The ''Harmonice Musices Odhecaton'' (One Hundred Songs of Harmonic Music, also known simply as the ''Odhecaton'') is an anthology of polyphonic secular songs published by

Ottaviano Petrucci Ottaviano Petrucci (born in Fossombrone on 18 June 1466 – died on 7 May 1539 in Venice) was an Italian printer. His '' Harmonice Musices Odhecaton'', a collection of chansons printed in 1501, is commonly misidentified as the first book of sheet ...

in 1501 in Venice. It is the first book of

polyphonic Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice, monophony, or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords, ...

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...

ever to be printed using

movable type Movable type (US English; moveable type in British English) is the system and technology of printing and typography that uses movable components to reproduce the elements of a document (usually individual alphanumeric characters or punctuation m ...

. (Printing plainchant with movable type had been possible since the 1470s.) The ''Odhecaton'' was hugely influential both in publishing in general and in dissemination of the

Franco-Flemish The designation Franco-Flemish School, also called Netherlandish School, Burgundian School, Low Countries School, Flemish School, Dutch School, or Northern School, refers, somewhat imprecisely, to the style of polyphonic vocal music composition or ...

musical style.

Background

Seeing the business potential for music printing, in 1498 Petrucci had obtained an exclusive 20-year license for all printing activities related to music anywhere in the

Venetian Republic The Republic of Venice ( vec, Repùblega de Venèsia) or Venetian Republic ( vec, Repùblega Vèneta, links=no), traditionally known as La Serenissima ( en, Most Serene Republic of Venice, italics=yes; vec, Serenìsima Repùblega de Venèsia ...

. Three years later, in 1501, he brought out his first anthology, 96 secular songs, mostly

French

chanson A (, , french: chanson française, link=no, ; ) is generally any lyric-driven French song, though it most often refers to the secular polyphonic French songs of late medieval and Renaissance music. The genre had origins in the monophonic so ...

s, for three or four voice parts, calling it the ''Harmonice musices odhecaton''. For this work he printed two parts on the right-hand side of a page, and two parts on the left, so that four singers or instrumentalists could read from the same sheet. The type was probably designed, cut, and cast by Francesco Griffo and Jacomo Ungaro, both of whom were in Venice at the time. The collection included music by some of the most famous composers of the time, including

Johannes Ockeghem Johannes Ockeghem ( – 6 February 1497) was a Franco-Flemish composer and singer of early Renaissance music. Ockeghem was the most influential European composer in the period between Guillaume Du Fay and Josquin des Prez, and he was—with hi ...

Josquin des Prez Josquin Lebloitte dit des Prez ( – 27 August 1521) was a composer of High Renaissance music, who is variously described as French or Franco-Flemish. Considered one of the greatest composers of the Renaissance, he was a central figure of the ...

Antoine Brumel Antoine Brumel (c. 1460 – 1512 or 1513) was a French composer. He was one of the first renowned French members of the Franco-Flemish school of the Renaissance, and, after Josquin des Prez, was one of the most influential composers of his gene ...

Antoine Busnois Antoine Busnois (also Busnoys; – before 6 November 1492) was a French composer, singer and poet of early Renaissance music. Busnois and colleague Johannes Ockeghem were the leading European composers of the second half the 15th century, and ...

Alexander Agricola Alexander Agricola (; born Alexander Ackerman; – 15 August 1506) was a Netherlandish composer of the Renaissance writing in the Franco-Flemish style. A prominent member of the ''Grande chapelle'', the Habsburg musical establishment, he wa ...

, Jacob Obrecht,

Hayne van Ghizeghem Hayne van Ghizeghem ( 1445 – 1476 to 1497) was a Franco-Flemish composer of the early Renaissance Burgundian School. While many of his works have survived, little is known about his life. He was probably born in Gijzegem (near Aalst, in mode ...

. Many of the works contained in it (as is often the case in manuscripts and early printed collections) are anonymous. The book was edited by Petrus Castellanus, a Dominican friar who was ''maestro di cappella'' of San Giovanni e Paolo. Inclusion of composers in this famous collection did much to enhance their notability, since the prints, and the technology, were to spread around Europe in the coming decades. The ''Odhecaton'' used the triple-impression technique, in which first the musical staff was printed, then the text, and then the notes. Most of the 96 pieces, although they were written as songs, were not provided with the text, implying that instrumental performance was intended for many of them. Texts for most can be found in other manuscript sources or later publications. The first edition of the ''Odhecaton'' (''Harmonice Musices Odhecaton A'') does not survive complete, and the exact publication date is not known, but it includes a dedication dated May 15, 1501. The second and third editions were printed on January 14, 1503 and May 25, 1504, respectively. Each corrected several errors of the previous editions. Petrucci published two further anthologies, the ''Canti B'' and ''Canti C'', in 1502 and 1504, respectively. Petrucci's publication not only revolutionized music distribution: it contributed to making the Franco-Flemish style the international musical language of Europe for the next century, since even though Petrucci was working in Italy, he chiefly chose the music of Franco-Flemish composers for inclusion in the ''Odhecaton'', as well as in his next several publications.Reese, p. 185 A few years later he published several books of native Italian frottole, a popular song style which was the predecessor to the

madrigal A madrigal is a form of secular vocal music most typical of the Renaissance (15th–16th c.) and early Baroque (1600–1750) periods, although revisited by some later European composers. The polyphonic madrigal is unaccompanied, and the number ...

, but the inclusion of Franco-Flemish composers in his many publications was decisive on the diffusion of the musical language.

References

Citations

Sources

* Boorman, Stanley. "Petrucci, Ottaviano (dei)", Grove Music Online, ed. Deane Root (Accessed March 29, 2014)
(subscription access)
* Boorman, Stanley, Eleanor Selfridge-Field, and Donald W. Krummel. "Printing and Publishing of Music", Grove Music Online, ed. Deane Root (Accessed March 29, 2014)
(subscription access)
* Gleason, Harold, and Warren Becker. ''Music in the Middle Ages and Renaissance'' (Music Literature Outlines Series I). Bloomington, Indiana: Frangipani Press, 1986.
''Harmonice Musices Odhecaton A''
ed. Helen Hewitt and Isabel Pope (literary texts). Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Mediaeval Academy of America, 1942. * Reese, Gustav. ''Music in the Renaissance''. New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1954.

External links

Amherst Early Music
has published a spiral-bound performance edition of the ''Odhecaton'' which lies flat and contains no page turns. * {{Authority control 1501 books 16th century in music Renaissance music Music anthologies Music sources