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Musical Offerings
⦁
2016
⦁
Volume 7
⦁
Number 2
75
Figure 5: Einstätt Fragment Plate I
31
As mentioned previously, Petrucci reigns in the eyes of many historians
as the father of music printing and, to them, his publications represent
“perfection” in elegance and aesthetic. In each of the general music
history textbooks which I have surveyed, Petrucci’s methods were
elaborated upon and Attaingnant received less mention, if he was
mentioned at all. However, after this review of the materials and methods
of Petrucci and their comparison to those of Attaingnant, a convincing
case has yet to be made for their superiority. Petrucci’s ink recipe was
common for his time, and the quality of his paper was inconsistent
throughout his career. His type, while spaced very evenly through the
process of kerning, was never altered to accommodate lyrics or note
duration. While Petrucci may or may not have engraved his own type,
Attaingnant had his professionally manufactured in his later career by
Granjon—a decision which improved the visual quality of his
publications. Petrucci’s method was far more expensive, due to both the
need for type-setting with spacing sorts and the time required of multiple
impressions. Even after all this, the notes were not guaranteed to end up
on the correct line of the staff. Attaingnant solved a great deal of these
problems by capitalizing on the single impression method, and yet
today’s historians seem to have forgotten him, merely because his staff
lines are not as consistently smooth. Could Petrucci’s success and
Attaingnant’s relative obscurity be explained by some reason other than
their differences in technical procedures?
31
Heartz, “A New Attaingnant Book,” unnumbered page.