A Reevaluation of Virdung's "Musica Getutscht"

A Reevaluation of Virdung's "Musica getutscht"
Author(s): Edwin M. Ripin

Source: Journal of the American Musicological Society , Summer, 1976, Vol. 29, No. 2
(Summer, 1976), pp. 189-223
Published by: University of California Press on behalf of the American Musicological
Society
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/831017
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A Reevaluation of Virdung's Musica getutscht*
BY EDWIN M. RIPIN
SEBASTIAN VIRDUNG'S treatise, Musica getutscht, of 1511i is the earliest

printed work to deal with musical instruments and is one of the
earliest printed works on music in a vernacular language. It served, more-
over, as a model for a number of other books in the sixteenth century,
illustrations from it were reproduced by Praetorius in the seventeenth
century, and others (because of their appearance in Luscinius's Musurgia
seu praxis musicae) were reproduced by Hawkins and discussed by Bur-
ney in the eighteenth century. As a result, Virdung's place in history is
assured; however, any attempt at a balanced assessment of Musica getutscht
must consider the value of its contents and the precise nature and extent
of its influence and not merely the date of its publication and the novelty
of its presentation. The identification of a hitherto virtually unnoticed
variant version of the treatise seems to provide a suitable opportunity for
making such an attempt, which it is hoped will show the work in a rather
different light than heretofore, particularly with relation to the group of
treatises generally described as copies or translations of it.
The first words of Virdung's lengthy title, Musica getutscht vnd
auszgezoge durch Sebastianit virdung Priesters von Amberg vnd alles
gesang ausz den notj in die tabulature diser benanti dryer Instrumite der
Orgeln: der Lautj: und d' Flo6ten transferieren zu lerni Kurtzlich gemacht
..., may be translated "Treatise on Music Germanized and Extracted"
and refer to the facts that the text is in the vernacular rather than the
Latin that was still the norm for treatises of all kinds in the early sixteenth
century and that the work was compiled from a larger treatise,' now lost
(if, indeed, Virdung ever completed it).2 The book is a small quarto of
* At one point in the present study, its author suggests that Sebastian Virdung
"died only shortly after writing Musica getutscht, possibly not living long enough
even to see the work through the press and to correct the proofs." The reference
is characteristic of Edwin Ripin's style and scholarship, placing meticulous factual
detail in a warmly human context. Tragically, the circumstances described in this
reference have become Prof. Ripin's own, for he died on November 12, 1975, before
he had the opportunity to see the proofs of the present study.-Ed.
1 In his dedication to the Bishop of Strasbourg, Virdung refers to Musica getutscht
as "ein cleins tractetlin auss den gantzen biich zii zeichn" (fol. Aij); he subsequently
alludes to the larger work at several points in the text, asserting that various matters
treated only briefly or omitted entirely in Musica getutscht are there treated at length.
2 On the basis of a statement in the dedication of Ottomar Luscinius's Musica seu
praxis musicae (see fn. 48 below), it seems likely that Virdung died only shortly
after writing Musica getutscbt, possibly not living long enough even to see the work
through the press and to correct the proofs.

154.59.125.36 on Sat, 30 Dec 2023 20:45:54 +00:00
190 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY
some 12 unnumbered pages, of which the first eight are devoted to the
title page, dedicatory letter to the Bishop of Strasbourg, introduction, and
an illustration showing the two participants in the dialogue that consti-
tutes the text proper. This dialogue takes place between "Sebastianus"-
that is, Virdung himself-and a fictional rustic, "Andreas Silvanus,"" whose
role is the same as that of Philomathes in Morley's Plaine and Easie Intro-
duction: to feed the master cues in the form of appropriate questions and
to lighten the tone of the exposition. The first quarter of their dialogue
is devoted to setting forth Virdung's classification of the various types of
instruments and to brief remarks about some of them (including a number
of those described in the epistle to Dardanus of pseudo-Jerome);4 this
material is illustrated by woodcuts representing some sixty-odd examples
of all kinds.5 The remainder of the text deals with the rudiments of musi-
cal notation and of keyboard, lute, and recorder intabulation. The treat-
ment does not really constitute an instrumental method in the sense of
providing specific instructions for playing any of the instruments dis-
cussed or even in providing simple pieces to play, although Virdung does
3 The suggestion that Andreas Silvanus was a real person, a musician and friend
of Virdung's, variously identified as Andreas Silva or Andreas Waldner de Ratisbona
(see Winifred Kirsch, "Andreas de Silva," MGG, Vol. XII, cols. 705-6), would seem
to be without foundation. Virdung would hardly be likely to have felt that anyone
who was already a musician would require the kind of elementary information that
Musica getutscht contains; moreover, the representation of Andreas in the illustration
of fol. Aiiij shows him to be a man of the woods (as his name suggests), with a
knife in his belt and a boar spear in his hand, suggesting that Virdung had chosen
the appropriate persona for the conventional dialogue form in which he cast the text.
(As with most of the illustrations in the book-see below, page 217-this one has
been reversed left-to-right, with the result that the typeset labels "Sebastianus" and
"Andreas Silvanus" placed above the woodblock now stand over the wrong figures.
Clearly the figure at the left, with his cleric's robe and academic hood, must have
been intended to represent Virdung; accordingly, the roughly dressed figure at the
right must have been intended to represent the unlearned Andreas.)
4 For a major study on these mythical instruments, see Rheinhold Hammerstein,
"Instrumenta Hieronymi," Archiv fiir Musikqwissenschaft, XVI (1959), 117-34-
5 These woodcuts are generally said to be by Urs Graf (see, for example, Karl
Nef, "Seb. Virdungs Musica getutscht," Bericht iiber den musikrwissenschaftlichen
Kongress in Basel [Leipzig, 1925], pp. 7-8, and Gerhard Stradner, "Bemerkungen zu
den klangliche
Der besaiteten Aspect
Tasteninstrumenten in Sebastian
beim Restaurieren Virdungs 'Musica
von Saitenklavieren, Beitrigegetutscht ... '. "
zur Auffiih-
rungspraxis, II [Graz, 1973], P. 79) on the basis of the appearance of Graf's mono-
gram in a single illustration in the book (see Fig. ga, below). The remaining illustra-
tions, however, do not show any of the same skill in draftsmanship, and none of them
are included in Emil Major and Erwin Gradmann, Urs Graf (Basel, [19421), where
this picture of a lute player is reproduced as Abb. izo and described on p. 142. The
difference in the quality of the material that the block cutter had to work with is
most clearly seen in the crudity of the rendering of the figures in the illustration on
fol. Aiiij or the hands in the illustration showing two methods of holding the recorder
on fol. Miiijv. Doubtless, the greater difficulty of accurately picturing the way in
which a lutenist holds his instrument and positions his hands, necessitated recourse to
a draftsman of higher caliber than was required for the other, simpler illustrations. It
is, of course, also possible that the Urs Graf illustration had been prepared for some
other purpose and was simply used in Musica getutscbt because of its obvious appro-
priateness.

154.59.125.36 on Sat, 30 Dec 2023 20:45:54 +00:00
VIRDUNG'S MUSICA GETUTSCHT 191
present a four-part hymn in keyboard and lute intabula

to the vocal original.
As the earliest treatise on instruments and tablatures to b
dung's was the first book on these subjects to be both ra
disseminated, and a number of works bearing a variety
semblance to it were published in the decades following
151 1. Four of these are generally referred to as translations
of Virdung's book, although their true relationship to it
than such terms usually imply, and the obvious similarities
tions found in these works to those in Musica getutscht
paralleled by a comparable similarity in the texts. The f
question (in order of their first printings) are: Martin A
instrumentalis deudsch, published at Wittenburg in 1528
1529, 1530, 1532, and 1542 before the publication of a co
and substantially enlarged edition in 1545;6 the Livre pla
pour appendre a faire & ordonner toutes tabulatures hors
& par lesquelles ion peult facilement et legierement apre
les Manicordion / Luc / et Flutes, published in Antwerp
Vosterman in I529;7 Ottomar Luscinius's Musurgia seu p
published in Strasbourg by Johann Schott in 1536 with a
in 1542;8 and Jan van Ghelen's Dit is een seer schoon Bo
leeri maki alterhande tabulatueri wten Discante. Daer duer men lichte-
lijck mach leere spelen opt Clauicordii Luyte efi Fluyte, published in
Antwerp in 1554 with a second printing in 1568.9
Considering all these well-known descendants, it comes as something
of a surprise to discover that the supposed parent-that is, Virdung's orig-
inal treatise of 1511, which has appeared in no less than three facsimile
editions10 and has been the subject of a substantial body of scholarship"1-
6 Howard Mayer Brown, Instrumental Music Printed Before z6oo (Cambridge,
Mass., 1965), I5281, 15291, 15301, 1532i, I542i, 15451; facsimile of 15291 (Hildesheim,
1971); quasi-facsimiles of 1529, and 15451, ed. Robert Eitner, Publikationen ilterer
praktischer und theoretischer Musikwerke, Bd. XX (Leipzig, 1896). The author is
grateful to Dr. Hans Haase and the Herzog-August Bibliothek, Wolfenbiittel, for
providing a microfilm of their exemplar of 1545, in addition to microfilms and color
slides of both of their copies of Musica getutscht.
7Ibid., 15292; facsm. ed. John Henry van der Meer, Early Music Theory in the
Low Countries, IX (Amsterdam, '973).
8 Ibid., I5364, 15423. The author is grateful to the Sibley Music Library, Eastman
School of Music, University of Rochester, for providing a microfilm of its copy
of 15364.
l bid., 15549, i568s; facsm. of I568s, ed. John Henry van der Meer, bound with
that of the Livre plaisant (see fn. 7, above). The author is grateful to Dr. Frangois
Lesure and the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, for providing a microfilm of their
unique copy of 1554e.
10 Ed. Robert Eitner, Publikationen ailterer praktischer und theoretischer Musik-
werke, Bd. XI (Berlin, 1882); ed. Leo Schrade (Kassel, '93I); ed. Wolfgang Niem61-
ler (Kassel, 1970).
1x For the most complete bibliography to date, see Franz Krautwurst, "Bemer-
kungen zu Sebastian Virdungs 'Musica getutscht' (i 511) ," Festschrift Bruno Staeblein
zum 70. Geburtstag (Kassel, 1967), p. 143.

