Musica Getutscht
A Treatise on Musical Instruments (1511) by Sebastian Virdung

This early German 'do-it-yourself' manual tells us about music-making in the years just before the Reformation.

Sebastian Virdung (Author), Beth Bullard (Edited and translated by)

9780521308304, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 30 July 1993

288 pages, 80 b/w illus.
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.1 cm, 0.59 kg

Musica getutscht (Basel, 1511) is the earliest printed treatise on musical instruments in the West. Written by a priest and chapel singer named Sebastian Virdung, it provided rudimentary instruction on playing three instruments: the clavichord, the lute and the recorder. This early 'do-it-yourself' manual of instruction not only tells us about music-making in that era, it also illumines other aspects of society in the years just before the Reformation. Its author communicates in a popular style, choosing a mixture of media: a written text in the guise of an informal conversation, coupled with woodcut illustrations and visual aids. Enthusiasts of early music and its performance as well as historians of art, society and the German language will welcome Beth Bullard's substantial introduction and annotations, which help explain the text of this important work and its place in intellectual history.

Preface
List of abbreviations
Part I. Translator's Introduction
1. Why study Musica getutscht?
2. A biography of Sebastian Virdung
3. The publication history of Musica getutscht
4. The offspring of Musica getutscht
Part II. Musica Getutscht: 5. A note on the translation
6. Sebastian Virdung's Musica getutscht
Appendix. Transcriptions of documents pertaining to Sebastian Virdung and Musica getutscht
Notes
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Musical instruments & instrumental ensembles [AVR]