Music Printing in Sixteenth-Century Strasbourg

Abstract

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.