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ELitC gentro tut 1

wue9oge O.- eb antfitvir~oungf0zieftero
Von amberg vnO alles g efajfg au f5Den note m'toD
rtabulattture6fl6tentranffierereftlernime
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~Rurt3lfcb gcmacbt 3ticrcn 'bocbzhtifrD bocb
i gbonent fiirften onn berren: berr zvtlbalmcn
S fcboue 6i 0trat3burgfeyncm gnefig'berrcn.
!i~'~
Figure ia. Title page of Vi
is actually a pair of far f

Musica getutscht listed i
mental Music Printed Bef
title page familiar from
six remaining copies hav
title page shown in Figur
12 J?crits imprimis concern
1971), II, 648, lists fourteen
tional copies listed by Brow
at the Conservatoire in Paris
the present writer that the
the revised total of survivin
copies mentioned by Brown,
mings, Alfred Littleton, an
Cummings example appears
Sotheby catalogue of the sal
describes it as "rep. 1882,"
the Music Division of the N
On the basis of information
example was purchased by th
k.8.c.9, and the Matthew ex
now in the British Library,
formerly in the Biblioteca
below.
13 This title page is less well known than that reproduced in the facsimiles, but
it is hardly unfamiliar, having been reproduced by A. J. Hipkins, Morris Steinert,
and Siegmund Schneider, eds., The International Exhibition for Music and the Drama,
Vienna, 1892 (Vienna, 1894), p. 48, and Georg Kinsky, Geschichte der Musik in
Bildern (Leipzig, 1929), p. I i8.

154.59.125.36 on Sat, 30 Dec 2023 20:45:54 +00:00
aug 'ogarcb cbartanfvir

bug lBIteI~re vo mberg on al
Icedan aur enn(no IImoic
a~ibtaturEb benlatb eatsingrinetil d
Dgln/ivi br Caun fl~tO ranliietmn
ilcrntem n tf~qiteric n gc~raa.
Figure Ib. The title page in printing B
some border showing groups of instruments, but the first,

fourth lines of the title are printed in red, making a striking con
the title page shown in the first figure, which is printed only in
whose border is made up from mismatched pieces of type orna
of which are lying on their sides.
It would be less than accurate to say that the fact of two ea
ings of Virdung's treatise had gone entirely unnoticed until n
gang Schmieder's catalogue of the printed books on music in t
August Bibliothek14 (which possesses an example of each of the
ings) describes them separately and draws attention to some of
ferences; but this knowledge is not pursued, nor is any attem
relate the two printings to one another or to establish whether or
were issued by the same printer. Furthermore, Dr. Gerhard Sc
noting the discrepancies between the two Wolfenbiittel examp
vestigated the two printings, with results to be published in R
In all fairness, it would also be reasonable to note that the two
are both oblong quartos and have the same number of pages; co
library cataloguing of the ordinary sort would fail to provide
information necessary for the differences to become apparent
looking only at catalogue descriptions. On the other hand, if
had come out only a dozen years earlier and therefore qualif
14Katalog der Herzog-August Bibliotbek Wolfenbiittel, Neue Reihe

Alte Drucke bis etwa 175o (Frankfurt am Main, 1967), PP. 735-36.
15 Dr. Schuhmacher generously informed the author of his conclusions a
on the present article was nearing completion. It was nonetheless decide
the detailed presentation which follows, since it provides new evidenc
at a different attribution for the publisher of one of the two printings.

154.59.125.36 on Sat, 30 Dec 2023 20:45:54 +00:00
incunabulum, there is no doubt that the more highly refined bibliographi-

cal techniques commonly used in dealing with incunabula (including the
complete transcription of titles without expanding abbreviations) would
have revealed the existence of the two printings long ago. In fact, as noted
in the British Museum General Catalogue,"6 the Department of Printed
Books detected a far less obvious difference in the printing of the two
copies of Musica getutscht included among the holdings of the British
Library, even though both have a title page of the type shown in Fig-
ure ia.
The accompanying table employs RISM sigla in list

copies of Virdung's treatise.17 They are divided int
those having (or presumably having had) the title pag
separated from those having the title page shown i
TABLE I
SURVIVING EXAMPLES OF MUSICA GETUTSCHT
Printing AI (Title page corresponding to Figure Ia)
Library Remarks
CH: Bu Imperfect copy consist
D:B Complete copy; apparently
enumerated in fn. io were p
and 9 of the present article
D:Mbs Complete copy
D:Ngm Imperfect copy consisting of leaves Ciij, Dij, and Diiij and signat
through O, complete except for leaf Kiiij; leaf Dij erroneously numb
GB:Eu Imperfect copy, lacking the last three leaves of signature O; titl
"Priestern" for "Priesters"
GB:Lbm Call number k.8.c.9. Complete copy; title page has "Priestern" for "Priesters"
US: Bpm Complete copy, uniquely hand-colored; leaf Dij erroneously numbered Diij
Printing A2 (Title page corresponding to Figure Ia but signatures J through O differently
set throughout)
D:W Schmieder Katalog No. 1318. Complete copy; title page has "Priestern" for
"Priesters"; leaf Dij erroneously numbered Diij
GB:Lbm Call number Hirsch I. 159. Imperfect copy with leaves Bij and Diij muti-
lated; title page has "Priestern" for "Priesters"; leaf Dij erroneously num-
bered Diij
Printing B (Title page corresponding to Figure I b)
A:Iu Complete copy, two pages of which were reproduced in Hiplins, Steinert,
and Schneider, eds., The International Exhibition ... Vienna, 1892.
A:Wgm Imperfect copy lacking all of signature A, part of leaf Oiij, and all of leaf
Oiiij
A:Wn Complete copy; the source of Figs. Ib, 3c, 4b, and 5b of the present article
and of Abb. 118/1-3 and 132/1 of Kinsky, Geschichte der Musik in Bildern.
D:KA Complete copy; Fi lacking in the numbering of leaf Fiij
D:W Schmieder Katalog, No. 1317. Complete copy
NL: DHgm Complete copy
16 British Museum General Catalogue of Printed Books to izg5, Vol. CCXLIX, c

440: "From sig. J to end this copy [i.e., Hirsch 1.5941 is differently set... ."
17 The author wishes to express his gratitude to all of the institutions possess
copies of Musica getutscht for providing access to the prints or microfilms of th
as well as for supplying information concerning their respective copies.

