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Petrucci's Venetian Editor: Petrus Castellanus and His Musical Garden
Author(s): Bonnie J. Blackburn

Source: Musica Disciplina, Vol. 49 (1995), pp. 15-45
Published by: American Institute of Musicology Verlag Corpusmusicae, GmbH
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PETRUCCrS VENETIAN EDITOR:
PETRUS CASTELLANUS
AND HIS MUSICAL GARDEN
BONNIE J. BLACKBURN
Ever since the Odhecaton first came to light in 1856, it has been known that
Petrucci had an editor. But since no one knew who he was or for how
long he
worked with Petrucci, that fact has often been or We com
forgotten ignored.
monly speak about "Petrucci's sources," "Petrucci's readings," or "Petrucci's cor
rections," as if Petrucci himself were responsible not only for the invention of
printing polyphonic music with movable type and the publication of music
books but also for the collection of the music and editorial decisions concerning
music and text. In the absence of any other knowledge, this is allwe can do. But,
in fact, we do not even know if Petrucci himself was a musician.
As a person, Ottaviano Petrucci is remarkably

elusive; apart from his publi
cations and his petitions for printing privileges, and the two dedicatory letters in
the Odhecaion, allwe in
know of his life Venice rests on the information given in
Anton Schmid's pioneering book of 1845 on Petrucci andmusic printing in the
sixteenth century.1 Every book and encyclopedia article on Petrucci, including
Claudio Sartori's bibliography,2 faithfully repeats the biographical information
a so far no
given by Schmid. But Schmid lists not single source, and corroborating
evidence has come to light. On the other hand, Augusto Vernarecci, in his book
of 1881, documents Petrucci's civic life in Fossombrone in some detail.3 Yet apart
1
Anton Schmid, Ottaviano dei Petrucci da Fossombrone, der erste Erfinder des
Musiknotendruckes mit beweglichen Metalltypen, und seine Nachfolger im sechzehnten
Jahrhundert (Vienna: P. Rohrmann, 1845).
2
Claudio Sartori, Bibliograf?a delle opere musicali stampate da Ottaviano Petrucci
(Florence: Leo F. Olschki, 1948). The biographical data in his Dizionario degli editori
musicali italiani (Florence: Leo F. Olschki, 1958), 117-18, is unchanged.
3
Augusto Vernarecci, Ottaviano de3 Petrucci da Fossombrone inventore dei tipi
mobili metallici fusi della m?sica nel sec?lo xv (Bologna: Gaetano Romagnoli, 1881); I
have used the 2nd edition of 1882.
16 M?SICA DISCIPLINA
from the fact that we know Petrucci came from Fossombrone and returned there
seems little that Ottaviano Petrucci, the struggling music typogra
by 1511, there
at least 1498 to 1511, who called himself a "pover homo"
pher in Venice from
when applying for an extension of his Venetian privilege in 1514, had in common
with the Ottavio Petrucci who held a regular succession of civic offices in Fos
sombrone from 1504 to 1536.Can we be dealingwith two differentpeople ? Is the
distinction between the names Ottaviano and Ottavio or
meaningless signifi
cant?4 This is a problem Iwish to raise but cannot solve; it bears further investiga
tion.5 At the present time, paradoxically, it can safely be asserted that we know
more about Petrucci's editor as a person that we do about Petrucci himself.
Let us start with
the primary documents, the two letters printed in the front
of the Odhecaton!3 The first is from Petrucci, dedicating the book to the Venetian
patrician and diplomat Girolamo Donato (Don?), and ending with a plea for pro
tection and patronage.7 Petrucci says he was encouraged to
approach Donato by
Bartolomeo Budrio, "a man of distinction in both Latin and Greek, and most
4
One of the non-musical books that Petrucci printed in Fossombrone, Baldassare
Castiglione's letter to Henry VIQ in praise of Guidobaldo, Duke of Urbino, printed in
1513, has both names. The colophon is signed "Impressum Forosempronii per Octavia
num Petrutium civem Forosemproniensem," but the dedicatory letter is by "Octavius
Petrutius," who states that he undertook to have the book printed because of its elegant
style and its illustrious subject: "Libellum hune qui inmanus meas forte incidit, imprimen
dum curavi, turn quod eleganti stilomini conscriptus esse visus est, turn etiam quod claris
simi principis, & et de me oprime meriti vitam & gesta continet." "Imprimendum curavi"
can be understood either as commissioning and financing the publication or printing it.
5
Vernarecci himself was puzzled that Schmid, "contro la consueta sua diligenza,"
did not document his statements; nevertheless he noted the fact "solo come cosa di cui
ignoriamo la cagione, senza punto dubitare della conscienziosa esattezza dell'egregio
autore," especially since the dates and facts "per nulla contraddicono idocumenti dame e
da altri discoperti" (p. 34 n. 1).The problem may not even be soluble; Stanley Boorman
has informed me that documents pre-dating 1513 in the city archives in Fossombrone,
from which Vernarecci drew much of his documentation, were donated to theRed Cross
in 1952 to be sold as scrap (pers. com. Aug. 1992).
6
For a transcription and new translation, see, most recently, Bonnie J. Blackburn,
"Lorenzo de' Medici, a Lost IsaacManuscript, and the Venetian Ambassador," in Irene
Aim, Alyson McLamore, and Colleen Reardon, eds., M?sica Franca: Essays inHonor of
Frank A. DAccone (Stuyvesant, NY: Pendragon Press, 1996), 19-44.
7
On Donato's career and his musical interests see ibid., with references to earlier
literature. Lorenzo de'Medici sentDonato (theVenetian ambassador) a book of songs by
Isaac in July 1491.
PETRUCCI'S VENETIAN EDITOR 17
to you ... me with what re

devoted constantly singing your praises, and telling
finement you mellow those purer studies of all philosophy with music." In the
letter Petrucci relates that he came to Venice with the idea of perfecting his inven
tion of printingpolyphony, andhe undertook the taskwith the advice of Budrio.
Ifwe can believe Schmid,who gives a birthdateof 18June 1466,Petrucci arrived
in Venice about 1490, when he was about 24 years old. Not until 1498 did he
to the a twenty-year to protect his
apply Signoria for privilege publications. The
was was not to
privilege duly granted, but the first volume, the Odhecaion,
appear for another three years.

