last week I got hold of an original printed book from 1761 containing Psalms set to music by Johann Anton Kobrich. I got into contact with the musicologist who wrote the article on Kobrich in the MGG encyclopedia who confirmed that it is indeed an original print:
- Kobrich 1.jpg (4.66 MiB) Viewed 601 times
- Kobrich 2.jpg (4.82 MiB) Viewed 601 times
I am sharing this because the edition shows a special historic way of music typesetting with letters. It is obviously the method invented by Pierre Attaingnant with letter-like entities containg 5 staff lines with a note on it. The method was used during the Renaissance period and was relatively fast and cheap, though the staff lines are obviously not drawn lines.
The letter method was replaced in the baroque era by plate engraving which was more versatile.
This video describes and shows the process of music engraving with letters.