154.59.125.36 on Sat, 30 Dec 2023 20:45:54 +00:00
subdivisions reflect the difference in typesetting noted in th

brary Catalogue, and additional discrepancies within these ca
noted in the Remarks column.
The variants noted for the surviving examples of printing A suggest
a fairly complicated printing history. As was common in the production
of early printed books, individual sheets were corrected in the course of
printing them, and finished books might contain sheets in several different
states. Thus, the sheets having leaf Dij misnumbered were presumably
printed earlier in the run of this signature than those that are correctly
numbered, but these sheets are not consistently coupled with examples
whose title pages have "Priesters" for "Priestern." Moreover, it would
appear that in the first print run more sheets for the first half of the book-
signatures A through H-were produced than for signatures J through O,
necessitating the resetting of the type for the second half of the book
when the initial supply of complete copies was exhausted.
Some of this complex history is reflected in the watermarks of the
papers found in the surviving examples. The papers used in printing A all
seem to originate or to have been used in Basel. In printing AI, the im-
pression from which the three published facsimiles derive, three papers
were used. Most of the sheets were printed on paper having as watermark
a helmet and shield (Fig. 2a)l8 similar to Briquet's No. 980.19 In the re-
maining sheets, the watermark consists either of a bull's head and tau com-
bined with a Lombardic C, like Briquet's No. 151 86 (Fig. 2b),20 or a much
larger bull's head with serpent and tau, like Briquet's No. 15402 (Fig. 2c).21
18 Figs. 2a, b, c, and e are based on watermark tracings very kindly made from the
copy of Musica getutscht in the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek by Margaret and Floyd
K. Grave. I compared these with the watermarks in the copy in the Boston Public
Library; Dr. Hans Haase compared them with the watermarks of the exemplar in
Wolfenbiittel and also made the tracing on which Fig. 2d is based. Dr. Haase's generous
assistance in this and many other matters connected with the research for the present
article is herewith gratefully acknowledged, as is that of Dr. Clemens von Gleich,
who provided a tracing of the watermark in the copy at the Gemeente Museum in
the Hague.
19 Charles M. Briquet, Les Filigranes (Geneva, 1907; revised edition, ed. Allan
Stevenson, Amsterdam, i968); I, 75, lists Basel 15o6 as the earliest of three citations
to papers employing watermark 980. The watermark used in printings AI and A2,
however, has a straight line at the top of the shield, unlike Briquet's No. 980, in
which this line is interrupted by the lower edge of the helmet.
20 This terminology follows Allan Stevenson, Observations on Paper as Evidence
(Lawrence, Kansas, I96I), p. 9, where the Bull's-head-tau mark is stated to have been
used by Antonio Galliziani of Basel to designate "ordinary small sheets." Stevenson
further notes that the Lombardic C formed part of the Galliziani family seal; in con-
nection with a cross, it was used in Antonio's large sheets. Gerhard Piccard, "Papier-
zeugung und Buchdruck in Basel bis zum Beginn des 16. Jahrhunderts," Archiv fiir
Geschichte des Buchwesens, VIII ([i967]), cols. 259-96, reproduces the Bull's-head-
tau watermark with Lombardic C as Abb. 9 and specifically states that it was used by
the Gallizianis. Piccard also reproduces two versions of this mark in Die Ochsenkopf-
Wasserzeichen (Stuttgart, 1966), II, 515. Of the two, that shown as No. 501 is closer
to the version appearing in the surviving copies of Musica getutscht.
21 Piccard, "Papierzeugung," reproduces a watermark of this type as Abb. 32, cols.

154.59.125.36 on Sat, 30 Dec 2023 20:45:54 +00:00
(a) d (d)
(b) (c) (e)
Figure 2. (a) H
watermark wi
mark--printin
printing B
A fourth watermark, depicting grapes (Fig. 2d), appears in the two copies
classified as printing A2. Resembling Briquet's No. I3022, this mark is to
be found in the second half of the book, which was set separately.22 The
301-2, stating that it, too, originates in Basel, although the paper maker is unknown.
He also reproduces several versions in Die Ochsenkopf-Wasserzeichen, III, 788, of
which No. 339 is closest to that found in Musica getutscht.
22 The principal resemblance between this watermark and that given by Briquet
is that of all of Briquet's "raisin A grosse tige" type, only No. 13022 shows a stem
ending in a cross just as the stem in the paper used in the second half of printing
A2 does. Briquet, II, 648, lists Basel 1513/19 as the earlier of two citations to paper
employing watermark No. 13022.

154.59.125.36 on Sat, 30 Dec 2023 20:45:54 +00:00
use of yet another paper in this printing suggests that it is the la

two, a conclusion borne out by the more worn appearance of
of the woodblocks. Printing B, on the other hand, seems to have b
entirely on paper having a crown watermark (Fig. 2e) like Br
5079, suggesting an entirely different provenance, since paper bea
mark is principally associated with German rather than Swiss prin
No colophon appears in either printing A or printing B, but
cation in both is dated Basel, 15 I. That i ii is the actual year o
publication of the work is confirmed by the dating of the doc
volved in the Schlick-Virdung controversy.24 Schlick's Der S
Orgelmacher,2" which was the subject of a thinly veiled attack by
on folio Fi of Musica getutscht, was published under a "Privileg
April 3, 15 I I, and Schlick's crushing reply to this attack in his Ta
etlicher Lobgesang2"6 is dated "Andree apo." [i.e., November
same year.27 Since at least Eitner's time,28 the printer of Virdung
has been identified as Michael Furter of Basel, and this ident
supported by Schlick's naming of Furter at the end of the rhymed
tion to his attack on Virdung.21~ Most significantly for the att
Furter, however, the type employed for the text of printing
in works bearing his colophon, as may be seen by comparing
of Virdung's text from printing A (Fig. 3a) with portions of
phon page from Furter's printing of Geoffroy de la Tour-La
Ritter vom Turn of I513 (Fig. 3b).
When, however, one compares the same portion of Virdun
from printing B (Fig. 3c) with Furter's, it immediately become
that Furter could not have been responsible for both printings
forces the impression derived from the evidence of the papers
two versions. The settings are very similar, generally correspo
for line (as they do throughout the entire text); but there are
differences in orthography that are not found among the variants
ing A. More importantly, the two type fonts, although both o
23Briquet, I, 303, lists Augsburg, 1549; Vienna, 1533; and Wolfsber

uses of paper having this watermark. Piccard, Die Kronen-Wasserzeichne
1961), p. 76, lists Niirnberg, 15O1 for a version in which, like the one used
B of Musica getutscbt, the mark appears between two chain lines, and
Linz, Rheinhausen, and Harzgerode with dates ranging from 1547 t
version in which the mark appears on top of a chain line.
24 See Hans H. Lenneberg, "The Critic Criticized: Sebastian Virdu
Controversy with Arnold Schlick," this JOURNAL, X (1957), 1-6, for an
the nature and history of this dispute.
25Brown, 15i12.
26 Ibid., I5 21.
27 See H. Grotefend, Taschenbuch der Zeitrechnung des deutschen Mittelalters
und der Neuzeit, ioth ed., ed. Th. Ulrich (Hanover, 1960), p. 33.
28 Quellenlexikon, X, I04.
29 " . .. Vnd michel furtern trucken lan / Zii Basel als ich das verstan .. "
(fol. 4'; facsm. in the mod. ed. by Gottlieb Harms [Hamburg, 19571, P. 12).

154.59.125.36 on Sat, 30 Dec 2023 20:45:54 +00:00
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fr~nt ma gabab ii 21tt auff bcnnzr
i o biin sI / fc )we ?llnl man bici
Figure 3. (a) Portion of Virdung's text from printing A; (b) Portions of the
colophon page from Michael Furter's printing of Geoffroy de la Tour-Landry, Der
Ritter vom Turn, 1513 (Courtesy of the Spenser Collection, New York Public Li-
brary); (c) The same portion of the text shown in (a) as it appears in printing B.

154.59.125.36 on Sat, 30 Dec 2023 20:45:54 +00:00
size and belonging to the Schwiibischer group, are quite differ
thermore, the woodblock illustrations were not printed from
blocks, as may be seen by comparing Figures 4a and 4b. How
facts that the illustrations all correspond in size and that, beg
(a)
(b)
Ryral
Figure 4. Woodcut of a hurdy-gurdy: (a) from printing A; (b) from printing B
30 See, for example, the different capital D's in the first word of the example
shown and the different forms of the cb's at the end of the second line.

154.59.125.36 on Sat, 30 Dec 2023 20:45:54 +00:00
the second signature, the typesetting always corresponds page

make it clear that one printing was copied directly from the othe
than their having been independently set from a common source
Copies almost invariably being debasements of originals, every
would suggest that printing B, with its handsome two-color tit
was the original and that Furter's printing, with its crudely as
title page, was the copy. This instinct, however, is, at least in this in
misleading, as becomes clear when one proceeds beyond the title
Furter's printing, the order of the pages in the first signature make
fect sense: the verso of the title page presents a woodcut of the
arms of the Bishop of Strasbourg, to whom the book is dedicat
next two pages are devoted to a dedicatory letter, followed by
introductory essay beginning with a tag from Psalm 88. This is
on the recto of the fourth leaf by a full-page illustration showing V
and Andreas Silvanus. The text proper then begins on the verso of th
and continues for some fifty-two leaves. In printing B, the ord
presentation in the first signature is badly garbled, as we see in Tabl
TABLE 2
COMPARISON OF CONTENTS OF FOLIOS Ai-Bi IN PRINTINGS A AND B
Printing A Folio Printing B

Title page Ai Title page
Dedicatee's coat of arms Aiv Blank
Aij Beginning of text
Aijv Woodcut of Sebastianus and Andreas
Dedicatory letter and Introductory essay Aij WoodcutofSebastanusandAndreas
[Aiijv
Dedicatory letter and Introductory essay

Woodcut of Sebastianus and Andreas Aiiij
Beginning of text Aiiijv
Continuation of text Bi Continuation of text
Instead of the dedication beginning on the recto of

page is devoted to the first page of the actual text
tian and Andreas follows,31 and only then does
the dedication and introductory essay.32 The text
first page of the second signature. In Furter's printin
a continuation of the text which had begun on the
starts with "Se," indicating that the following word
tian. In printing B, this page is separated from the fir
31 In one of the more striking differences between the two
tion, which has a black background in Furter's printing, h
printing B. The latter printing, moreover, lacks the identif
tianus" and "Andreas Silvanus" mentioned in fn. 3.
32 Thus fol. Aij of printing B corresponds to fol. Aiiij
recto and verso interchanged, and fols. Aiij and Aiiij of p
spectively to fols. Aij and Aiij of printing A.

