NOTATIO

Hey fellas,

A colleague from grad school engraved two sonatas for violin and piano of a XIX composer. She called her work as microengraving.
Does that really exist? What is it about?

New one on me. Maybe she engraves at 800% or higher? That can give some very precise results.

I immediately envisioned a sonata on the back of a postage stamp.

Good morning, fellas

Yeah, that sounded strange to me too... I thought this term "microengraving" was common among professionals publishers. Maybe she's a professional and raises the detail level to the highest. Actually, I was wondering if that microengraving referred to a calculated kind of work, where everything would be based on numeric coordinates, not done manually with a mouse.

In the days of hand-copying, there was something called "autography" which was similar to engineering drawing of that time done on a drawing board with special equipment. It produced output that was quite close to plate engraving. Maybe she is doing something like that on a computer? There is a very fine engraver, Wesselin Christoph Karaatanassov, who does detailed work of this kind with Finale and his own battery of techniques, fonts etc. Maybe she is a disciple of Wess or does something similar.

db322014 wrote: ↑22 Apr 2025, 18:00 She called her work as microengraving.
Does that really exist? What is it about?

Those would be questions for the person who used the term!

Perhaps they mean a portmanteau of "micro-managing" and "engraving", meaning extreme attention to tiny details?

Hey, db322014, this is the point at which you are supposed to put us out of our misery and tell us what microengraving actually is!

ahahahah lol

I should ask my colleague about this, John... it's been over 10 years I haven't talked to her, she lives in other city far away from me. I hope she still remembers me...

Don't be shy...

I wonder if this has anything to do with autographers like Langensheidt in Germany (copyist of many of Berg's scores) who used microstylus pens.

BTW, Langensheidt supposedly preferred to work in public cafeterias.