Ottaviano Petrucci's Lamentationum liber primus and liber secundus (1506/1 and 1506/2); a bibliographical) contextual and analytical study

Abstract

This thesis examines the context, manufacture and content of the Italian printer Ottaviano de Petracci's two Lamentation volumes of 1506. It addresses issues such as Petrucci's initial decision to dedicate a print series to Lamentations, as well as his production methods and commercial considerations. This thesis offers an explanation for the seemingly disparate assortment of composers, together with a discussion concerning the non-Lamentation texts; chapter 5 argues that these texts were central to the commercial viability and success of the prints, intended, as they undoubtedly were, for the Italian laudesi. Such interest partly explains the simple musical style of the laude contained in 15๐6/1, that print having the distinction of being the only Petrucci print to contain two-part sacred polyphony. Computer software enabled microscopic analysis of the print elements in the extant copies, resulting in a surprisingly large number of variants, errors and stop-press corrections. They indicate disruption to the printing process and probably contributed to the publication date of 1506/1, being as late as the Wednesday in Holy Week that year. There are three principal findings in this thesis: first, the two-part Trecento setting of 'Aleph' in the manuscript Vicenza, Seminario Vescovile, MS U.VIII.3, and the anonymous Lamentations in Bologna, Biblioteca Universitaria, MS 2931, support the notion that polyphonic Lamentations existed in Italy from the fourteenth century, suggesting a diverse and widespread tradition. Musicologists have previously considered the settings of Johannes de Quadris as being the earliest complete extant liturgical or para-liturgical Lamentations; those in Bu 2931 are somewhat earlier. Second, the printing disruption suggested by the variants and errors is supported by the watermark evidence. Third, the discovery of an independent version of Marbrianus de Orto’s Lamentations in the manuscript Cape Town, Grey, 3.b.i2, shows the monastic enthusiasm for the embellishment of Holy Week music during the fifteenth century.