154.59.125.36 on Sat, 30 Dec 2023 20:45:54 +00:00
the dedication and introduction, and, as the printe

when he folded the first signature, the "Se" would mak
than discard the first signature, he provided a new
Spricht" in large type at the top of folio Bi and spelled
at its first appearance, instead of using the simple "A"
at this point; but he carelessly gave the name as "A
"Andreas."
Other examples of this corruption through copying are provided by

the different versions of corresponding illustrations in the two printings.
These illustrations generally are too simple for one to expect outright
errors to have been introduced in the process of copying them,34 but
changes were made nonetheless. To take a single representative case, it is
clear that the representation of the hurdy-gurdy in Furter's printing (Fig.
4a) has been simplified and coarsened in printing B (Fig. 4b). The cross-
hatching in Furter's version, in which each of the little white parallelo-
grams between the intersecting lines had to be produced by four strokes
of the block cutter's knife, has been eliminated by stopping the vertical
shading lines before they meet the oblique ones. As a result, the block
cutter's task was made much easier, permitting the block to have been
finished far more quickly. In other illustrations, shading lines were elimi-
nated entirely or given a lifeless regularity, which is also what one would
expect in copies.
Thus, considering both text and pictures, it is clear that Furter's print-
ing is the original one and that printing B, its attractive title page not-
withstanding, is the copy. But where was the copy made, and by whom?
In addition to the evidence already cited of the paper with the crown
watermark, a second clue suggests that the copy comes from Germany
rather than Switzerland. The orthographic differences apparent in the
sample of the text shown in Figures 3a and 3c, most notably the substitu-
tion of ai for ei in such words as "allein" in the first line, point to Bavaria
as a place of origin.35 Moreover, in one of the few clearly intentional
33 He probably realized his mistake early in the printing of the verso side of the
sheets for signature A, by which time it was too late to correct the garbled order
of the pages already built into the recto side of the sheets, the type for which, in
all likelihood, would already have been distributed. The error could, however, be
made less apparent by eliminating the caption on fol. Aiijv, "Hie nach wirt herr
Bastian von Andrea Siluano dem musico mit sollichen nachfolgenden worten em-
pfangen," which introduces the picture of Sebastian and Andreas in printing A and
implies that the first speaker will be Andreas. This would explain why the caption
does not appear in any of the surviving copies of printing B, although fol. Aiiijv of
this printing otherwise corresponds line for line to fol. Aiijv of printing A.
34 In the more complicated blocks for the tablatures, however, a number of new
errors are introduced adding to those present in the original (see fn. 42 below): six
appear in the keyboard tablature on fols. Jiv-Jij and five in the lute tablature on fols.
Mijv-Miij.
35 See Robert Priebsch and W. E. Collinson, The German Language (London,
1966), p. 371, and Kenneth Brooke, An Introduction to Early New High German

154.59.125.36 on Sat, 30 Dec 2023 20:45:54 +00:00
changes of wording in printing B as compared with printing A,

montag" is substituted for "zinstag" in the date of the dedicati
Aijv), and the use of "afftermontag" for Tuesday is specifically co
with the Augsburg area.36
There is, finally, an even better clue in the book itself, even thoug
already noted, it lacks a colophon. In Furter's printing, only a sin
tration is signed (see Fig. 5a). The monogram in the lower right
corner is that of Urs Graf, a well-known illustrator and designer of
and ornaments, who did a good deal of work for Furter and other pr
in Basel. The block cutter who made the woodcuts for printing B
duced Graf's monogram when he copied the illustration, but he a
own initials in the lower left-hand corner (Fig. 5b). "Master
never been identified, but George K. Nagler states that a woodcut
these initials was used on the title page of a German verse satire
Das ist yetz der gemain und new gebrauch, in welchem das yolk
zu dessen zeiten gantz seer beloden ist."A Furthermore, Nagler's
tion of the woodcut in question could well be a precise portraya
illustration in Figure 5b. Thus, it would seem possible that the sam
block used to depict the lutenist in Figure 5b was later pressed into s
to decorate the title page of the satire. Upon examining copies
different printings of the satire in the British Library, one, indeed,
to contain an illustration made with the very woodblock in quest
printer of this version of the satire is said to have been Johann Scho
ger the younger of Augsburg,38 suggesting that Schoensperger (a
ous pirate)39 may have been the man who produced printing B
dung's treatise. A review of Schoensperger's types confirms this h
sis, as may be seen by comparing Figure 3c with the colopho
Schoensperger's setting of Wolfgang von Miin's Das Leiden Jesu
unsers Erldsers, published in Augsburg in 1515 (Fig. 6). Thus, on
conclude that it was Schoensperger who copied Furter's original
of Virdung's treatise, a conclusion that agrees both with the lin
evidence and with that provided by the crown watermark.
The date at which Schoensperger issued his printing cannot b
(Oxford, '955), pp. Ix, 129, and the selection from the Volksbuch published
burg in 50o9 reprinted on pp. 4-io, the orthography of which generally cor
quite closely to that found in printing B.
36Friedrich Kluge, Etymologisches Worterbuch der deutschen Sprach,
ed. Walther Mitzka (Berlin, 196o), p. I32, s.v. "Dienstag."
7 George K. Nagler, Die Monogrammisten und diejenigen bekannten u
bekannten Kiinstler aller Schulen, II (Munich and Leipzig [ i86o]), 43.
38British Museum General Catalogue of Printed Books to 1955, Vol.
(London, i961), col. i6o, s.v. "Gebrauch." The call number of the version
the lutenist on its title page is i347.d.34-
39 The literature on Schoensperger is scanty. For biographical details,
Benzing, Die Buchdrucker des 16. und 17. Jahrhunderts im deutschen Sprac
Beitriige zum Buch- und Bibliothekwesen, XII (Wiesbaden, 1963), pp. 14,

154.59.125.36 on Sat, 30 Dec 2023 20:45:54 +00:00
(a)
(b)
Figure 5. Woodcut of a lutenist (a) from printing A; (b) from printing B

154.59.125.36 on Sat, 30 Dec 2023 20:45:54 +00:00
C6chbrudv tmb fdi(~lgtd 1ol enbk.3Jn

ber aftrhidtl fc atA gfpurg durc)
be n unngen btnIen dMnp&Ugsv
4Wano bfiib. e).vab m V bm.Il.J4V.
Figure 6. Colophon from Johann Schoensperger the Younger's printing of Wolf-

gang von M.in, Das Leiden Jesu Christi unsers Erldsers, 1515 (Courtesy of New York
Public Library)
with any very great precision, although the book seems to have been
available by the end of 52 i. Ferdinand Columbus's Regestrum of the
Biblioteca Columbina lists what must have been a copy of Musica getutscht
as item 922,40 giving the following description:
Musica theutonica sebastianj virdvarg de omnj cantu & notulis intabulaturarum
traducta horum quattuor instrumentorum vz. organj luttine siue laud & fistule.
I[ncipit] dialogus teutonicus Mein lieber herr post modum sequuntur epistola
teutonica que I[ncipit] dem hoc virdigen hoch zu. opus I[ncipit] beatus populus
qui scit iubilationem & D[esinet] gott voll dein ion sein Se amen & Continet
quamplura instrumenta musicalia. est in 40. costa en nuremberga 6 Crai[per] a
6 de dizembre de i521.41
As summarized in Table 2, this opening sequence-German dialogue

beginning "Mein lieber herr Bastian," followed by the dedicatory letter
to the Bishop of Strasbourg beginning "Dem hoch wirdigen hoch gebor-
nen fiirsten," and the introductory essay beginning with a tag from Psalm
88-is the garbled one found in the first signature of the Schoensperger
print rather than that found in Furter's. Thus, it would seem certain that it
was Schoensperger's setting that was purchased on December 6, 52 I and
that this was the very latest time by which it could have been printed.
Obviously, the pirated version cannot have been produced before the
original Basel edition appeared in I511; however, just when in the decade
I511-21 it appeared must at this time remain a matter for conjecture. It
could have been issued almost immediately after the original version (as
many of the pirated versions of Luther's tracts were at this period), or it
could have been issued later when copies even of printing A2 were no
longer to be had.42
Since the related treatises by Agricola, Vosterman, Luscinius, and van
40 Dragan Plamanac, "Excerpta Colombiniana: Items of Musical Interest in Fernando
Col6n's Regestrum," Misceldnea en homenaje a Monseifor Higinio Angles, II (Bar-
celona, i96i), 670-71, gives a partial transcription of the entry. A facsimile of the
entire Regestrum is published as No. i8 in the Publications of the Hispanic Society
of America (New York, I905).
41 In addition to the expansions indicated in brackets, conventional scribal abbre-
viations have been tacitly expanded in this transcription.
42 The copy that came into Schlick's hands in i511 would not seem to have been
an examplar of Schoensperger's print. Although Schlick's enumeration of the errors