Once at increasingly
began printing, volumes issued from his press
Petrucci
shorter intervals, riis repertory was extensive: by 1509, the date of his lastVene
tian publication, he had published chansons, motets, Masses, Lamentations,
hymns, Magnificats, laude, frottole, and lute intablations. How had he obtained
as well asmaster
all this music? Was he editor-in-chief typesetter? Some answers
are contained in the second letter in the Odhecaion, from the man who encour
to Girolamo Donato.8
aged Petrucci, Bartolomeo Budrio, which is also addressed
one expects in
Though couched in the flowery and flattering form that dedicatory
letters, it also gives us some information:
precious
... if this new child of

[itwill be] amost ample reward your city [i. e., the
Odhecaion]... is received into the choir of your muses with me too plead
was Nature, the fertile mother of inventions, in labor with
ing for it. Long it;
at last, after several miscarriages, with the assistance of that most inventive
man Ottaviano Petrucci she gave birth to it, perfect in every detail... Here
then for you are the first-fruits of the Muses' harvest, from the most abun
dant and prolific garden ("ex ub?rrimo ac numerosissimo seminario") of
Petrus Castellanus, of the Order of the Preachers, most renowned for
religion and for musical learning; these hundred songs, corrected by his
diligent labor ("cuius opera et diligentia centena haec carmina repurgata"),
and raised above envy both by bearing the names of the most eminent
composers and above all because they are dedicated to you, we send off to
capture the public under your auspices.
8
Budrio is equally obscure. He calls himself "Iustinopolitanus," from Capodistria
(now Koper in Slovenia), and apparently belonged to the circle of younger humanists in
Venice.
In her edition of the Odhecaton, Helen Hewitt took due notice of this letter,
and she pays tribute to Castellanus:
As an editor... he did an excellent

job. As one compares the version he pre
one is
pared for publication with manuscript readings, constantly impressed
with the accuracy and good judgment he displayed. In almost every case
where a choice is the Odhecaton proves the better version. Of
possible
actual errors in the print the number is too slight to warrant mention. And
his choice of compositions shows his penetration into the art of musical
composition of his time. The selection is notable for its breadth, its wide
variety of style, of form, and of subject matter, and above all for its
uniformly fine musical quality.9
Who was Petrus Castellanus? In 1938 Coenraad Walther Boer tentatively

identified him with a "Petrus de Castello" mentioned in the acts of the Dominican
Order in 1505 and 1512,10 but neither reference was very informative, and no
farther interest seems to have been
taken in him, despite his patent importance
and Budrio's tantalizing description of him as "most renowned for religion and
for musical et musicae
learning" ("religione disciplina memoratissimi").
In the summer of 1986, while searching inVenetian archives and libraries for
information on obscure persons mentioned in the Spataro Correspondence,11 I
was led to the a letter written in
discovery of the identity of Petrucci's editor by
1534 by Lorenzo Gazio, a Benedictine monk in the monastery of
September
Santa Giustina in Padua, to the music theorist Giovanni del Lago in Venice. The
9
Harmonice musices odhecaton A, ed.Helen Hewitt and Isabel Pope (Cambridge,
MA: Medieval Academy of America, 1942), 9-10. She disagreed, however, with Gustave
Reese's suggestion that Castellanus was responsible for bringing some of the three-voice
works up to date by adding a contratenor, because she found no evidence thatCastellanus
was a composer. See Reese, "The First Printed Collection of Part-Music (the Odheca
ton)," Musical Quarterly 20 (1934): 39-76.
10
Chansonvormen op het einde van de XVde eeuw (Amsterdam: H. J. Paris, 1938),
51, noted by Hewitt.
1'
Nowpublished as Bonnie J. Blackburn, Edward E. Lowinsky, and Clement A.
Miller, eds., A Correspondence of Renaissance Musicians (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1991). A preliminary report of my findings on Petrus Castellanus appears on
p. 1008.
letter concerned a
dispute between the two over errors in proportions in an un
named work by Franchino Gafurio. They were having difficulty in resolving
them, and understandably so, because they had only the cantus part. Del Lago
had asked for the other voice, and Gazio had to confess that he no longer had it:
one I have I found some discards

The among together with another part
from an equally old composition_If I had known about this work when
Iwas inMilan, Gafurio would have given it to me; through his kindness he
was my great friend. I have ordered a search for it in Padua, and sent letters
to Verona and Parma, in the expectation of finding it. Perhaps the
similarly
?
person who inherited the music of Fra Pietro of San Zoannepolo I think it
?
was a Frate Harmonio is likely to have it.12
"San Zoannepolo" (sometimes Zanipolo) is the Venetian dialect name for

the great church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo, monumental resting place of many
Venetian doges and patricians.One would expect to find that ithad a flourishing
musical tradition in the sixteenth to that of St. Mark's,
century the
comparable
on music in Venice is strangely silent
doge's private chapel; if so, the literature
about it.On the other hand, the church was attached to a convent of the Domini
can Order (as the Frari is to the Franciscan Order), and one might expect that the
friars of this mendicant order sang nothing but plainchant. The polyphonic tradi
tions of Italian churches of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries are con
largely
fined to cathedrals, and while individual monks or friars are known as music
theorists or music composers are rare, and

