What Arthur Ness says is very interesting, I have just one doubt: was a servant really as expensive as today, or should we rather consider the price of a horse versus a car?
Anyway, something more about money used in Italy in the XVI Century: 1 lira -libbra (1 pound of silver = 408gr) = 20 soldi= 240 denari=960 quattrini 1 denaro= 1,7 grams of silver =4 ( or two) quattrini The system was created in 790 AD as above and mantained until the French Revolution introduced the decimal system (everywhere but in Great Britain). In Genoa a pound (317grams) of meat cost 2 soldi in 1500 , a servant boy or a cleaner ( woman) earned 6 soldi a day, an adult ( man) about 10-15 soldi a day according to the kind of job ( ="mestiere " -craft). I don't know about Rome, but according to this the cost of lute music described was equivalent to two days work of a craftsman. Before Gutemberg things were different: in Pavia's University doctor Sylanus Niger in 1400 had a library of about 30 medical books, valued 133 1\2 fiorini, while the lawyer Jacopo De Ascheriis had 15 books about law estimated 385 fiorini. Two "antifonari" ( books of prayers and music) in Pavia in 1495 cost 55 fiorini (38 of which to write words and music). A University Professor in Pavia in 1435 could earn from 10 to 50 fiorini a year. Donatella http://spazioinwind.libero.it/donatella_galletti/index.htm ----- Original Message ----- From: "Arthur Ness (boston)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "LUTE NET" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, October 13, 2003 7:18 PM Subject: Re: The cost of lute music > I think if one were to investigate the price of score in the 16th century, > you would find that their high price made them accessible only to wealthy > persons. (And many professional lutenists were wealthy.) I once looked > into the price of high quality paper in 16th century Augsburg, paper of the > kind one would use to copy lute music. A ream of folio sized paper (about > 9x12) in Augsburg cost the equivalent of a kitchen servant's monthly > salary. Today a ream of highest quality paper could be bought with three > hour's work by a dishwasher. I should also have checked the price of other > items in daily use, such as a loaf of bread. > > The cost of copying pieces onto that paper was probably rather modest o9n > those days if one hired a professional scribe. The salaries were probably > rather low because there were so many of them (like lawyers today). The > Augsburg guild of scribes refused to take apprinetices unless they agreed > to leave Augsburg when their training ended, because of the glut of > scribes. So it would probably be rather inexpensive to have tablatures > copied, and from time to time one does encounter what is surely the work of > a professional scribe. I have wondered how easy it was to purchsase a > handwritten book of lute music in a stationer's shop. I do know one > instance of such a manuscript.. Some stationers had equipment for drawing > stave lines (not just a rastral). > > Not too much has been studied about professional scriptoria, althogh we are > coming to realize that many music publishers also sold music copied by > hand, perhaps on demand. The most famous was the Breitkopf scirptorium in > Leipzig during the 18th century. They had music from throughout Euroipe > and would on order [rovide hadnwritten copies. They even published famous > thematic catlaogues of their offerings, including some tablatures with > music by SLWeiss, some of which has not survived. The largest collection > of lute music from the Breitkopf scriptorium is from the library of Fétis, > the 19th-century music lexicographer, whose library went to the Royal > Library in Brussels. These are the concertos, partitas, suites etc. that > so many of you play by Kohaut, Durand, Falkenhagen, Hagen, Weiss, Baron, > Kropfgans, et al. Fétis bought three or four bundles of music from the > Breitkopf auction of 1820. The auction lot numbers are still on the music. > > __________________________________________________________________ Tiscali ADSL e' SENZA CANONE, paghi solo quello che consumi! Abbonati subito, Gratis per te un anno di Supermail e tanti servizi in piu'! http://point.tiscali.it/adsl/index.shtml