154.59.125.36 on Sat, 30 Dec 2023 20:45:54 +00:00
Ghelen were published only after 152 , either version c

drawn upon for these works. It is a comparatively simple ma
to show that Schoensperger's printing has no connectio
comparing their illustrations with those in the Schoenspe
settings of the original text. Beginning with Vosterman
of 1529, one sees that its title page (Fig. 7) uses as a mode
of a lutenist shown in Figure 5. On comparing this i
Furter's version (Fig. 5a) and Schoensperger's (Fig. 5b), i
from the shading and other details that Vosterman's re
from Furter's. For example, in the handling of the luten
at the elbow, Schoensperger's block cutter seems to have
what was intended in the original, whereas Vosterman co
correctly. Thus, although the Livre plaisant coarsens th
would expect in the process of producing a copy, it does
way than does Schoensperger's version. That Vosterman
were made independently of Schoensperger's can also be
ining the representations of the two recorders and the c
are also copied from Virdung.
The Flemish Seer schoon Boecxken, issued some twen
after the Livre plaisant, also in Antwerp, uses the same
title page, and a comparison with that of the Livre plaisa
that in this instance no copying was involved at all. Rather,
block, made all the rougher by wear, was simply reused.
also shows no dependence on Schoensperger's print.
The early editions of Agricola's Musica instrumentali
ploy a greater number of illustrations derived from Vird
of the works just considered, but these, too, seem to hav
after Furter's printing. Compare, for example, Agricola's
hurdy-gurdy (Fig. 8) with those in Figure 4. Although Ag
tion is reversed left to right, it is much closer to Furter's v
than to Schoensperger's (Fig. 4b), especially with regard
which has a complexity lacking in the simplified cut us
perger.
Turning finally to Luscinius's Musurgia seu praxis musicae, published
in Strasbourg by Johann Schott in 1536, close examination of the illustra-
tions reveals that they are not merely copies of those in Furter's Basel
printing and confirms Niem6ller's finding that they were in fact printed
from the same woodblocks.43 This is less surprising than it might sound.
Furter and Schott were business associates, having jointly published an
in Virdung's lute and keyboard tablatures does not correspond exactly to those evi-
dent in the Furter printing (see Lenneberg, "The Critic Criticized," pp. 2-5), the
number of errors in the Schoensperger printing is so much greater that the corre-
spondence of a few more (but by no means all) of the tempus numbers seems merely
to be coincidental.
43 Klaus Wolfgang Niembller, "Othmar Luscinius, Musiker und Humanist,"
Archiv fiir Musikwissenschaft, XV (x958), 46.

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lttwe platfante
utikfpour appnl*a tref
faine mrOaIWttoute taos
ratuttore onemfrOmat/ht p parulfdpes
(oulpmftfflff056i0Pwfl
aWea ioulrr rII~t/dtottSl
etlf ftra.
V i
Figur
Bibli

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VIRDUNGIS MUSICA GETUTSCHT 207
fever..
Figure 8. Woodcut of a hurdy-gurdy from Martin Agricola, Musica instrumentalis

deudscb, 1519 (Courtesy of Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich)
edition of Gregor Reisch's Margarita philosophica in I5o8.44 Furthermore,

woodblocks for illustrations were a valuable part of a printer's inventory,
and they were not destroyed when the book for which they had been cut
went out of print. As was suggested with regard to the illustration for the
title pages of the Livre plaisant and the Seer schoon Boecxken, a wood-
block might be preserved for years,45 and (as was shown by the reappear-
ance of Virdung's lutenist on the title page of a verse satire) it might well
be used in books that had no connection whatever with the one for which
it had been designed.
In summary, the four works said to derive from Virdung's treatise,
insofar as they do so at all, derive from Furter's edition and not from
Schoensperger's. But these works derive from Virdung's to a smaller extent
than is generally maintained. Even Guillaume Vosterman's Livre plaisant
of I529, which is essentially a partial translation of Virdung's text, includes
many substantial changes, not the least of which is the dropping of the
entire first part of the book with all the pictures of instruments except for
the illustration of the clavichord, borrowed for use on the title page.46
What survives from so drastic a cut is the portion of Virdung's treatise
dealing with keyboard, lute, and recorder intabulation, and even this ma-
terial is changed in many ways. The style of the Livre plaisant is more
direct; many of Virdung's digressions, including his ill-advised attack on
Schlick, are omitted, and his keyboard and lute tablatures are replaced
with others.47 When Jan van Ghelen issued his Flemish translation of the
4Benzing, Die Buchdrucker des z6. und 17. Jabrhunderts, p. 31, s.v. "Furter";
and p. 412, s.v. "Schott."
45A particularly extreme example of this sort of longevity, very kindly mentioned
to me by A. Hyatt Mayor of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, is provided by a
group of blocks cut for Guy Marchant in Paris in 1486, which were still being used
by Jacques Oudot and Pierre Garnier in Troyes in the eighteenth century. Mr. Mayor
reproduces one of these woodcuts in his Prints and People (New York, 197x),
illus. 54.
46 Like the lutenist, the recorders appearing on the title page are drawn from the
latter part of Virdung's treatise rather than from his illustrated survey of instruments
at the beginning.
47 See below, pp. 209 ff.

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2zo8 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY
Livre plaisant in 1554, using the same blocks for the illustrations, he did
not restore any of the deleted material (if, indeed, he had any access to
Virdung's original text), so that the Seer schoon Boecxken bears no closer
resemblance to Musica getutscht than does the Livre plaisant.
Although Othmar Luscinius's Musurgia seu praxis musicae of 1536
retains almost all of Virdung's illustrations, the book is far from the mere
translation it is usually said to be. In his dedication to Andreas Calvus of
Milan, Luscinius explains at length that he has not produced a direct
translation and implies that Musica getutscht contains flaws and omissions
attributable to Virdung's "being prematurely snatched from life [so that]
his last hand did not touch everything."48 In any event, the order of pre-
sentation is radically changed, and most of Virdung's remarks about indi-
vidual instruments are replaced by entirely different material. Moreover,
two extended "commentaries" occupy no less than 42 of Luscinius's 102
pages of text and illustrations; these deal with questions of notation and
of consonance, dissonance, and composition that are absent from Virdung's
text. Luscinius aptly describes the result of his work in commenting that
"what started as an amphora will have gone forth at last as a pitcher."49
Finally, although Martin Agricola's Musica instrumentalis deudsch,
first published in I528, uses a substantial number of illustrations clearly
based on the woodcuts in Musica getutscht, it employs them to supple-
ment a significantly reordered presentation. Agricola retains Virdung's
system of classifying instruments, but, like Luscinius, he eliminates Vir-
dung's descriptive comments and value judgments on individual types.
Moreover, in addition to the clavichord, lute, and recorder discussed in
detail by Virdung, Agricola deals extensively with instruments that Vir-
dung hardly mentions, including bowed strings of several kinds and the
transverse flute. Finally, Agricola emphatically rejects the type of lute
tablature that Virdung employs, substituting a system of his own. The
revised edition of Musica instrumentalis deudsch issued in 1545 reduces
this relatively small dependence on Musica getutscht even further, em-
ploying fewer illustrations based on Virdung's woodcuts and adding still
more new material, including an important section on the newly emerg-
ing violin.
It would seem reasonable to conclude from this consistent pattern of
deletion or replacement that Virdung's contemporaries did not take the
actual content of Musica getutscht very seriously, even if they obviously
thought that the idea of an illustrated treatise dealing with the rudiments
of music was a good one. Schlick's remarks in the Tabulatur etlicher
Lobgesang are so intemperate that they require considerable discounting,
but it seems clear that, at best, Virdung was not a practicing instrumen-
48 ". .. propter ereptum praemature e uiuis Sebastianum, supremam manurm con-

stat haud quaquam contigisse" (fol. az').
49 ,,... ut amphora incepta, iam tandam urceus exierit" (ibid.).

