy and is listed as a Unesco World Heritage site. It is a city that is home to a number of gastronomic delights, including crescia sfogliata, a flatbread often served stuffed with melted caciotta cheese, and prosciutto di Carpegna, a local cured ham.

Also on this day:

1511: The birth of sculptor and architect Bartolomeo Ammannati

1943: The birth of entertainer and TV presenter Raffaella CarrĂ 

1946: The birth of football coach Fabio Capello

1952: The birth of actress Isabella Rossellini 


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26 January 2017

Hebrew Bible in print for first time

Bologna printer makes history


The early printed editions of the Torah  were presented in the form of a scroll
The early printed editions of the Torah
were presented in the form of a scroll
The first printed edition of the Hebrew Bible was completed in Bologna on this day in 1482.

Specifically, the edition was the Pentateuch, or Torah, which consists of the first five books of the Christian and Jewish Bibles - Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.

Torah, in Hebrew, means 'instruction'.  The book was given that name because the stories within it, which essentially form the opening narrative of the history of the Jewish people, and the interpretations offered of them, were intended to set out the moral and religious obligations fundamental to the Jewish way of life.

The book was the work of the Italian-Jewish printer Abraham ben Hayyim dei Tintori, from Pesaro.

The text consisted of large, clear square letters, accompanied by a translation in the Jewish biblical language Aramaic and a commentary by Rashi, who had been the foremost biblical commentator of the Middle Ages.

It was published and financed by Joseph ben Abraham, a member of the Caravita banking family in Bologna. The editor was the Hebrew scholar Yosef Hayyim ben Aaron, of Strasbourg.

The printing press had been invented in Germany in 1439 by Johannes Gutenburg and presses were soon set up across Europe as news of the phenomenon - as revolutionary at the time as the word processor more than five centuries later - spread.

The technology reached Italy in 1464, when the German monks Arnold Pannartz and Konrad Sweinheim set up the Subiaco Press in the Abbey of Santa Scolastica at Subiaco, about 70km (43 miles) to the east of Rome.

The Abbey of Santa Scolastica at Subiaco, which saw Italy's first printing press set up by German monks in 1464
The Abbey of Santa Scolastica at Subiaco, which saw Italy's
first printing press set up by German monks in 1464
It is thought that Abraham ben Hayyim probably started as a textile printer and bookbinder at Pesaro. In 1477 he printed two Hebrew books at Ferrara.

In Bologna, where he was employed as master printer for the wealthy Soncino family from just outside Milan, he became the first printer to find a solution for the difficult technical problem of adding vowels and cantillation signs to the previously vocalised biblical text.

How many copies were printed is not known. Some 27 are known to exist in public collections, of which only 10 are complete. One of them, auctioned at Christie's in Paris in 2014, printed on vellum in an 18th century binding, achieved a price of €2.785 million ($3,866,578).

Six years later, ben Hayyim completed the first printed edition of the whole of the Hebrew Bible, comprising the Neviim and Ketuvim as well as the Torah, at the Soncino press in the town of the same name, near Milan.

The Basilica of San Petronio towers over the  Piazza Maggiore in Bologna
The Basilica of San Petronio towers over the
Piazza Maggiore in Bologna
Travel tip:

The origins of Bologna, one of Italy's most historic cities, can be traced back to 1,000BC or possibly earlier, with a settlement that was developed into an urban area by the Etruscans, the Celts and the Romans.  The University of Bologna, the oldest in the world, was founded in 1088.  Bologna's city centre, which has undergone substantial restoration since the 1970s, is one of the largest and best preserved historical centres in Italy, characterised by 38km (24 miles) of walkways protected by porticoes.  At the heart of the city is the beautiful Piazza Maggiore, dominated by the Gothic Basilica of San Petronio, which at 132m long, 66m wide and with a facade that touches 51m at its tallest, is the 10th largest church in the world and the largest built in brick.

Travel tip:

Subiaco, a town on the eastern fringe of the Lazio region near the border with Abruzzo, is notable for its two abbeys, the Abbey of Santa Scolastica, and St Benedict's, where the Benedictine Order originated in the sixth century, the first of 12 monasteries built by St Benedict, who from the age of 14 lived for three years in a cave above the nearby Anio river.  Over the centuries, many monks came to Subiaco from Germany, hence the presence of Pennartz and Sweinheim in 1464.  Notable people born in Subiaco include Lucrezia Borgia and the actress, Gina Lollobrigida.


More reading:



Giambattista Bodoni - printer patronised by Napoleon


Guglielmo Marconi - inventor from Bologna who created first radio

How Giovanni Riccioli had a moon crater named after him


Also on this day:


Saints day of friar Gabriela Allegra

(Picture credits: Bible scroll by HOWI; Abbey by Livioandronico2013; Basilica by Giovanni Dall'Orto; all via Wikimedia Commons)


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5 March 2016

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo – artist

 Painter’s decorative work can be seen all over Venice


Tiepolo painted his self-portrait in around 1753
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo: self-portrait
Painter and print maker Giovanni Battista Tiepolo was born on this day in 1696 in Venice.

