Nicola Tangari - Walter Tortoreto, «Musical Sources in Italy: Conservation and Research», Giulianova Lido, 18-20 May 1989 (Congress Report)

The first national congress on the conservation and study of musical sources in Italy, organized by the Italian Musicological Society and the Centro Studi Musicali «G. Braga», was dedicated in its variuos sessions to the particular questions arising from the role of government institutions, universities, conservatories, research institutes, libraries and library personnel; the large-scale computerized cataloguing progjects (SBL-Musica, Acom) financed under the youth employment provisions of the Finance Act 1986; the National Library Service (SBN); cataloguing rules; specific categories of musical sources: liturgical manuscripts, theoretical treatises, musical periodicals, sound archives (folk music), sound archives (general), twentieth-century music, musical instruments. The various issues are discussed in the Report. The final motion of the conference, passed unanimously by participants, described as «altogether inadequate, contradictory and tardy government action in respect of the nation's musical heritage», in particular as regards an assessment of its «effective size and typology», «the systematic census of materials (not merely partial as has been the case until now)» using specialized personnel, «efficient State intervention for the conservation of the national music heritage (above all, those areas subject to rapid deterioration)», the creation of adequate structures to ensure availability of materials to scholars. It rejects the policy of fragmentary or emergency intervention all too characteristic of past government action, and proposes: 1) that the results of the conference and prospects for the future be referred by representatives of the General Council of the Italian Musicological Society and Scientific Committee of the Giulianova conference before the Education, Science and Culture Commissions of the Chamber and Senate, as also before the appropriate State institutions; 2) the creation, on the part of the Ministero per i Beni Culturali e Ambientali, of a consultative committee comprised, essentially, of effective representatives of institutions involved in musicological and bibliographical research in Italy, in particular the Italian Musicological Society, with power to co-opt members from other Ministries concerned with particular questions. Particularly urgent problems regard the structure, personnel and equipment of the historical Conservatory libraries and musical sections of other State libraries; the role of the universities in the formation of personnel with adequate scientific and professional capacities in the conservation and restoration of musical sources.

Bianca Maria Antolini, Music Publishing in Italy from the Eighteenth to Twnentieth Centuries: Sources and Bibliography

Interest in Italian music publishing from the eighteenth to twentieth centuries has lagged well behind that for other countries or, indeed, for previous centuries in Italy: the New Grove article on Printing and Publishing of Music, for example, cites a single Italian printer - Ricordi - for the entire ninteenth century. Research on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century music publishing has been dominated by the problem of dating individual editions; at best, studies on publishing in general have dealt only partially and indirectly with the musical sector. This reflects a real historical difference between musical and non-musical publishing: the former, above all in the nineteenth century, seems more closely linked to the typical mechanisms of operatic production and musical commerce (instruments, etc.) than with general publishing. The relationship between musical publishing and theatrical organization has been investigated for a limited number of individual publishers, centres and periods; yet no detailed or general studies on this topic are presently available. Detailed discussions of music publishing in individual centres, investigated in all its various aspects (relationships with theatres and political authorities, printing and diffusion, musical commerce and non-musical publishing in general), are no easier to find. Studies of individual publishers are frequently celebrative in intent (in so far as produced on occasion of centenaries and other one-off events) but do have the advantage of referring, for the most part, to the surviving archives of the publishers concerned. The respective productions of nineteenth-century musical publishers can be reconstructed on the basis of their various catalogues, as also through listings of the works of individual composers. Most useful among modern catalogues of printed music are RISM and the card index of the Ufficio Ricerca Fondi Musicali, now computerized and shortly to be made available in the context of the national SBL Musica project. The dating of individual editions is frequently facilitated by date-stamps on copies sent by printers to the National Deposit Libraries. The present contribution gives brief descriptions of 118 studies and editions, divide among the following categories: a) general; b)studies on individual centres; c) studies on individual publishers; d) publishers' catalogues; e) bibliographies and catalogues of the works of individual editions; f) studies on individual editions; g) particular aspects of printed repertories; h) collections of letters; i) copyright laws; l) periodicals.

Rosa Cafiero - Francesca Seller, The «Giornale del Regno delle Due Sicilie» (1817-1860) as a Source for the History of Music Printing in Naples