154.59.125.36 on Sat, 30 Dec 2023 20:45:54 +00:00
talist; that he had little knowledge of instruments other

and, accordingly, that he was ill-equipped to attempt t
instructions to the beginning instrumentalist. For exam
with Virdung's intabulations is not only that they contai
transcription or even that numerous chords in his lute
unplayable as written.50 The far more important point
almost certainly was crucial in the decision by Vosterm
to replace Virdung's transcriptions)-1 was that his intabu
relation to the actual practice of lutenists and keyboard
Mayer Brown has recently shown that musicians of the s
approached the arranging of a vocal work for performan
a keyboard instrument with considerable freedom.52 Thu
attempted to reproduce all the voices in the original wor
justments wherever it was necessary to make their arr
playable or more effective musically.53 Virdung, howev
part song setting entirely conceived in terms of indepen
and mechanically transcribes it note for note into the tw
ture (see Ex. I).1i Given a piece with a sufficiently simpl
might be nothing wrong with this procedure, since it could
how to transcribe a vocal work for keyboard instrume
while at the same time giving him a simple piece to play
that Virdung uses has entirely the wrong texture for t
only does it have four parts rather than a more manageable
parts (whose integrity is necessarily preserved in a literal tr
German keyboard and lute tablatures) cross frequently,
keyboard version very awkward to read,55 and they contrib
to rendering the piece ineffective for performance on a sin
A comparison with the tablatures given in the Livre p
instructive in this regard. Vosterman also presents a piece in
forms of notation, but his choice is the highly popular "Een
50 See Lenneberg, "The Critic Criticized," pp. 2-4, for an analys

with Virdung's tablature, most of which arise from indications
sounding two notes from the same string simultaneously.
51 Vosterman, as might be expected, uses French rather than G
but the fact that he uses different music, composed in an entirely d
that of Virdung's hymn, makes it clear that he intended the rep
provement rather than merely as a translation from German t
Similarly, although Agricola employs his own system of notati
dung's tablature with a different, simpler piece. Unlike both Vird
Agricola does not give the vocal model for his lute setting (if
such a model at all), underscoring the shift in emphasis from inst
tion to instruction in instrumental playing.
62 Howard Mayer Brown, Sixteenth-Century Instrumentation:
Florentine Intermedii, Musicological Studies and Documents, 30
53 See especially the arrangements in the Appendix, ibid., pp. I5
54 Barlines corresponding to the tempora of Virdung's keyboard
have been added in this transcription of the vocal version.
" Awkward as Ex. i may be, at least the lowest sounding part
is indicated at the bottom; in the tablature, all three of the lower vo

154.59.125.36 on Sat, 30 Dec 2023 20:45:54 +00:00
2 10 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY
Example i
r r -r
-1 ~
! g J -J ' J i J t ,
KOM do_ _ _o_
--"~ ~ ~ I I I " i :: ~ ~ _ ___ __
attributed variously to Barb

only three voices, and ther
vocal setting. Moreover, th
vocal setting in ways that m
instruments, bearing in mind
parts, the lute version mus
a vocalist who sang the sup
introduces added figuration
note in the penultimate m
avoid tied notes and delays
measures, thereby introducin
difficulty of the part. In t
sterile demonstrations of t
.6 Barlines have been added in t

154.59.125.36 on Sat, 30 Dec 2023 20:45:54 +00:00
VIRDUNG'S MUSICA GETUTSCHT 21 I
into instrumental tablature-transcriptions

matic writing nor musical effectiveness. R
was expected to do at a relatively elementa
a playable sample.
This is not to say that Vosterman's tablatur
or entirely idiomatic. Note values are som
at many points the letters of the lute tablatu
on the wrong lines.57 Moreover, the orna
keyboard tablature at one point introduce
four consecutive notes of the superius, and
troduces parallel fifths between the teno
although Vosterman designates his keyboar
if it were to be performed on a clavichord
keys and strings known to have been used in
century, five passages could not be played
Example 2
Keyboard
Lute
(transposed
down one tone) e)-

S57Van der Meer provides a comprehensive list of the error
his introduction to the facsm. ed. (see fn. 7 above), p. xv. I
isolated notes, the letters of the lute tablature are printed on
teen out of forty-six complete measures of the piece.
58 ". . . mise sur les tabulatures des orgues ou clauicordes
mesme chanson / comme tu as dessus au chant / et puis apres
(fol. 26).

154.59.125.36 on Sat, 30 Dec 2023 20:45:54 +00:00
Vocal
I I
WIIE
Keyboard
Vocal
Lute
Keyboard
I J
_ __
'" .~j h ''

154.59.125.36 on Sat, 30 Dec 2023 20:45:54 +00:00
the sounding of two notes simultaneously from the same ch

Thus, in Example 3a, the a in the tenor cannot be sounde
releasing the g in the bass; in Example 3b, the eighth-no
Example 3
a. m.7 b. m.15
Vocal r
f I
Keyboard .
c. m.17 d.m.3o e.m.38
L,,,- , i - l
Am u1
-9 Clavic
several a
more tha
given pai
fifteenth
respondin
intervals
not. The
written
eb-e, f-f
Early Cl
other su
eb'-fg', g
ing such
does not
playable,
playable.
earlier in

154.59.125.36 on Sat, 30 Dec 2023 20:45:54 +00:00
2 14 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY
cannot be sounded without first releasing the b in the bass, etc. In Exam
ples 3a, 3c, and 3e, the problem arises from a literal transcription of th
vocal setting, whereas in Example 3b it is caused by the addition of an
ornamental neighboring tone. In Example 3d, the e in the soprano of th
vocal version would have been unplayable without first releasing the d
in the tenor, a problem which has been eliminated in the keyboard setting
by rewriting the two upper voices. It is, however, promptly reintroduced
in a different form later in the measure, when the d in the tenor cannot
be sounded without first releasing the e in the soprano. Nonetheless, on
balance, Vosterman's treatment of both tablatures seems to show a better
understanding than Virdung's of what would be helpful to a beginning
student on the keyboard or lute.
The information that Virdung gives about instruments similarly leave
much to be desired. Vosterman, Agricola, and Luscinius provide us with
negative evidence on this matter in the form of their omission of virtually
every word of it; Praetorius, in the next century, makes his low opinion
completely explicit:
In some libraries a book may be found which was printed in quarto at Basel in
1511 and in which various ancient as well as various modern instruments are
depicted. But this book is not so very old, and nothing particular can be
learned from it about the use and nature of the instruments shown.60
This puts the matter a trifle strongly, since Musica getutscht does, in fact,
contain some information about instruments, but there is little of real value
aside from some remarks about the stringing of lutes and the range and
stringing of clavichords.
Even where Virdung says something that is obviously correct, the
context in which these nuggets of fact appear leads one to suspect that
they represent happy accidents rather than indications of any great exper-
tise on Virdung's part. Thus, while he is undoubtedly correct in stating
that a knowledge of clavichord playing is transferable to other keyboard
instruments, he is on far weaker ground when he says the same thing for
the lute with regard to playing the harp, psaltery, and geigen, and for the
60 Syntagma musicum, Vol. II (Wolfenbiittel, 1619), fol. 5v: "Man findet in

etzlichen Bibliotecken ein Buch Anno Christi 15I". zu Basel in 4to getruckt darin
etzliche der Alten so wol auch etliche der jetzigen Instrumenta abgerissen: Aber es
ist ein solches Werck so gar Alt nicht und kan noch darzu der abgerissenen Instru-
menten gebrauch und eigentschafft nicht solderlich daraus vernommen werden." In
view of these remarks, it seems clear that Praetorius's subsequent reliance on Virdung
in connection with the instruments of the epistle of pseudo-Jerome should not be
construed as an indication of belief in the value of Virdung's treatise. Rather, as
Praetorius clearly states, he quotes Virdung solely because he could find no other
source of information about the instruments in question: "Vnd dieweil ich sonsten
keineu [sic] Bericht oder Nachrichtung haben kbnnen wie und welcher gestalt die-
selbe vns jetziger zeit vnbekante Instrumenta gebraucht worden; Habe ich der Not
durfft seyn erachtet ihre Beschreibung aus dem selbigen Buche von Wort zu Wort
allhier mit einzubringen" (p. 76).

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VIRDUNG'S MUSICA GETUTSCHT 2 I5
recorder with regard to playing "all the other winds having finger
Lute tablature and left-hand technique are transferable to viol
nature of the German lute tablature that Virdung employs, in
intersection of each string and fret is assigned a different letter i
assigning letters only to the frets and positioning these letter
symbolic of the strings as in French tabulature, does not allo
eralization to instruments with different numbers of strings or di
tunings. And Virdung nowhere specifically mentions or pictur
six-string viols tuned in fourths around a central third like t
which his tablature applies."Y Consequently, although the remark a
relationship of bowed-string playing to lute playing is indeed true
class of geigen, it lacks the breadth of application that Virdung
to it and seems really to be an uninformed and misleading gene
as are the obviously erroneous references to the harp and the p
The problem with transferring wind techniques from the r
similar, since Virdung again ties his instructions quite closely to
ture. The recorder, with its thumbhole and seven fingerholes, h
fingered differently from the other woodwinds Virdung depi
first part of the treatise, so that his fingering chart and intab
structions cannot be directly applied to any of these other ins
Accordingly, what appears at first to be an insightful commen
large group of instruments, on closer examination again turns
uninformed and invalid.
These misconceptions about the transferability of lute and recorder
technique may have resulted, in part, from Virdung's lack of specific
knowledge of instrumental playing, but they may also have their roots in
his classification system, which shows the weaknesses of his intuitive and
subjective approach. Presumably on the basis of the time-honored distinc-
tions embodied in Psalm I5o, Virdung divides all instruments into three
classes, corresponding approximately to chordis, organo, and timpanis
61 ". .. was du vff dem clauicordio lernest / das hast du dafi git vnd leichtlich
spilen zii lernen / vff der Orgeln / vff dem Clauizymell / vff dem virginale / vnnd
vff allen andern clauierten instrumenten / Was du daii wff der lauten greiffen vnd
zwicken lernest / das hast du leicht vff der harpfen / oder vff dem psalterio oder
vff der geigen zii lernen / Was du dafi vff der fli6ten lernest / das hast du darnach /
vff allen andern gel6cherten pfeiffen dester lychter zii lernen" (fol. Ei).
62 This tablature, the invention of which Virdung credits to Conrad Paumann, is
an extension of one originally created for an instrument having five courses of strings
and expanded by the use of capital letters or other symbols to an instrument with
an added bottom course (see Willi Apel, The Notation of Polyphonic Music, 5th
ed. [Cambridge, Mass., 19531, p. 74). Except for these added capitals, the intersec-
tions of the strings and frets are labeled consecutively in alphabetical order proceed-
ing from the second course across the first fret and continuing across each of the
frets in the same manner. Any instrument having fewer strings would therefore
employ different symbols for the same intersections after the second fret. Virdung's
clein Geigen has only three strings; his gross Geigen, on the other hand, is depicted
as having nine strings, and it is difficult to imagine how such a tablature could be
applied to it at all.

