Petrucci's technique required three impressions each sheet of music would be run through the presses once for the staves, once for the music, and once for the words. He was, however, the first to print in quantity and the first to print polyphonic music, and the quality of his printings was outstanding. Petrucci was not the first music printer in Europe – a number of liturgical works with woodcut music were printed before 1500, with the first, the Constance Gradual, printed about 1473, and works using movable type were printed beginning with Ulrich Han's Missale Romanum in 1476. By far the most fruitful period of his life for publishing music was the period between 15, during which he published the three volumes of chansons (the Odhecaton being the first), 16 books of masses, five books of motets, 11 anthologies of frottole and six books of music for lute. SignificanceĪ total of 61 music publications by Petrucci are known. In 1536 he returned to Venice at the request of the civic authorities there, and assisted them in printing Greek and Latin texts. During the 1520s Petrucci seems to have made his living managing a paper mill. The competitor who took Petrucci's printing privilege away from him in Rome, Andrea Antico, also took over his printing business in Venice in 1520. In 1516 papal troops ransacked Fossombrone, and Petrucci printed nothing for three years: most likely his equipment was destroyed. In the following years he continued to refine his technique, producing new editions and reprints every few months until 1509, when his activity was interrupted by the war of the League of Cambrai against Venice he departed the city for Fossombrone, where he resumed his activities as a printer.įossombrone being within the papal states, Petrucci applied for a patent with the Pope for the exclusive right to print music, which was granted for several years however the Pope rescinded the patent when Petrucci failed to produce keyboard music, granting it instead to one of Petrucci's competitors at Rome. In 1501 he produced his first book of music, 96 chansons, as the Harmonice musices odhecaton A (sometimes referred to as "the Odhecaton"), which is the earliest known example of printed polyphonic music. The right was very probably granted, since no examples of printed music from other Venetian printers are known before 1520. Around 1490 he went to Venice to learn the art of printing, and in 1498 he petitioned the Doge for the exclusive right to print music for the next 20 years.
Coverage of score types is comprehensive, with full scores, study scores, piano and vocal scores, and piano reductions.He was born in Fossombrone (Pesaro), and probably was educated at Urbino. The collection includes works spanning time periods from the Renaissance to the 21st century. The major composers output is represented, as well as many lesser known composers and works. It includes many older editions of composers’ complete works that are now in the public domain.Ĭlassical Scores Library will contain 400,000 pages of classical scores from both in-copyright and public domain editions. IMSLP attempts to create a virtual library containing all public domain musical scores, as well as scores from composers who are willing to share their music with the world without charge.