ABSTRACT
During the period 1500–1650, around 150 to 200 music typefaces were used in Europe to print polyphonic music. This chapter describes to trace the source and direction of such transfers from one town to another, within and outside the German-speaking area, in France, England, Scotland, the Netherlands, Italy, Poland, Denmark and Sweden. Donald Krummel described twenty-seven music typefaces used in the German-speaking lands from the beginning until about 1650, and traced their dissemination. Krummel stated that it appears a dozen times in Germany, but extra research is necessary, since he did not give any detailed information. Some dissemination into Germany is very likely since this is one of the most widely used music typefaces in Europe. The first half of the sixteenth century was a kind of Golden age for German music punch-cutting. Literature on punchcutting is scarce; on music punchcutting it is almost nonexistent, so further archival research is needed before we can reach any conclusions.
