OxTalks is Changing
OxTalks will soon be transitioning to Oxford Events (full details are available on the Staff Gateway). A two-week publishing freeze is expected in early Hilary to allow all events to be migrated to the new platform. During this period, you will not be able to submit or edit events on OxTalks. The exact freeze dates will be confirmed as soon as possible.
If you have any questions, please contact halo@digital.ox.ac.uk
'No two books are the same: Interactions with early printed music and the people behind them'
The DORMEME project investigates how early modern owners, readers, and users engaged with printed polyphonic music books, focusing on 1500–1545, when music printing introduced new modes of circulation alongside manuscript and oral transmission. This technological shift expanded and reshaped how individuals interacted with music books—as tools for performance and teaching, as collectable objects, and as sites of confessional negotiation. Our project undertakes a copy-based survey of surviving printed polyphonic books across European and North American collections, documenting marks of use and developing case studies that reveal how these books were used, altered, and understood.
This paper presents the project’s first synthetic results. We outline a taxonomy of interventions—textual, musical, material, and paratextual—and consider them in relation to user motivations such as correction, performance facilitation, confessional adaptation, education, personalisation, and proof-reading. Drawing on detailed examples, we examine textual changes in religious motets, musical annotations including crosses, numbers, custodes, and barline-like dashes, and patterns of personalisation that illuminate different types of owners and users. We also address the distinctive role of the proof-reader as the “first reader,” whose interventions bridge production and use. Together, these findings show how annotations can reshape our understanding of early modern musical practice and book culture.
Date:
12 March 2026, 17:00
Venue:
Faculty of Music, St Aldate's OX1 1DB
Venue Details:
Online
Speakers:
Elisabeth Giselbrecht (King’s College, London),
Louisa Hunter-Bradley (King’s College, London),
Katie McKeogh (King’s College, London)
Organising department:
Faculty of Music
Organiser:
Margaret Bent (Oxford)
Organiser contact email address:
events@music.ox.ac.uk
Part of:
All Souls Seminars in Medieval and Renaissance Music
Booking required?:
Required
Booking url:
https://www.music.ox.ac.uk/all-souls-seminars-medieval-and-renaissance-music
Cost:
Free
Audience:
Public
Editor:
Laura Howorth