(especially Franciscans) copyists,
music in conventual churches may largely have depended on the improvisatory
that Nino Pirrotta has demonstrated so for secular music.
practices cogently
12
"Cercha l'altraparte, io non ne ho pi?, et quello che ho lo atrovai comme derelicto
et io lo recolse insiema cum una altra parte de un canto non mancho vechio_Se havesse
saputo de esso canto quando era inMilano, Don Franchino me ne haveria servito, el quai
per humanit? sua era nostro amicissimo. Ho datto ordine che '1sia cerchato inPadua, et lo
simile per littere nostre ho fatto inVerona et inParma, talmente che veder? de haverlo. Che
sapesse colui ehe ha hereditato li canti de Fra Pietro de San Zoannepolo, che penso ehe 1
fusse un Frate Harmonio, f?cilmente lui Paver?a."Letter 85, ibid., 826. On Frate Armonio
see ibid., 980-1.
Iwas a
Thus skeptical about finding anything about Friar Peter who owned
a collection of polyphonic music when I opened the book of Council acts of SS.
Giovanni e Paolo.131 was therefore to find, under the year 1497, an
surprised
entry proving that not only did this Dominican church have a polyphonic choir
but also that itwas not dependent on the resident novices and friars for singers. In
1497 the head of the Dominican province in which the church was located re
moved Frater Donatus Venetus from the convent and deprived him of the salary
he enjoyed for singing cantus figuratus as a bass ("contrabassus"). But, the record
goes on, since the chapel cannot function without a bass, he is to be succeeded
by
Frater Nicolaus Camaldulensis, that is, someone belonging to a different order, at
the same salary.14 In 1499 the Council, afraid of losing the singer Frater Joannes de
Francia, increased his salary.15 By 1502 Frater Donatus had apparently returned,
because he was to recover his health, on the condition
given leave for six months
that he return and sing "in Capella" for sixmonths, as before. for him in
Covering
his absence was a priest Bernardinus, a
singer
at the Carmelite church, who was to
at a one ducat.16
sing bass monthly salary of
13
All the documents concerning the church are now in theArchivio di Stato, Venice
(hereafter ASV) in the fondo Corporazioni Religiose Soppresse, SS. Giovanni e Paolo.
They are very incomplete for the 16th century, and the often informative account books
are sadly lacking. The Council acts from 1450 to 1542 are extant, although they are very
sketchy up to 1490 (Busta 11: Registri, capitoli e consigli 1450-1542). The entries from
1450 to 1490 are all in the same hand, and were probably transcribed from a previous
register, now missing. After submitting this article I learned that Elena Quaranta has in
press a book on music inVenetian churches in theRenaissance, which should fill a number
of gaps in our knowledge: Oltre San Marco. Organizzazione e prassi della m?sica ne lie
chiese di Venezia nel Rinascimento (Florence: Leo F. Olschki, 1998).
14
"Anno domini M?497 die 27Januarij post prandium. Cum Reverendus pater pro
vintialis ammovisset a istius convenais fratrem Donatum venetum
conventuali[ta]te
nomine Reverendissimi magistri ordinis Et privaset ilium salario quod habebat ex cantu
s. cannebat contrabassum: Cum non stare sine contra
figurato quia [sic] capella posset
basso decretum est per patres ut loco fratrisDonati succederet fraterNicolaus camadulen
sis cum eodem salario fratrisDonati si autem velet expensas ut veniret ad refectorium aliter
non haberet aliquid extra refectorium." (Busta 11, fol. 13v.)
15
"1499 die viij decembris. Item quia indigebat noster chorus sufficienti cantore: ne
discederet frater Joannes de Francia pro ut determinaverat: visum est ipsum reti?ere hoc
medio: quod Conventus teneretur ei dare annualiter pro suo salario s. pro officio cantorie
quod ad stabit ducatos sex. Quare facto super hoc Consilio omnes consenserunt." Ibid.,
fol. 24v.
16"
1502 die 28 octubris. Et in eodem consilio captum fuit quod fraterDonatus causa
recuperande sanitatis posset ire ad standum in quodam benefitio cuiusdam presbiteri in
PETRUCCrS VENETIAN EDITOR 21
At folio 33 of the first extant register of Council acts, under the date Octo
ber 1502,1 found the name of a "Petrus Cantor," mentioned incidentally because
the burnt cell that had belonged to him was given to another friar to repair and live
in.17By folio 42, under the date 19January 1505,1 suspected I had found the man I
was was
looking for: "It proposed in council in the presence of the Reverend Pro
vincial that Trater Petrus magister capelle' have two and a half ducats and meals
on the feast on which he was voted down, 17 to 10.) The identifi
days sings."18 (It
cation became certain in another entry in August:
Itwas agreed, in the presence of the Reverend Provincial, by all the masters
and fathers that Frater Petrus de Castello be the master of the discant chapel
as he was before and that he be to teach the
obliged boys discant. However,
in case of illness, or when he is lawfully prevented from doing so, he may
devolve the duties on a substitute. For his work for the convent he is to
receive 18 ducats a
year.19
are several more to him in the Council on 2

There references minutes: May 1512
he was proposed for formal affiliation with the convent; he was elected unani
teritorio Tervisino: sex menses. In quantum nos dare non

per poteramus derogando ?eque
preceptis superioribus contradicendo. Quibus transactis redire d?bet ad conventum et per
sex menses cantaret in ut Hoc est a conventu nostro haberet salarium
capella prius. quod
sex menses ... Item Bernardinus contrabasso a con
per quod presbiter acciperetur pro
ventu et daretur ducatus unus pro mense et nihil aliud: et incepit prima die novembris et
casu quo frater Donatus rediret: et Bernardinus posset redire ad Carmelitas cedat
presbiter
presbiter Bernardinus fratriDonato." Ibid., fol. 33.
17 et
"1502 die 28 octubris. Captum fuit in consilio Reverendorum Magistrorum
omnes balotas frater Marcus Pensaben haberet cellam combustam
patrum per quod
fratris Petri cantoris que supra angulum latrine et illam reaptaret et possideret donee ipse
vixerit." Ibid.
18
"Item 1505 19 Januarii. Propositum fuit in consilio patrum Reverendo provinciali
presente quod frater Petrus magister capelle haberet duos ducatos cum dimidio et colatio
nes diebus festis in quibus cantant." In this register the year changes on 1January ("more
ecclesie et non v?neto" is noted on fol. 52v).
19
"Die prima augusti M?ccccc?5?. Captum fuit presente Reverendo provinciali per
omnes magistros et patres quod frater Petrus de Castello sit magister c?pele biscantus
prout erat et quod sit obligatus docere pueros biscantum verum infirmitate causa possit
alium subrogare vel etiam quando esset legitime inpeditus alium subrogare possit et pro
labore convenais det eidem et solvat ducatos decem et octo in anno incipiendo a prima die
Ibid., fol. 44.
augusti."
mously the next day, giving the convent three books (of music?).20 A month later
he received a new cell.21 On 28 November 1512 he was elected to the post of
sacristan, but had to resign inApril 1513 because of gout.22 He appears for the last
time under the date 17March 1514:
In the same council itwas decreed, no one

