Patronage of Printed Music in Brescia and Bergamo before 1600

Abstract

Music print dedications in Renaissance Brescia and Bergamo offer clues about publication underwriting. Dedications also suggest other motivations for publication: tribute, employment portfolio, creative archive, commercial venture or liturgical embellishment. Print dedication (and presumably patronage) by minor nobility of Bergamo and Brescia reveals local trends in the growth of musical patronage and its spread among neighbors and political allies. The pattern from this limited region offers an archetype for understanding the rapid growth and burgeoning popularity of printed music in the sixteenth century.