John Howell wrote:
Petrucci was a shrewd (or very lucky) businessman. But, we do not
know who he sold books to, or even how many he sold. And it's most
likely that he chose pre-existing music which he knew would sell well,
and therefore is irrelevant in the context of how composers work.
Which I think was my point. He knew or judged that Josquin would sell,
and it did. And who bought the books would be very nice to know, but
just the fact that they sold suggests (IMHO) that they sold to people
who fully intended to perform the music. But I don't recall that this
thread was about "how composers work" (my apologies if my memory is
faulty), just whether they wrote what people enjoyed hearing.
John
I don't accept that the success of Petrucci's innovation is proof that
these books were being bought primarily to use for performances. It's
too big an assumption. I like to draw a parallel with minature scores
of symphonic repertoire - sure, they sell well, but hardly anybody
either plays or conducts from them.
(And I'm not sure what this thread was about to start with, either ;) )
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