objecting, and all ballots in favor,
that the whole cell that was
formerly given by the
masters and fathers to Fra
ter Petrus de Castello, who is at present living outside the order, is to be
to to live in and rebuild as he on
given Magister Damianus Venetus pleases,
the understanding that Frater Petrus is agreeable and on the condition that
he, as was reported, no longer intends to return to the convent.23
A proposal was made to elect Frater Vincentius as maestro

di cappella in the
following month, but he declined the offered salary of six ducats (only one-third
20
"M?D?XII(>die 2madij. Cum istiduo venerabiles patres frater Jeronimus de Sibini
cho su [b]prior nostri convenais et frater Petrus de Castello diu nobiscum iuste ac recte
vixerunt ideo decrettim fuit in consilio nostro per maiorem partem quod hij duo omnibus
fratribus nativis proponerentur capitulariter congregatis pro eorum filiacione nostri con
venais." (Ibid., fol. 59.) "Die 3madij. Proposiaim igiair fuit per Reverendum priorem an
frater Petrus de Castello venetus in filium nativum nostri celleberimi convenais deberet
et omnes et concorditer et acceptarunt in fi
recipi ylari vultti unanimiter ipsum ellegerunt
lium nativum convenais sanctorum et Pauli nemine sive contra dicente
Joannis opponente,
et est verus filius nativus nostri convenais et dicttis f. Petrus convenaii 3 libros donavit"
(ibid.). This means that Petrus did not take the habit in SS. Giovanni e Paolo. He probably
professed at S. Domenico, located in the district of Castello (see below, n. 25).
21
"Item die 5 (June 1512] per maiorem partem consilij determinattim fuit quod
camera fratris Thome Donato concederetur v. p. fratri Petro de Castelo cum omnibus
dependencijs fuit concessa: ipse autem daret conventui ducatos 5" (ibid., fol. 59v).
22
"1512 novembris. Capaim fuit per magistros et patres die xx8a dicti mensis in
sacrista huius almi convenais venerabilem fratrem Petrum de Castello" (ibid., fol. 64). "Die
eadem [11Apr. 1513] elecais fuit in sacristam convenais Reverendus magister Leonardus
venenas ex eo quia frater Petrus de Castelo propter podragas non pooiit complere oficium
suum ideo dicttis magister ut supra complere habet anum videlicet usque ad festum omn
ium sanctorum venturum" fol.
proxime (ibid., 65v).
23
"1514 die 17Marcij. Insuper eodem consilio decretum fuit nemine contradicente
et per omnes balotas obtentum tota camera alias concessa fuit per patres et ma
quod que
gistros fratriPetro de Castello qui ad presens extra ordinem moratur daretur et concedere
turMagistro Damiano v?neto ab ipso inhabitanda et edificanda prout sibi videretur. Hoc
tarnen frater Petrus esset contentus et hac condicione ut relatum est
pacto quod quod ipse
amplius non intendit redire ad conventum" (ibid., fol. 69v).
the salary Petrus received); he was hired inMay on a discretionary basis, the
Council supplying his firewood, and his salary increased to 8 ducats in 1515. The
names of
singers appear sporadically in the Council records; for a summary see
the Appendix.
Petrus was a native Venetian; Castello is one of the six sestieri of
probably
Venice, situated on the far east side of the city, distant from the center (the cathe
dral, S. Pietro, is located there). In the absence of a family name, it can be very
difficult to identify monks and friars, who are commonly referred to only by their
first name and their city of origin. (Other friars from Venice were called "Vene
tus" or "de Venetiis.") Thus it was difficult to discover when Petrus became
attached to the convent at SS. Giovanni e Paolo. For 14651 found a list of Council
members that included both Frater Petrus de Venetiis and Frater Petrus junior
de Venetiis. Was Petrus denominated "de Castello" because there was already
a
Petrus de Venetiis in the convent? By 1471 the first of these had become a
Magister and the second had acquired another name, Colonna. (Surnames were
used when there was a risk of confusion.) The earliest certain reference Iwas able
to find to Petrus Castellanus was of August 1486, when "Dominus Frater Petrus
a list of Council members.24
de Castello" appeared in
I next consulted the printed records of the Dominican Order and verified
the references that Boer had discovered earlier: InMay 1505 Petrus was sent from
S. Domenico, the other Dominican church inVenice, to the Dominican convent