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z16 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY
(fol. Bi). His stringed instruments are subdivided into four groups (fols.
Bi-Bijv): those with keyboards (clavichord, virginal, clavicytherium, clavi-
cimbalum, hurdy-gurdy), those with fretted necks (lute, gross Geigen,
quintern), those with individual strings for each note (harp, psaltery,
dulcimer), and those with three strings at most and no fret (clein Geigen,
tromba marina), which apparently are separated from the lute and gross
Geigen in large part because Virdung thought them "useless instru-
ments."63
Virdung divides the wind instruments (fols. Biij-Civ) into two groups
-those blown by the performer and those blown by bellows-and sub-
divides the first group into those instruments having finger holes (shawm,
flute, recorder, krumhorn, cornett, etc.) and those without finger holes
(trombone, three types of trumpet). The bellows-blown instruments are,
of course, organs of various kinds, and a more systematic mind than Vir-
dung's would have paralleled this group to the keyboard instruments that
comprise his first subgroup of stringed instruments, or might even have
considered the question of the bladder pipe and the bagpipe, which share
with the bellows-blown instruments the ability to sustain a tone beyond
the capacity of the human lungs and (in the case of the bagpipe) to play
more than one musical line at a time.
Virdung's third major class of instruments consists of "those made of
metal or other sounding material" that "sound like the hammer on the
anvil,"64 that is, bells of various kinds. Excluded from the formal classifi-
cation scheme but pictured and described immediately after its presenta-
tion are the instruments from pseudo-Jerome (fols. Cij'-Diij), which take
nearly forty percent of the space Virdung devotes to his introductory sur-
vey of instruments. This discussion is interrupted by a consideration of a
group of drums of Virdung's time (dismissed as inventions of the devil
and destructive of sweet melody and all music),65 and followed (fols.
Diijv-Diiij) by a group of miscellaneous wind instruments and noisemak-
ers that Virdung dismisses as unfit for the performance of proper music.66
Here again Virdung is more descriptive and opinionated than systematic,
although the pictures he presents of these instruments, most notably the
one of a snail-shaped horn-the ancestor of Mersenne's cor d plusieurs
tours-are of considerable interest and importance.
The question of the value and reliability of Virdung's pictures is col-
63". .. ich sye auch fiir onniitze instrumenta achte vfi halte / als dye cleynen
geigen vnnd das Trumscheit" (fol. Bij').
64 "Das dritt geschlecht ist aller d' instrumit / die v6 den metallk oder ander
clingendE materien werden gemacht" (fol. Bi); 'Das ist der lay instrument aller
sampt / welche clyngen als die himer vff dem ampos" (fol. Cij).
65 ,. . v. nd ich glaub vnd halt es fiir war der teiifel hab die erdacht vnd gemacht
dann gantz kein hotlseligkeit [sic] / noch guits daran ist / sunder ein vertempfung /
vnnd ein nydert ruckung aller siissen melodeyen vnd der gantzen Musica" (fol. Di).
&6 "Dise instrument alle / wye dye genennet synd / order namen gewinnen
nmochten / dye acht ich alle fiir g6ckel spill" (fol. Diiij).

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VIRDUNG S MUSICA GETUTSCHT 217
ored by the fact that most of them are quite clearly rev
right, as occurs naturally in the printing process if
picture on the printing block without taking the pre
the drawing first. This matter has excited consider
speculation on the part of historians of instruments, esp
to account for the perpetuation of the reversal in Lus
lished twenty-five years later, by which time it shou
to realize that something was wrong and to have corr
petuation is, however, readily explicable because, as
cinius printed his illustrations from Virdung's origin
harder to imagine why Schoensperger's blockcutter
work in so many other ways, did not merely copy
tions onto his blocks, thereby producing a second r
have corrected Virdung's original error. He did not
Schoensperger's pirated version slavishly reproduces t
its essentially word-for-word reproduction of the or
Virdung's illustrations of keyboard instruments pr
their own beyond those of simple reversal. It is obv
sentations of the clavichord (Fig. 9a), the positive or
cytherium (Fig. 9b) are reversed. But what is one to
(Fig. 9c) and clavicmbalum (Fig. 9d), which appe
instruments except for a reversal of the arrangement of
rectangular case and the fact that the clavicimbalum
the virginal only thirty-eight? Adding to this confu
pect a clavicimbalum to be a wing-shaped harpsichor
tangular instrument at all. Virdung's text sheds no l
since he precedes the pictures of the clavichord and
with no comment whatever. On folio Biv, where he
therium, the supposed clavicimbalum, and the hurd
it is not at all clear to what instrument the text appl
that it had gut strings rather than metal ones.68 Luscini
tangle by using both of these illustrations and interc
of the clavicimbalum cut with that of the clavicitherium
does not translate the part of Virdung's text appeari
deals with the mysterious gut-strung instrument.
Agricola, in his turn, included copies of several of
illustrations in the original edition of his Musica inst
67See especially Jacob Eisenberg, "Virdung's Keyboard
Society Journal, XV (1962), 87-88.
68 "Das ist eben als das virginale / allein es hat ander sait
schaue vnd negel die es harpfen machen hat auch federk
neiilich erfunden vnd ich hab ir nir eins gesehen" [this is par
reproduced in Fig. 3a]. Stradner, "Bemerkungen," pp. 8o-8i,
long-standing arguments in favor of this description referrin
therium or to the clavicimbalum, suggests instead that Virdu
to none of the instruments depicted on the page.

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(fhuicotbti3
'---
(a)
C[laIftcrii
(b) r
Birginal
(c)
(d)
.lanicimlallri
Figure 9. Representations of keyboard instruments from Musica getutscbt: (a) clavi-
chord; (b) clavicytherium; (c) virginal; (d) clavicimbalum

154.59.125.36 on Sat, 30 Dec 2023 20:45:54 +00:00
and he, too, adds to the complication rather than shedding

burgeoning questions, since he reduces the already sm
tween the virginal and clavicimbalum illustrations by
boards forty keys (see Figs. Ioc and Iod). More import
copies in general reverse Virdung's in a strange and inc
though the overall illustration in virtually all cases is reve
thereby correcting some of the blatant errors in Virdung'
subtle details are not reversed and therefore remain u
the bass pipes of Agricola's positive organ appear at the lef
and the keys of his clavichord (Fig. Ioa) quite prope
the bass rather than toward the treble as they do in
but the positions of the tuning pins and the hitch pins
chord are not changed and none of the keyboards with
is reversed, although this is one of the most significan
Virdung's original versions.6"
It must be remembered, however, that nonreversal o
block cutter takes the trouble to reverse the original
copying. Consequently, the corrected overall outlines r
copying of Virdung's illustrations onto the blocks being
book, and the uncorrected details result from a delibe
these portions of the illustration before the copy was mad
felt that these were important points that needed to be
duced and that could not be permitted to be reversed
process; accordingly, the block cutter took the addition
ing a corrective advance reversal before the block was
us something rather significant about pre-Baroque mu
since for both Virdung and Agricola it was clearly en
to convey the general sense of an object being depicte
have been the case for a medieval illustrator providing
bestiary, an overall reversal did not matter as long as
whole conveyed the correct general impression. Detail
69 The keyboard reversal is most clear in the clavichord illustr

later (fols. Eiiijv and Gi') discusses and shows a keyboard havi
with the sharps grouped 2, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, i rather than i, 2, 3, 2,
chord illustration. The labeling on the keys in the second of th
cates that the range of this keyboard is F-g", with the low F
keyboard of Virdung's virginal, which is identical to that sho
illustration, should also be interpreted as F-g", lacking low F#;
of the positive organ and the clavicimbalum should be interpre
thirty-three-note range of the large organ and the portative o
preted as B-g". Supporting these conclusions is the fact that th
the keyboards, D-f", A-b", and A-f", bear no relation to the
building practice or the keyboard music of the time, wherea
specifically cited by Virdung himself, and keyboards startin
in the fifteenth century (see Edwin M. Ripin, "The Norrlanda O
Altarpiece," Studia instrumentorum popularis, III [Musikhistori
5: Festschrift to Ernst Emsbeimer on the Occasion of His 7o
holm, 1974], 194).