Also sometimes known as Gianbattista or Giambattista Tiepolo, his output was prolific and he enjoyed success not only in Italy, but in Germany and Spain as well.

Highly regarded right from the beginning of his career, he has been described by experts as the greatest decorative artist of 18th century Europe. Although much of his work was painted directly on to the walls and ceilings of churches and palaces in his native Venice, many of Tiepolo’s paintings on canvas are now in art galleries all over the world.

Tiepolo was the youngest child of a Venetian shipping merchant who died a year after his birth leaving his mother to struggle to bring up her six children alone.

In 1710 he became a pupil of Gregorio Lazzarini, a successful established painter, but Tiepolo quickly developed a style of his own.

His earliest known works are depictions of the apostles, which form part of the decoration of the interior of the Church of Santa Maria dei Derelitti at Ospedaletto in Venice , painted in 1717.


The Church of Santa Maria dei Derelitti in Venice, where can be  found Tiepolo's earliest work
The Church of Santa Maria dei
Derelitti in Venice, where can be
found Tiepolo's earliest work
Tiepolo was commissioned to produce portraits for the Doge and he started painting frescoes directly on to the walls of churches in 1717.

In 1719 Tiepolo married Maria Cecilia Guardi, the sister of painters Francesco Guardi and Giovanni Antonio Guardi and they had nine children. Two of his sons, Domenico and Lorenzo, eventually painted with him as assistants.

Tiepolo was commissioned to produce paintings for many churches in Venice but also for the interiors of palaces in Milan and for the Colleoni Chapel in Bergamo.

At the request of a German prince, Tiepolo travelled to Wurzburg in 1750 to produce ceiling paintings for his palace.

He returned to Venice where he continued to produce paintings for churches and palaces until in 1761 he was invited to Madrid by King Charles III to create a ceiling fresco for the throne room of the Royal Palace. He fulfilled other commissions in Madrid, although he had to put up with jealousy from the other artists working for the king at the time. Tiepolo died in Madrid in 1770.

The meeting of Anthony and Cleopatra, depicted by Tiepolo,  can be found in Palazzo Labia
The meeting of Anthony and
Cleopatra, depicted by Tiepolo,
can be found in Palazzo Labia
Travel tip:

Palazzo Labia in Fondamenta Labia in Venice has frescoes in the ballroom depicting the life of Cleopatra, painted by Tiepolo between 1745 and 1750. The prestigious palace is on the wide Cannaregio Canal , close to its junction with the Grand Canal , but the entrance to it is off Campo San Geremia. The palace sometimes holds free classical concerts in the magnificently decorated ballroom, or visitors can arrange to see the frescoes by appointment.

Venice hotels from Booking.com

Travel tip:

The Church of the Gesuati in Fondamenta delle Zattere in Venice has a ceiling frescoed by Tiepolo with scenes from The Life of St Dominic. The impressive work of art, painted between 1737 and 1739, demonstrates the artist’s amazing mastery of light and colour.

16 February 2016

Giambattista Bodoni - type designer


 Celebrity printer whose name lives on in type


A portrait of Giambattista Bodoni
by Giuseppe Lucatelli circa 1805
Typographer, printer and publisher Giambattista Bodoni was born on this day in 1740 in Saluzzo in the region of Piedmont.

At the height of his career he became internationally famous and was complimented by the Pope and paid a pension by Napoleon.

Bodoni designed a modern typeface that was named after him and is still in use today.

His father and grandfather were both printers and as a child he played with their leftover equipment. He learnt the printing trade at his father’s side and at the age of 17 travelled to Rome to further his career.

Bodoni served an apprenticeship at the press of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, the missionary arm of the Catholic Church.

In 1768 he was asked to assume management of the Duke of Parma’s Royal Press, where he produced Italian, Greek and Latin books.

He started using modern typefaces of his own design and came up with the typeface that retained the Bodoni name in 1790.

He became well known and important travellers visited his press to see him at work. Bodoni produced fine editions of the writings of Horace and Virgil in 1791 and 1793 respectively and Homer’s Iliad in 1808.

He died in 1813 in Parma , but his widow, Margherita, completed his work on a series of classics for his new patron, Joachim Murat.

Five years after his death she published a manual of all his typefaces.

Travel tip:

Saluzzo, the birthplace of Bodoni, is a town in the province of Cuneo in the region of Piedmont. Once named Saluces and part of France, it was ceded to the House of Savoy in 1601 and eventually became part of Piedmont . As well as a 15th century Cathedral, which has a Baroque high altar, the town has a 14th century church, dedicated to San Giovanni, which has a striking Gothic façade and Cloister.



Parma's baptistery, one of many historic
sights in city in Emilia-Romagna
Photo: Philip Schafer (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Travel tip:

Parma, where Bodoni worked and eventually died, is an historic city in the Emilia-Romagna region, famous for its ham (Prosciutto di Parma) and cheese (Parmigiano-Reggiano), the true ‘parmesan’. In 1545 the city was given as a duchy to the illegitimate son of Pope Paul III, whose descendants ruled Parma till 1731. The composer, Verdi, was born near Parma at Bussetto and the city has a prestigious opera house, the Teatro Regia. 

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