in Recanati.25 In many Orders, itwas common for friars, especially the younger
ones, to be moved from convent to convent, sometimes for the purpose of study.
In Petrus' case, this could have had important musical repercussions, because it
to
would give him the opportunity gather music from various sources and to have
24 e Paolo, P. X, Register
ASV, SS. Giovanni "Libro ?ero," fol. 159\
23
"Item Fr. P?tri de Castello de conventu s. Dominici de Veneciis ad conventum
Racanatensem"; Acta Capitulorum Generalium Ordinis Praedicatorum, 4 (1501 -53), ?d.
Benedictus Maria Reichert O. P. (Monumenta Ordinis Fratrum Praedicatorum Hist?rica,
9; Rome: Ex typographia Polyglotta S. C. de Propaganda Fide, 1901), 48. S.Domenico di
Castello, founded in 1312, became the seat of the Venetian Inquisition in 1560. The com
e Paolo in 1806 and the church destroyed in
munity was joinedwith that of SS. Giovanni
1807 tomake way for the Public Gardens. The documents from the church, in theArchi
vio di Stato, have not yet been inventoried. Unlike the friars of SS. Giovanni e Paolo, most
of the friars came from other Italian cities, as far away asGenoa and Naples; a few came
from and France.
Germany
music to him by friars who knew that he was a collector. The move to
brought
Recanati, which was of short duration, is not explained in the records; three
months later Petrus was back at SS. Giovanni e Paolo, where he was made
?
maestro di cappella "prout erat" as he was before. His initial appointment
probably dates from before 1490, the point where the Council minutes were
entered with some regularity.
exhausted the scanty records of SS. Giovanni e Paolo in the
Having early
sixteenth century, I turned next to the
general archives of the Dominican Order
at Santa Sabina inRome, and specifically the registers of the letters of theMaster
General of the Order. Unfortunately, those for 1513 -18 are lost, so Iwas not able
to find out to do so
why Petrus left the order; he would have needed permission
from theMaster-General. He was mentioned in 1490, when he was called "alias
de Ancona" and given permission to elect a confessor four times a year and to
contribute to the support of his mother.26 In 1502 he was given permission to
become affiliated with whatever convent wished to accept him.27 In 1512 Frater
de Castello was next to the cell of Frater Petrus if

Albertus given the cell lawfully
to him the Council).28 This Frater Albertus was a well-known
granted (by
Dominican writer, editor of a Bible, a Pontifical, and various other liturgical
books printed inVenice,29 and he is one of the rare witnesses we have to Petrus as a
musician. In his chronicle of the Dominican Order, published in 1516, Albertus
wrote:
26
"Frater Petrus de Castello alias de Ancona potest 4. in anno confessorem et
eligere
plena absolve [sic] et de bonis suis aliquid genitrici su[a]e contribuere. Venetijs eodem [1
Sept. 1490]." Archivio Generalizio delPOrdine dei Predicatori, Reg. IV. 9 (covering the
years 1487-91), fol. 62v.
27
"Frater Petrus de Castello potest fieri nativus illius convenais qui voluit eum
suscipere etc. 20a Junii [1502]." Reg. IV. 15, fol. 44v.
2S
"FratriAlberto de Castello v?neto conceditur camera vicina camere fratris P?tri de
Castello si ei legittime concessa fuit, ij Februarij 1512 Rome." Reg. IV. 18, fol. 38.
29
See the entry inDizionario biogr?fico degli italiani, 21 (Rome: Istituto della
-
Enciclopedia Italiana, 1978) :642 44. He was born towards themiddle of the 15th century
a
and became Dominican around 1470. He was transferred to SS. Giovanni e Paolo in
1508. After the publication of his influential Liber sacerdotalis in 1523 nothing further is
known of him.
Frater Petrus Castellanus a man

Venetus, gracefully adorned with many
talents, especially in the art of music, of which he was amonarch, flourished
in this time.30
From thisnotice itwould appear thatPetrus had died by 1516.And this is in fact
the year of his death, recorded in an eighteenth-century chronicle now in
Vicenza, based on sources that have not survived. The chronicler, Fra Rocco
Curti, quotes the following annotation from a book preserved in the sacristy:
30April 1513.The end inoffice [of sacristan]of thevenerableFatherFrater

Petrus de Castello realis, who in his time was amusican celebrated through
out the whole world.31
This is followed by the statement: "The saidFatherPetrus died on 16May 1516."

no not listed in the
The sacristy book longer survives, and Petrus is eighteenth
century necrology of the convent,32 perhaps because he died outside the Order.
To summarize what we now know about Petrus Castellanus: he was a native
Venetian, a Dominican friar, and present in the church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo
from at least 1486; he was hired as maestro di cappella for a second time in 1505
30
"Frater Petrus Castellanus Venetus, vir multarum virtutum decore adornatus,
autem in arte musice cuius erat monarcha, hoc tempore floruit." From the
permaxime
Brevissima Chronica contained in the third edition of his Tabula superprivilegia papalia
ordini fratrum predicatorum concessa (Venice, 1516). See Raymond Creytens O.P., "Les
?crivains dominicains dans la chronique d'Albert de Castello (1516)," Archivum Fratrum
Praedicatorum 30 (1960): 226-313, at p. 301.
31 "30
Aprilis 1513. Finis in officio venerabilis Pat. Fr. P?tri de Castello realis; qui fuit
Musicus toto terrarum orbe suo tempore celeberrimus. Scribebat Mag. Sixtus Medices.
Obiit dictus Pat. Petrus 16.Maii 1516." Vicenza, Biblioteca Bertoliana, MS G. 3.4.9, p.
397.1 cannot explain "Castello realis"; the 18th-century chronicler renders it in Italian as
"daCastelloreale," but in that case theword should have been "regio" or "regali." Possibly
the adjective, whatever it is, agrees with "venerabilis patris Fratris Petri," perhaps recalling
Albertus Castellanus' epithet "monarcha." At any rate,Albertus' designation "Castellanus
Venetus" is more authoritative.
32
Venice, Biblioteca del Museo Correr, Cod. Cicogna 822, put together by Padre
Lettore F. Urbano Urbani from books in the convent and in the parish church of Santa
Maria Formosa. Necrologies, drawn up long after decease and based on unknown
sources, are unreliable.
notoriously
(the first appointment probably dates from before 1490), resigned the office of
sacristan in April 1513 because of gout, left the Order sometime before March
1514, and died inMay 1516. He was famous in his day as amusician and collector
an anonymous treatise on
of music. Petrus may responsible for
also have been
music that was first published inVenice in 1499 and was to be very long-lived; it
was
frequently included in Venetian publications useful to clerics, under various
titles: Cantorinus, Albertus Castellanus' Liber sacerdotalis of 1523, the Familiaris
clericorum liber of 1530, and a number
of publications with the title Sacerdotale
(1554 and later).33 Little of the treatise is original; large portions are taken from
Marchetto of Padua's Lucidarium and Ugolino of Orvieto's Declaratio musicae
disciplinae. But it is admirably concise in presenting the fundamentals