The present investigation of music printing in Naples (1817-1860) through publishers' advertisements in the «Giornale del Regno delle Due Sicilie» is a first contribution to a study which must necessarily take account of other musical and non-musical periodicals and, above all, archival sources. Neapolitan music publishing of the period is dominated by the firm of Girard; the not inconsiderable presence of 'minor' figures on the local scene does, however, give a notable degree of variety. The repertory is largely centred on the contemporary operatic and ballet repertories, with reductions of dances, favourite pieces and entire operas for solo piano, voice and piano, piano duet and, later, a whole series of Hausmusikensembles; other forms of music inspired by recent operatic succecces are pot-pourris and variations. The production of the publisher Tramater also includes chamber music, drawing-room compositions for solo piano and theoretical works; and an advertisement of 1827 documents the continued presence of at least one firm of traditional copyists. Particularly popular among production methods is copper-plate printing, for whose introduction Annibale Patrelli was granted a patent in 1818; movable-type printing is, however, used by Vincenzo Lipami, «printer of the Real Conservatorio». Copper- plate engraving, Patrelli affirms, not only considerably reduces costs but also eliminates the high rate of error in the work of copyists and avoids the delays thus caused in operatic productions; his contract as supplier of orchestral parts to the Neapolitan theatres is, however, cancelled after something less than a year. An important aspect of the music printing trade in Naples during the period under consideration is the presence of outsiders: above all, Milanese (Giovanni Ricordi) and French publishers. Right from his first advertisements in 1847, the publisher Clausetti assumes the designation «P. Clausetti di Milano», underlining his close links with Ricordi (with whom he subsequently merges). For his part, Girard emphasises the lower cost of his publications compared to those of his Milanese rivals. The study concludes with a list of publishers active in Naples, 1817-1860, and a year-by-year listing of advertisements for musical publications in the «Giornale del Regno delle Due Sicilie» for the period 1817-1840. Advertisements for 1841-1860 and comprehensive indices will appear in «Le fonti musicali in Italia», IV.

Bonifacio Giacomo Baroffio, Italian Liturgical Manuscripts: Research, Study, Cataloguing. III (1980-1989)

The year 1989 saw the publication of the first results of a long- term project comprising studies and editions of Beneventan chant, conducted by J. Boe, Th. F. Kelly and A. E. Planchart; this will undoubtedly lend considerable impetus to further research in liturgical music in medieval Italy. A further intersting addition to the same field of study is the preparation of a CD-ROM containing the images of six manuscripts of Beneventan chant from the Biblioteca Nazionale, Naples, and an ample database of particular benefit for multiple research over a variety of parameters. In general, the Italian State Archives continue to yield a surprising number of 'new' discoveries of chant materials, whose quality and quantity invites further investigation of public, ecclesiastical and private archives, together with collections of early printed books (whose bindings frequently contain manuscript materials) in these and other libraries. It also invites reflection two serious problems: 1) the conservation and utilization of fragments, not least in terms of their systematic cataloguing by means of appropriate criteria and the effective possibility for consultation: in many cases, it will not be necessary to detach the fragments from theirpresent, centuries-old physical locations; 2) the articulated description of the fragments, with particular attention for peculiarities of liturgical or musical content or codicological structure. Interdisciplinary collaboration is necessary for the elaboration of adequate methodologies for cataloguing and research. The present contribution describes 94 recent studies of Italian liturgical manuscripts, divided among the categories: a) chants and sources of the Mass; b) chants and sources of the liturgical Hours; c) lectionaries, homiliaries, pontificals, martyrologies, calendars, necrologies; d) Ambrosian and Beneventan liturgies; e) liturgical centres, scriptoria, libraries; f) studies on decorations and miniatures; g) various.

Joachim Schlichte, The 83.243 Music Incipits of the RISM Data-Base: Comparison and Research

Albeit a mere fraction of the total repertory, the 83,243 musical incipits (from some 60,000 manuscript sources) comprising the RISM data-base offer a practical first approach to resolving the problems of anonymous works and uncertain or conflicting attributions. Previous attempts at comparison of musical incipits, based on a principle here defined as «from the general to the particular» (cf., in particular, the so-called «Melischer Index» of the Langenburg Katalog, «Fontes artis musicae», 1978, and S. C. BRYANT A Melodic Index to Haydn's Instrumental Music, New York, Perdragon Press 1982), have proved incapable of dealing with anything but specific questions regarding particular research projects: these systems are based essentially on the parameters of pitch and, in the case of the «Melischer Index», intervals, without reference to the so-called 'secondary' parameters. The RISM data-base follows, rather, the inverse procedure «from the particular to the general». First, the incipit is translated into Plaine & Easy Code, with indication of all significant parameters (clefs; alterations; time signatures; pitch, register, duration of notes; presence of bar-line or corona; etc.); it is then further coded for analysis and comparison with other incipits in the data-base, in accordance with the chosen criteria of equality or similarity. The result is retranslated into Plaine & Easy Code and printed (identical incipits are distinguished graphically from similar incipits). The potential of the data-base, itself in continuous expansion, is well illustrated by the following statistics. There are 915 concordances (1.099% of the data-base) for compositions by Mozart and Haydn with conflicting attributions or without name of auhtor. In general, diverging attributions account for 6,17% of sources (5,000 incipits). Of 144 doubtful works by Mozart and Haydn, 33 (22.916%) have been identified through concordances. Of a total of 14,00 anonymous compositions in the data-base, 292 (2%) can now be given attributions. Particular uses regard the identification and attribution of single arias and cases in which one author copies or draws inspiration from another; the user has the further possibility of excluding one or more of the parameters of research (bar-lines; rythms; ornaments; tonalities, for detection of transpositions; etc.).

