dhbailey wrote:
John Howell wrote:
At 5:25 PM +0000 2/1/06, Owain Sutton wrote:
I don't accept that the success of Petrucci's innovation is proof
that these books were being bought primarily to use for
performances. It's too big an assumption. I like to draw a parallel
with minature scores of symphonic repertoire - sure, they sell well,
but hardly anybody either plays or conducts from them.
(And I'm not sure what this thread was about to start with, either ;) )
Well, as long as we agree on that ...!
Your mention of study scores (which I have often enough seen used by
conductors, although these old eyes could no longer mange that
particular trick) suggests that those oversized choirbook-format
publications were used for study rather than performance, even though
that format was intended (and presumably used) for, well, choirs. If
my assumption is too big, yours is even bigger. What use would you
assume they were bought for? (And we've established, I think, that
they were not inexpensive.)
John
Many wealthy people over the centuries have padded their "libraries"
with books they've never read and had no intention of reading, so my
first thought is that wealthy people of Petrucci's time bought them just
so they could appear more erudite than they really were.
Very plausible - I remember making a similar suggestion in fairly
knowledgeable company once, and it was rapidly dismissed by all present.
Which I always took to either indicate that it was nonsense, or that
it was a very good theory. However - it's still pure speculation!
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