necessary
for, say, novices and choirboys. Three contemporary Spanish theorists refer to a
treatise by Pedro de Venecia. Domingo Marcos Duran, in his Comento sobre lux
bella of 1498, states that if a semitone does not exist in chant "itmust be provided
a were tomoderate
by coniuncta, for B1, and the semitone principally invented and
temper the harshness of the tritone, as Petrus de Venecis wishes in his treatise on
music."34 This matches the passage "Inventum est autem B rotundum
beginning
ad temperandum tritonum" in the Compendium musices, although the passage
itself comes from amuch earlier treatise that Sarah Fuller has placed in the Cister
e breve de canto llano (n.p.,
cian orbit.35 AlfonsoSpa?on, Introducion muy util
C.1504) cites "Pedro de Venecia" twice: "Propriedad es una dirivacion de bozes: a
un
principio seg?n Pedro de Venecia" (sig. Alv), which agrees with the opening
sentence of the Compendium, and "Deducion es un ajuntamiento o ylacion des
tas seys bozes, segun Pedro de Venecia: en su tratado de m?sica"
(sig. a2),
33
David Crawford edited it as Anonymus Compendium musices Venetiis, 1499
1597 (Corpus Scriptorum de M?sica, 33; Neuhausen-Stuttgart: American Institute of
1985). There is also a partial manuscript version inVenice, Biblioteca Nazio
Musicology,
nale Marciana, VI??.82 (3047), fols. 148-51.
34
"et si no oviere semitono por canto llano: darlo hemos por conjuncta ca el bmol y
el semitono principalmente fueron fallados para moderar y templar la dureza del tr?tono
seg?n quiere Petrus de Venecis en su tratado de m?sica" (sig. d4). A similar reference is at
sig. c8v. 1499 is the date of the earliest copy known to David Crawford; there may well
have been earlier editions.
35
For the passage, see Compendium musices, ed. Crawford, p. 38.On theCistercian
treatise see Sarah Fuller, "An Anonymous Treatise dictus de Sancto Martiale: A New
Source for Cistercian Music Theory," M?sica Disciplina 31 (1977): 5-30.
which agrees less closely with the definition in the Compendium.^ Bartolom? de
Molina, Arte de canto llano lux videntis dicha (Valladolid, 1503), sig. a2v, cites
"Petrus de Venecia" for three different kinds of mutation: "Tenemos tres maneras
de mutan?a s.mutan?a de tono et de diathesaron et de is not in
diapente," which
the Compendium.
Beginning with Pedro Cerone, ElMelopeo y maestro (Naples, 1613), the

music treatise is attributed to "Padre Fray Alberto Veneciano de los Predicatores,"
probably because it appears inAlbertus Castellanus' Liber sacerdoialis of 1523,
though Cerone refers to it as his "Compendio de M?sica."37 By a complicated

bibliographicaltrailthrough theorists,Dominican bibliographers, andwriters on
music,38 this ghost author has been sufficiently lively to survive in the new edition
of Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart.39 His near neighbor in the convent,
Petrus, ismuch more likely

to be the author.
What bearing does the identification of Petrus Castellanus have on Petruc

ci's publications? First, the relationship between the two must date from the
1490s. Petrucci may have made an agreement with Petrus to provide him with the
repertory and prepare the copies for the typesetters. If this agreement was legal
36 sex syllabarum aggregatis dicitur in cantu deductio"

"Hamm enim omnium
(Crawford, p. 38).
37
Indeed, the passage he quotes on p. 286 is found in the Compendium, ed. Craw
ford, p. 45, and that on p. 696 is found on p. 44 in Crawford's edition.
38
Andres Lorente, El porque de lam?sica (Alcal? de Henares: Nicolas de Xamares,
1672), 495; Ambrosio de Altamura, Bibliothecae Dominicanae... accuratis collectionibus
...
productae (Rome: Typis N. A. Tinassii, 1677), 294; Andrea Rovetta, Bibliotheca Chro
nologica illustrium virorumprovinciae Lombardiae sacri ordinis Praedicatorum (Bologna:
Typis I. Longi, 1691), 122; J. Qu?tif and J. Echard, Scriptores Ordinis Praedicatorum
recensai (Par?s:J.B. Ballard and N. Simart, 1719-23), 2: 126; Jo. Dominicus Armanus,
Monumenta selecta conventus SanctiDominici Venetiarum auctoris,"
(Venice: "sumptibus
1729), 115-16; Christian Gottlieb Jocher, Allgemeines Gelehrten-Lexicon (Leipzig:
J.F. Gleditsch, 1750), 1: col. 208; E. L. Gerber, Historisch-biographisches Lexicon der
Tonk?nstler (Leipzig: A. K?hnel, 1790-92), 1: 24; Johann Nicolaus Forkel, Allgemeine
Litteratur der Musik (Leipzig: Shwickert, 1792), 486; F.-J. F?tis, Biographie universelle
(2nd ed., Paris: Firmin-Didot, 1860-65), 1: 54; and Robert Eitner, Biographisch-biblio
graphisches Quellen-Lexikon (Leipzig: Breitkopf & H?rtel, 1900-4), 1: 88. The Domini
can bibliographers all listAlbertus Castellanus as well. Altamura cites aMS catalogue of
Dominican writers by Hyacinthus de Parra as one of his sources; I have not been able to
find this.
39
Vol. 2 (1995): 1338, in the article "Dominikaner" by Heinrich Huschen (largely
based on the previous edition).
ized in any fashion, no record of it has yet come to light. But perhaps there never
was one, because as members of amendicant order, friars were not entided to
hold property and therefore should not have been entering into legal agreements
not think that the
involving financial transactions.401 do relationship with Petrucci
ceased after the publication of the Odhecaton. It is interesting that the first volume
?
not what one would expect from the collec
comprised French secular music
tion of an Italian friar. Petrucci evidently calculated that he would initially achieve
more sales in the access to the secular music appealing to
laymarket. If Petrus had
that market, he unquestionably had an extensive collection of sacred music,
which hewould have provided for thepolyphonic choir of his church. (Indeed, it
is quite possible that the three books he gave to the church in 1512 when he
became a "native son" of the convent were choirbooks). Thus it seems likely that
the collaboration continued throughout the period that Petrucci was inVenice, till
1509, when political and economic conditions forced him to move back to
Fossombrone, where he began publishing again in 1511, but at a gready reduced

