A Collection of Georg Rhau’s Music Editions and Some Previously Unnoticed Works Richard Charteris Predictably the largest collections of mid-sixteenth-century music editions produced in Germany are found on the Continent, the main ones are located in the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin Preussischer Kulturbesitz, the Biblioteka Jagiellonska Kraków, the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek München, the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek Wien and the Bischöfliche Zentralbibliothek Regensburg (those in the first two were once together in Berlin but became separated as a result of World War II). Apart from these libraries, the finest collection of such materials is to be found in the United Kingdom and encompasses sacred and secular compositions as well as instrumental works. Preserved in the British Library in London, the collection reflects the commitment of successive librarians to amassing early Continental materials, a policy at its most productive between the early to mid-nineteenth century and early twentieth century. In regard to the British Library’s mid-sixteenth-century music editions published in Germany, the majority originated from cities then long established as major centres of book publishing. The leading ones include: (1) Nuremberg, where its principal music publishers during this time were Johann Petreius (1497–1550), Hieronymus Formschneider (d. 1556), Johann vom Berg (b. c.1500–1515; d. 1563), Ulrich Neuber (d. 1571) and Katharina Gerlach (b. c.1515–1520; d. 1592); (2) Augsburg, where notable contributors were Philipp Ulhart the Elder (d. 1567 or 1568) and Melchior Kriesstein (b. c.1500; d. 1572 or 1573); and (3) Munich, where someone from a subsequent generation, Adam Berg the Elder (d. 1610), was active from 1564. Two other German cities, Frankfurt am Main and Wittenberg, also gained prominence for music publishing during the mid-sixteenth century. In each one, most of the recognition I would like to thank the Curators and Librarians of the British Library, especially Robert Balchin, Christopher Scobie, Steve Cork, Sandra Pearson and the staff of the Rare Book and Music Reading Room, for their assistance and support during my work in the library and for responding helpfully to my requests for information and photographic material. Also, I am grateful to the staff of the following institutions for their assistance while undertaking research in their libraries and for providing copies of selected materials and information, the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin Preussischer Kulturbesitz, the Biblioteka Jagiellonska Kraków, the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek München, the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek Wien, the Bischöfliche Zentralbibliothek Regensburg, the Staats- und Stadtbibliothek Augsburg, the Bibliothèque Royale de Belgique (Bruxelles), the Sächsische Landesbibliothek – Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden, the Thüringer Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Jena, the Landesbibliothek und Murhardsche Bibliothek der Stadt Kassel, the Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel, the Biblioteka Uniwersytecka Wrocław and others. In addition I am much indebted to the late Geoffrey Cichero for his support and advice. Abbreviations are used for selected publications and electronic materials and are explained in the section ‘Abbreviations’ towards the end of this article, otherwise bibliographic details are recorded in the main text or footnotes. RISM references are included whenever early music editions or early books on music are cited; VD16 references accompany early editions published in Germany in Tables and Lists, and on selected occasions they accompany citations elsewhere. 1 eBLJ 2017, Article 1 8559 eblj Article 11 v10, 2016.indd 1 16/02/2017 09:30 A Collection of Georg Rhau’s Music Editions and Some Previously Unnoticed Works for issuing music publications during this period was achieved by a handful of individuals, such as Christian Egenolff (1502–1555) in Frankfurt am Main and Georg Rhau (1488–1548) in Wittenberg, and following their demise the tradition in these locations was continued by others.1 A number of these German music publishers were closely associated with the Reformation. Christian Egenolff in Frankfurt am Main had connections to well-known Protestant figures, and while music editions form a relatively small component of the 500 or so publications he produced,2 most with secular works, a handful are suitable for use in the Reformed Church, including one he produced in 1550 with hymn tunes by the Lutheran pastor and composer Johann Spangenberg (1484–1550).3 Another person linked to the Reformation was Philipp Ulhart the Elder in Augsburg, who published religious materials for Anabaptists, Lutherans and