Publications

With the support of CNR (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche) and SIDM (Società Italiana di Musicologia), 30 Italian experts contributed to the first major dictionary (after Claudio Sartori’s pioneering Dizionario degli editori musicali italiani of 1958) that comprehensively gathers information on publishers, printers, and booksellers of music, active in Italy between 1750 and 1930, a period hitherto ignored. In her foreword the volume’s editor, Bianca Maria Antolini, explains the timeframe: 1770 marks the beginning of a boost in Italian music publishing, while the 1930s constituted a pivotal change (new sound reproduction technologies altered music consumption, which affected the publishing world). The nearly 400 entries provide a structured frame of music publishing, production, and consumption in Italy. Publishers are presented with biographical information and company history (including changes of name, location, and ownership and mergers), modes of dissemination, and technology. The Dizionario is also an essential source for the dating of music publishing, as it includes lists of editorial numbers and plate numbers (such as for Lucca and Ricordi). It provides scientifically accurate and well-documented information on a significant part of European music publishing. As a solid point of reference, and complementing similar international initiatives, it is an important publication for musicologists, librarians, and bibliographers (of music and other topics).