rate.When Petrus left the order inl513orl514, did he go to Fossombrone? It is
tempting to think so, especially in view of the publication of the first volume of
theMotet?i de laCorona in 1514 (onwhich more below), but that is a question
that is unanswerable at the present time.
Scholars long have wondered about Petrucci's sources, which seem gene
to concord with manuscripts in north-east we shall
rally originating Italy. Now
have to rephrase the question: what were Petrus de Castello's sources? Itwas sug
gested above that the Dominican (and not only Dominican) habit of transferring
friars between different houses of the Order is one channel in the c?ssemination of
40
The Conventuals did allow friars to own personal property, as is clear from the
records. SS. Giovanni e Paolo had a strong connection with Venetian printers, through at
least the 16th century. In 1525 the convent recorded agreement with the Florentine printer
Tommaso Giunta (son of Lucantonio), at the sign of the lily (the Giunta mark) for the
rental of a place near the cavana [small canal or reservoir] for his foundry: "Messer
Thomaso Zonta florentino tien per insegna el zio die dar al convento ogni anno per f itto de
un loco lui tiene in convento a la cavana per far il furno ducati tre comenrio el suo f itto adi
[blank] mazo 1525" (Registro XXIV, fol. 142v). Paul F. Grendler, The Roman Inquisition
and the Venetian Press, 1540-1605 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1977), notes
that the church provided storage space formany bookmen. When their guild was formed
in 1549, their meeting place was in SS. Giovanni e Paolo (pp. 5, 19).
music, especially when those friars are singers.41 In the general archive of the
Dominican Order inRome I found anotice that ishighly suggestive in this regard.
On 18October 1487 theMaster-General of the Order gave Frater Petrus Bassa
tellus of the church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo to go to
permission, when he wished,
Rome and elsewhere and stay there, and then return to the convent, and during
that time he was
exempted from reading Mass and singing discant in church.42
The name Petrus Bassatellus occurs in the records of SS. Giovanni e Paolo, but
none of them mentions that he is a singer.43 This document makes that clear, and
also that he was normally under some obligation to sing polyphony. Suppose that
Petrus de Castello said to him: "Iwant you to go to Rome and visit the singers of
the Papal Chapel. You can take this collection of motets and Masses with you to
present to them, and in return Iwant you to bring back the newest repertory for
our church." Whom would he have found there? The composers who were
were van Weerbeke,
singing in the Papal Chapel in 1487 Gaspar Bertrand Vacque
ras, Marbriano de Orto, and Johannes Stokem. Not yet a member, as Pamela
Starr has recendy demonstrated,44 was new discoveries have con
Josquin, but
firmed Edward Lowinsky's hypothesis of his servicewith Cardinal Ascanio
Sforza, and he can be presumed to have been in Rome at this time.45 Of these
composers, Petrucci published a volume of Masses by Weerbeke, another one by
41
St. Vincent Ferrer, the Spanish Dominican famed as a preacher, whose career
took him to Italy and France, and possibly England and Scotland (he died in Brittany in
1419), owned a Bible intowhich was pasted aKyrie in English discant. (Vincent's father
was English.) See Reinhard Strohm, "Ein englischer Ordinariumssatz des 14. Jahr
hunderts in Italien," Die Musikforschung 18 (1965): 178-81.
42
"Frater Petrus Bassatellus conventus sanctorum Johannis et Pauli de Venetijs
potest quando voluerit ireRomam et alio etmorari et inde redire ad conventum suum et
est exemptus a lectione misse et a discantu in choro et nullus etc. Non obstantibus etc.
Venetijs ut supra [18Oct. 1487]." Archivio Generalizio dell'?rdine dei Predicatori, Reg.
IV. 9, fol. 51.
43 was only an early phase of his career; in 1498 he was elected subprior
Perhaps this
and then conventus."
"pater
44
Pamela F, Starr, "Josquin, Rome, and a Case of Mistaken Identity," Journal of
Musicology 15 (1997): 43-65.
45
The findings were made public by Paul Merkley and Lora Matthews in ? paper
read at the conference of the International Musicological Society in London, 15 Aug.
1997, and again at the annual meeting of the American Musicological Society, Phoenix,
31 Oct. 1997.
Marbriano de Orto, three volumes of Masses by Josquin, Mass fragments by Jos

quin, de Orto, Stokem, andWeerbeke, Lamentations by de Orto andWeerbeke,
motets de Orto, and Vacqueras, and chansons
by Josquin, Weerbeke, by all five of
these composers.
If my hypothetical scenario is correct, it may explain something that
puzzled Richard Sherr in connection with Josquin's Missa de Beata Virgine. The
Gloria and Credo alone (in reverse order) were copied into Cappella Sistina 23 in
-
about 1505 7.46Both are very close in their readings to the Petrucci print of 1514,
an odd passage in the Alto that is followed in two later
including only manuscript
sources.47 In the case of common errors between
manuscript
a
and a print, we
generally suppose that the manuscript has been copied from the print, but that
could not be the case here, because the scribe, Johannes Orceau, had died two
years before theMass was published. The hypothesis that Petrus had connections
with the singersof thePapalChapel and thathe obtainedmusic indirectly from
them (we have no evidence that Petrus himself went to Rome) offers an explana
tion; it needs to be tested common

