In 1619, there was a great theft in the city of Venice. Over the course of two to three years in St. Mark’s Basilica, a singer named Leonardo Simonetti likely heard and sang the beautiful music of his colleague, Alessandro Grandi. In secret, Simonetti acquired the drafts of these songs and edited them into a collection of motets which were then printed under the title Celesti Fiori.
I recently had the distinct pleasure of attending the 2022 International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres (IAML) Conference in beautiful Prague, where I presented a report on our score manuscript digitization project. It was a wonderful, music-filled experience shared with friends old and new. I hope you enjoy this travelogue.
St. Vitus Cathedral
For your browsing pleasure, and in no particular order:
Daniels' orchestral music, 6th ed. / David Daniels, David W. Oertel, David A. Rahbee
Lexikon der Musikberufe : Geschichte, Tätigkeitsfelder, Ausbildung / herausgegeben von Martin Lücke
Appenzeller. Masses. v. I / [Benedictus Appenzeller] ; edited by Eric Jas
Bach, CPE. Sonatas from manuscript sources. n| II / Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach ; edited by Mark W. Knoll ; Die Auferstehung und Himmelfahrt Jesu / Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach ; edited by Ulrich Leisinger ; Passion according to St. Matthew : (1781) / Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach ; pasticcio incorporating music by Johann Sebastian Bach, Georg Benda, and Gottfried August Homilius ; edited by Ulrich Leisinger ; Passion according to St. Mark : (1782) / Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach ; pasticcio incorporating music by Georg Benda, Johann Gottlieb Graun, Gottfried August Homilius, and Georg Philipp Telemann ; edited by Evan Cortens
As I cradle the book in my hands, flecks of its leathered paper-board cover release into the free air. Carried affectionately like dandelion wisps in the summer breeze, the flecks disperse from the margins of their centuries-old home and, fearing nothing, return to the very dust of matter from which they were born. I’m reminded in this seeing and feeling of my own mortality, my impermanent nature. I recognize myself in these flecks, not knowing how or why but that we are undeniably connected.