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Olanicorfunm.
C~auiciterium.
(b)
rlfcvmbalIum.
(d) _
Figure Io. Representations of k

deudsch: (a) clavichord; (b) cla

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VIRDUNG'S MUSICA GETUTSCHT 22 I
tance-especially any lettering that migh

would be reversed in advance so as to co
print,70 and an entire illustration might be
ence of a great deal of lettering (as in th
or other details made this necessary. But
for in the absence of this kind of neces
versed versions of the same illustration
one another.71 (This occurs on fols. 26v a
deudsch, which show the labeled keyboa
depictions of it in the illustrations of th
This may well explain why, of all the i
Musica instrumentalis deudsch that are ta
the representation of the clavicytherium
way, indicating that it must have been
being copied onto its block. As a type of
been relatively rare, its representation may
care than those of more common instrum
might have been thought primarily to b
clarifications of a fluid terminology. In f
plain the anomaly of Virdung's nearly ident
and the clavicimbalum. If, contrary to St
intended his cryptic description72 to app
he believed the term to refer to a gut-strun
than to a metal-strung wing-shaped one, th
to which his text specifically refers might
of caution: Furter may have required his
to reverse at least the interior arrangem
picture before copying it or simply past
The foregoing discussion is not meant t
Agricola's dependence on Virdung for h
the nonfunctional pictures of instruments
(and not even all of these) that derive fr
of the work, moreover, nearly half of thes
showing keyboards, were dropped. And,
70 Virdung was particularly ill-served in this

within his illustration of pseudo-Jerome's Cho
advance by the block cutter and comes out bac
in Schoensperger's printing. Praetorius, howev
the illustration copied for inclusion in Plate X
ments the second volume of his Syntagma music
71 One must, of course, exercise caution in ma
already noted, the block cutter responsible fo
pirated printing of Musica getutscht, whateve
his work, took the trouble to reverse every sin
to its block.
72 See fn. 68 above.

154.59.125.36 on Sat, 30 Dec 2023 20:45:54 +00:00
depended as closely on Virdung's as the presence of similar illus

might suggest.
The difference in Agricola's approach is examplified in his tre
of tablatures and fingering charts. Virdung uses tablatures of sim
pearance for the keyboard and lute versions of a single piece. The
in both is written in staff notation, and the lower voices are wr
letters and symbols. For the lute these indicate the intersection
strings and frets, while for the keyboard they are note names in the
of letters, modified where necessary to indicate chromatic altera
supplemented by octave indications. Agricola retains the staff n
of the superius solely in his keyboard tablature, and, in all his other
tures, he uses only letter notation of note names identical to that us
the lower voices of the keyboard tablature.73 As a result, his diag
instrument necks serve a function similar to his (and Virdung's) f
diagrams for wind instruments. They do not indicate in abstract
to encode or decode a particular type of tablature so much as the
how one produces different pitches. Consequently, when Agricola
an intabulated piece, the intabulation has all the generality of staff n
and is not limited to use with a specific instrument having a p
tuning, as Virdung's intabulations are. In a period when muc
music being played does not seem to have been conceived with
ticular instrument in mind and when, in any case, performers ex
great deal of freedom in choosing what instrument or instrumen
be used in any given performance, this is a far more useful system f
performer, especially one who would be likely to be called upon
a variety of instruments having different numbers of finger holes o
or having strings of different tunings.
The result of Agricola's approach is that he provides a great de
information in the form of a larger number of fingering charts; mo
the way in which the student is to apply this information has a f
range of application, since any piece intabulated in Agricola's sys
be readily played on any instrument having the requisite range
sure, one has to learn a great many different fingerings to be a
one and the same tablature, but this is both easier and more valu
attempting to learn a host of different tablatures and intabulation sy
each applicable only to instruments of a single type and tuning
Although the importance and originality of Agricola's work w
ognized by Hawkins74 and by Franz Gehring, writing for the first e
7a Although the abandonment of even the last vestige of staff notation c

to be a step backward, it may instead be viewed as an anticipation of a tre
Germany led to a similar abandonment of staff notation of the superius in
board tablatures of the late sixteenth-century colorists.
74 A General History of the Science and Practice of Music (London, 17
of the 1853 edition, New York, 1963), I, 390.

154.59.125.36 on Sat, 30 Dec 2023 20:45:54 +00:00
of Grove nearly a hundred years ago,75 he has fared less well a

of more recent writers, most notably his own compatriots. Vi
terest in classification and in philosophical questions, as oppo
problems of practical music making, seems to have made him
larly sympathetic figure to several generations of later scholars. T
that, at its best, gave us the concept of the Urtext seems, in this
to have given rise to a concentration on and a veneration of t
work in a series, while overlooking its serious flaws and dow
later works that threw out ever-increasing quantities of the origi
in the interest of producing a better and more useful work for th
cal musician.
Virdung's real contribution, seen in this light, seems not to be that of

an innovative theorist or even of an important influence. The unique
character of his work, rather, seems to reside in his assembling a novel
package-one which combined a popularizing text with simple pictures
for the purpose of self-teaching. This he achieved at just the time when
such a work could be widely disseminated by means of the printing press
and precisely when changing social conditions insured that there would
be a large demand for it. It fell, however, to others-notably to Agricola,
who has been patronizingly referred to as "the versifier of Virdung's
work"76 and to Luscinius, who has similarly been denigrated as a mere
translator who took a step backwards by putting Virdung's text into Latin
from the vernacular77--to show what really could be done with such a
package if one put something more worthwhile into it. This required
more knowledge of both instruments and playing technique than it would
appear Virdung possessed. Yet, as was suggested at the beginning of this
discussion, Virdung's unassailable priority in taking advantage of the op-
portunities offered by the printing press nonetheless assures the security
of his place in history along with that of Musica getutscht.
New York University
75 Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians (London, 1879), I, 44-45.

76Emanuel Winternitz, Musical Instruments and Their Symbolism in Western
Art (New York, 1967), p. 59.
77 Curt Sachs, The History of Musical Instruments (New York, 194o), p. 299.

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A Reevaluation of Virdung's "Musica Getutscht"

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A Reevaluation of Virdung's "Musica getutscht"

Author(s): Edwin M. Ripin

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/831017

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SEBASTIAN VIRDUNG'S treatise, Musica getutscht, of 1511i is the earliest

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present a four-part hymn in keyboard and lute intabula

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ELitC gentro tut 1

Figure ia. Title page of Vi

is actually a pair of far f

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aug 'ogarcb cbartanfvir

Figure Ib. The title page in printing B

some border showing groups of instruments, but the first,

14Katalog der Herzog-August Bibliotbek Wolfenbiittel, Neue Reihe

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incunabulum, there is no doubt that the more highly refined bibliographi-

The accompanying table employs RISM sigla in list

SURVIVING EXAMPLES OF MUSICA GETUTSCHT

Printing AI (Title page corresponding to Figure Ia)

Printing B (Title page corresponding to Figure I b)

16 British Museum General Catalogue of Printed Books to izg5, Vol. CCXLIX, c

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subdivisions reflect the difference in typesetting noted in th

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(b) (c) (e)

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use of yet another paper in this printing suggests that it is the la

23Briquet, I, 303, lists Augsburg, 1549; Vienna, 1533; and Wolfsber

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9a~ if eben 41a ba s # irginale/al4tn tr

bee Ull3y tingebmcnc(tynWilent/ ta ic

siff bc ils bas 3te tn lelallain fe

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Figure 4. Woodcut of a hurdy-gurdy: (a) from printing A; (b) from printing B

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the second signature, the typesetting always corresponds page

COMPARISON OF CONTENTS OF FOLIOS Ai-Bi IN PRINTINGS A AND B

Printing A Folio Printing B

Dedicatory letter and Introductory essay

Instead of the dedication beginning on the recto of

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the dedication and introduction, and, as the printe

Other examples of this corruption through copying are provided by

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changes of wording in printing B as compared with printing A,

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Figure 5. Woodcut of a lutenist (a) from printing A; (b) from printing B

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C6chbrudv tmb fdi(~lgtd 1ol enbk.3Jn

Figure 6. Colophon from Johann Schoensperger the Younger's printing of Wolf-

As summarized in Table 2, this opening sequence-German dialogue

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Ghelen were published only after 152 , either version c

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Figure 8. Woodcut of a hurdy-gurdy from Martin Agricola, Musica instrumentalis

edition of Gregor Reisch's Margarita philosophica in I5o8.44 Furthermore,

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48 ". .. propter ereptum praemature e uiuis Sebastianum, supremam manurm con-

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--"~ ~ ~ I I I " i :: ~ ~ _ _