Elena Ferrari Barassi, Recent Developments in the Study of Musical Iconography in Italy

Syntomatic of the steadily growing interest of musicologists in iconographical studies is the appearance, in recent decades, of series such as «Musikgeschichte in Bildern» (Leipzig, 1961- ) and the periodical «Imago Musicae», founded in 1984 by RIdIM. Evident benefits occur in such disparate fields of study as performance practice, the restoration and construction of musical instruments, and the study of the allegorical and sociological significances of musical instruments. In Italy, the last twelve years have seen a proliferation of initiatives, promoted by the Italian Musicological Society, by the Universities of Perugia, Milan, Pavia, Palermo (national coordinators for a time from 1982) and Naples, by the Comitato Regionale Pugliese of the Istituto di Bibliografia Musicale and by group of researchers coordinated by the author, centred at the Conservatory of Milan. Only the two latter projects are presently active. The cataloguing of sources in the Milan project has been temporarily suspended with a view to the creation of a nation-wide data-base capable of accomodating information on all the various forms of musical iconography. An initial section of the computerized cataloguing format is identical for all types of iconographical sources, after which divergencies occur. To date, individual formats have been prepared by the author for the following source categories: objects and works of art; archeological remains; drawings; prints; manuscripts; publications. A guide to the use of the new format will be produced in the near future. Three appendices to the article contain: a summary description of the new format; a list of theses in musical iconography discussed at the University of Pavia (Scuola di Paleografia e Filologia Musical, Cremona) between the academic years 1986/87 (winter session) and 1989/90 (summer session); a note on the compurerized structure of the new format.

Bibliographical Research in the Regions, 1989

This region-by-region survey of research on musical sources in Italy in 1989 includes a miscellany of information provided by local corrispondents on conferences, seminars, current projects, discoveries of sources , local problems. For a bibliography of current studies on musical sources, readers are referred to the General Bibliography in the present volume. Of particular interest among the various initiatives is the formation of the Centro di Ricerche Musicali Francesco Florimo of Naples, whose statute among other things, provides for the the «cataloguing of musical, archival and iconographical materials»; another newly-estabilished regional group is the Associazione Ligure per la Ricerca delle Fonti Musicali; discussions are under way for the formation of a similar Association in Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Cataloguing projects in progress regard musical and liturgical sources in the Fondo Bonandrini, Bergamo; Fondo Franchi, Brescia; Archivio di Stato, Chieti (loose parchments); Archivio Capitolare, Cividale; Duomo, Cremona; Istituto Musicale «L. Boccherini», Lucca; Fondo Noseda, Milan Conservatory (new analytical catalogue); Biblioteca Universitaria, Pisa (manuscripts); Basilica di S. Giovanni in Laterano, Rome (analytical catalogue); Curia Arcivescovile, Teramo; Istituto Musicale pareggiato «G. Briccialdi», Terni; Fondo Foà -Giordano and Fondo Riserva Musicale, Biblioteca Nazionale, Turin; Collezione Giorgio Fanan, Turin; biblioteca Comunale «V. Joppi», Udine; Cappella del Duomo, Udine; Fonoteca Regionale «O. Trotta», Umbria (scores, tapes, records). (For further projects, see vols I and II of «Le fonti musicali in Italia».) Otherprojects of a regional nature include bibliographies of local musical history (Marches, Veneto), the formation of Centres of Regional Documentatio (Calabria, Marches, Tuscany), the compilation of unified regional catalogues of musical sources (Marches).

Marcello Ruggieri, Legislation on Italy's Musical Heritage: Dossier '89

Legislation on the conservation, cataloguing and study of the national musical heritage registered few gains in 1989. To this day, the reportof a commission established to investigate the protection of the national cultural and natural heritage (the so-called «commissione Giannini») awaits conversion to law. A nine- year plan for expenditure on the «recovery, restoration and utilization of the country's cultural heritage» met a substantially hostile reaction, though part of its content was later incorporated into new legislation (cf. the so-called «legge Facchiano», below). A series of private and Ministry-promoted initiatives regarding theatre, dance and musical activities were heavily penalized by the cuts introduced in the Finance Act 1991. More fortunate was the outcome of a series of proposals approved as the «legge Facchiano», whose declared aims are as follows: a) a systematic ctaloguing of the country's artistic, historical, architectural, archeological, linguistic, ethnographical, book and archival heritage, above all in view of the Act of European Union of 31/12/1992; b) the rational utilization of the aforesaid patrimony and scientific and documentary results of the cataloguing projects financed under the youth employment provisions of the Finance Act 1986; c) the preparation of an up- to-date chart regarding areas of risk and urgent intervention in Italy's historical, architectural and artistic heritage; d) the conservation, re-ordering and caataloguing of archival materials; e) the expansion of research activities and training in the areas of restoration, conservation and cataloguing of the said cultural heritage. Projects regarding music fall largely under the overall direction of the Istituto Centrale per il Catalogo Unico delle Biblioteche Italiane (ICCU) and are initially conceived as follows: the continuation of two cataloguing projects (SBL-Musica; Acom) begun under the provisions of the Finance Act 1986; the cataloguing of audio and audio-visual materials (specific competence of the Discoteca di Stato); the development of a national ethnohistorical archive based, among other things, on the identification and cataloguing of audio and audiovisual materials of particular interest.