Zwinglians. He also published music editions containing hymns and other works suitable for Reformed Churches and Schools as well as liturgical compositions for Catholic Churches.4 As will become apparent in due course, one other publisher, Georg Rhau in Wittenberg, enjoyed even closer links to the Reformation.5 The individuals mentioned above were active at a time when publishing proliferated across Europe. Their endeavours were aided by technological advancements, the growth in the availability of paper, a lowering of its cost, an increase in the number of people able to read, 1 Information about these publishers appears in relevant articles in Grove Music Online and MGG2. Details also appear in Reske 2007, pp. 36 (Ulhart), 39 (Kriesstein), 224–6 (Egenolff), 624–5 (Adam Berg), 667–8 (Petreius), 669–70 (Formschneider), 676–8 (Johann vom Berg), 692 (Neuber), 697–8 (Gerlach) and 997–8 (Rhau). For more on early printing and publishers, including in Germany, see Donald W. Krummel and Stanley Sadie (eds), Music Printing and Publishing, The New Grove Handbooks in Musicology (Basingstoke, 1990); Stanley Boorman, Eleanor Selfridge-Field and Donald W. Krummel, ‘Printing and Publishing of Music’, Grove Music Online: <http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/40101>; and Susan Lewis Hammond, Editing Music in Early Modern Germany (Aldershot, 2007). 2 Further details about this publisher appear in Ernst Kelchner, ‘Egenolf, Christian’, ADB, vi (1877), pp. 467–8; Hermann Grotefend, C. Egenolff, der erste ständige Büchdrucker zu Frankfurt a. M., und seine Vorläufer … (Frankfurt am Main, 1881); Josef Benzing, ‘Egenolff, Christian’, NDB, iv (1959), pp. 325–6; Marie Louise Göllner, ‘Egenolff, Christian’, Grove Music Online: <http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/ grove/music/08601?q=Egenolff%2C+Christian>; Royston Gustavson, ‘Egenolff, Egenolf, Egonolphus, Aegenolphus, Christian’, MGG2, Personenteil, vi (2001), cols 98–103; Kulturvereinigung Hadamar (ed.), Christian Egenolff 1502–1555: ein Frankfurter Meister des frühen Buchdrucks aus Hadamar (Limburg, 2002), which includes a catalogue of his publications on pp. 47–97; and Reske 2007, pp. 224–6 and 881–2. 3 Johann Spangenberg, Hymni ecclesiastici duodecim, summis festivitatibus ab ecclesia solenniter cantari soliti, annotationibus piis explanati . (Frankfurt am Main: Christian Egenolff, 1550; RISM series B/VIII, 155010; VD16 S 7814 and S 8097; the British Library possesses a copy preserved at Hirsch III.1104.); the publication mostly includes literary material. Further information about Spangenberg appears in Paul Tschackert, ‘Spangenberg, Johann’, ADB, xxxv (1893), pp. 43–6; Clement A. Miller and Clytus Gottwald, ‘Spangenberg: (1) Johann Spangenberg’, Grove Music Online: <http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/ music/26356pg1?q=Spangenberg%3A+%281%29+Johann+Spangenberg>; Michael Zywietz, ‘Spangenberg, 1. Johann’, MGG2, Personenteil, xv (2006), cols 1139–40; and Thomas Kaufmann, ‘Spangenberg, 1) Johann(es)’, NDB, xxiv (2010), pp. 622–3. A partial list of his publications is found in Leaver 2007, pp. 213–4. 4 For more on this publisher, see K. Steiff, ‘Ulhart, Philipp’, ADB, xxxix (1895), pp. 186–7; Karl Schottenloher, Philipp Ulhart: ein Augsburger Winkeldrucker und Helfershelfer der ‘Schwärmer’ und ‘Wiedertäufer’ (1523– 1529), Historische Forschungen und Quellen, 4 (Munich, 1921; reprinted Nieuwkoop, 1967); Marie Louise Göllner, ‘Ulhart [Ulhard], Philipp’, Grove Music Online: <http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/ article/grove/music/28730?q=Ulhart+%5BUlhard%5D%2C+Philipp>; Birgit Lodes, ‘Ulhart, Ulhard, Philipp’, MGG2, Personenteil, xvi (2006), cols 1191–2; Reske 2007, p. 36; and Kat Hill, ‘Anabaptism and the World of Printing in Sixteenth-Century Germany’, Past & Present, ccxxvi (February, 2015), pp. 79–114. Further information about Anabaptism and Lutheranism appears in Kat Hill, Baptism, Brotherhood, and Belief in Reformation Germany: Anabaptism and Lutheranism, 1525–1585, Oxford Historical Monographs (Oxford, 2015). 2 eBLJ 2017, Article 1 8559 eblj Article 11 v10, 2016.indd 2 16/02/2017 09:30 A Collection of Georg Rhau’s Music Editions and Some Previously Unnoticed Works and an escalation in collecting by individuals and institutions. Music publishers also benefited from a change in the process of printing, one which made it cheaper and better suited to meet the burgeoning demand for their products. At the beginning of the sixteenth century, the Italian music publisher Ottaviano Petrucci (1466–1539) pioneered the printing of polyphony using movable type, producing exquisite editions using three impressions, the first with the notes, the second with the staves, and the third with the text, initial letters, signatures and pagination.6 Petrucci’s method was too expensive for the broader market and subsequent