John Howell wrote:
I may not completely understand the flow of technological changes,
which is why I ask this question. The "period when music was
generated with handset type," to the best of my knowledge, was the
16th and early 17th centuries.
A little off on the end; the last piece of music I have seen that was
handset was a choral publication by Novello in 1962. It was common up
until about 1950; just about all hymnals and music books produced were
set with handset type, and I have a violin piece (though not by
Paganini) in a volume published at the end of the 19th century, which
was printed from handset type.
By Paganini's lifetime (1782-1840), was music not being printed from
engraved copper plates? And real engraving, with a sharp steel
implement, not punched? If so, anything that could be engraved could
be placed on the printing plates.
I understand punch engraving began to be used in the mid-eighteenth
century; I don't know enough about the history of printing music to know
when and where it was used, or under what conditions. My main intent in
my post was to point out that what we see on the printed page may well
represent the synthesis of the ideas of a number of people, and unless
on has access to the autograph copy by the composer, may not represent
only the composer's intentions.
ns
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