against all the repertory.48
We know from the Spataro Correspondence thatmusicians quite frequendy
sent each other music. Petrus could have received in the same way,
compositions
46
This MS dates from the reign of Julius II (1503 -13); the handwriting of the scribe,
Orceau, falls into Jeffrey Dean's at 6 and 7a, and the rastra and
Johannes chronology stages
paper types areRichard Sherr's 2.5/M and 2.6M2. For the argumentation as to dating, see
Jeffrey J.Dean, "The Scribes of the Sistine Chapel, 1501 -1527" (Ph.D. diss., University of
Chicago, 1984), ch. 2, and Richard Sherr, Papal Music Manuscripts in the Late Fifteenth
and Early Sixteenth Centuries (Renaissance Manuscript Studies, 5; (Neuhausen-Stuttgart:
American Institute of Musicology, 1996), 34-58, which includes a summary of Dean's
stages.
47
A signum congruentiae, marked one semibreve too soon with respect to the other
parts, coincides with the same misplacement at a page turn inCS 23. See Richard Sherr,
"The Relationship between a Vatican Copy of the Gloria of Josquin's Missa de Beata
Virgine and Petrucci's Print," inLorenzo Bianconi et al, eds., Atti delXIVCongresso della
Societ? Internazionale di Musicolog?a: Trasmissione e recezione delle forme di cultura
musicale (Turin: EDT, 1990), 2: 266-71. My remarks following his presentation are
printed (slightly garbled) ibid., 278-79.
48
Sherr, however, does not see any other examples thatwould point to Petrucci's
use (directly or at one remove) of Cappella Sistina sources. He suggests that Petrucci may
have obtained the exemplar from which CS 23 was copied when he was in Rome in
connection with a privilege he supplicated for in 1513. My hypothesis does not
hinge
solely on the demonstrable use of extant Roman sources; many of the works by the
composers named above do not appear in Cappella Sistina manuscripts.
was a chance of
especially if composers knew there getting their works published
Petrucci. But Petrus was not on musicians. From much recent
by dependent only
work, especially on the courts of Italian dukes and princes, but also northern
churches such as St. Donatian in Bruges, we have learned a great deal from in
a ?
quiring into composer's relations with his patron. In Petrucci's case the patron
or intended patron ? was the Venetian
patrician Girolamo Donato. Elsewhere I
have shown that Donato was to
extraordinarily devoted music, which he claimed
to listen to every day in his letter to Lorenzo de' Medici
thanking him for the gift
of the manuscript of Isaac's music.49 He spent his whole career in the diplomatic
service of the Venetian Signoria: between 1484 and his death in 1511 he was
posted, among other places, to Portugal, the Emperor Maximilian, France, Milan,
Rome, and Ferrara. In these places Donato would have had ample opportunity to
hear and collect music. The dates are suggestive: he was in Rome in 1481-2,
-
1497 9,1505, and 1509 -11. As ambassador he would have attended all the great
as well as In
religious ceremonies of the Papal Curia, private entertainments.
1501-2 he was the Venetian envoy to France, where he could have known
or indeed renewed an was Visdomino or
Josquin, acquaintance with him. And he
resident Venetian ambassador of Ferrara in 1499-1500. Lewis Lockwood has
already noted the connection and suggested that he may have been a link between
Ferrarese music and Petrucci.50 Petrucci was very astute in dedicating the Odhe
caion to Donato. Whether he was an actual patron or merely a prospective one
at that time is unclear; the letter does not give evidence that Petrucci knew him
personally. But I think it quite

likely that Donato and Petrus Castellanus were
was one of
acquainted (Donato had studied music in his youth), and that Donato
those bearing the seeds that were planted in Petrus' garden and flowered in
Petrucci's as Pierre
prints. This could include works by northern composers such
de laRue, for Donato was atMaximilian's court from March to July of 1501, and
at the French court when Philip the Fair visited with his chapel on the occasion of
his signing the peace treaty with France later that year.51
49 a Lost IsaacManuscript,
See Blackburn, "Lorenzo de' Medici, and the Venetian
Ambassador," 21.
50
MusicinRenaissance Ferrara, 1400-1505 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University
Press, 1984), 206 and n. 29.
51 38-39.
Blackburn, "Lorenzo de' Medici,"
How did Petrus edit themusic forPetrucci? Scholarly opinions have varied
as to the are not
reliability of Petrucci's readings; certainly they perfect, and better
versions of individual pieces can be found inmanuscript sources.52 But as awhole
are of a a
they high caliber, and especially the Venetian prints.53 There is noticeable
falling-off in the late Fossombrone publications, in particular the last three vol
umes of theMotetti de la Corona series, in 1519, five years after the first
published
volume.54 Perhaps itwould be possible to determine atwhat point Petrus stopped
a close examination of the sources. This
doing editorial work for Petrucci through
would be a difficult and exacting task, with perhaps inconclusive results. But
editorial intervention can be in three areas in addition to the normal
hypothesized
task we expect of an editor in resolving problematic readings: the determination
of composer attributions, the addition of si placet parts, and the resolution of
obscure canons. And it can be demonstrated in an unexpected area: the revision
of texts.
The question of attributions is a vexed one, particularly with regard to the
differences between the different printings of the Odhecaton. Helen Hewitt gave
careful consideration to the whether Petrucci had added six attributions
question
in the Bologna copy (clearly a different issue)
or "withdrawn" the attributions in
the other copies, some of which belong to later
printings (1503,1504).55 Not find
to confirm or she treated them as
ing sufficient evidence deny the attributions,
52
See especially the article by Thomas Noblitt, "Textual Criticism of Selected
Works Published by Petrucci," inLudwig Finscher, ed., Formen und Probleme der ?ber
lieferung mehrstimmiger Musik imZeitalterJosquinsDesprez (Wolfenb?tteler Forschungen
6: Quellenstudien zur Musik der Renaissance I;Munich: Krauss International Publica
tions, 1981): 201 -42. Noblitt maintains that Petrucci did not exert rigorous control over
?
the music judging by today's editorial standards, however.
53
Stanley Boorman, in "The 'First' Edition of the Odhecaton A," Journal of the
American M?sico logical Society 30 (1977): 183-207, has suggested that Petrus may have
made alterations in rhythm to improve the interplay between the voices; see in particular
his Ex. 5, 205, and the discussion at 205-7.
54
On the printing of these volumes see especially Stanley Boorman, "Petrucci
at Fossombrone: A Study of Early Music Printing, with
Special Reference to theMotetti
de la Corona (1514-1519)" (Ph.D. diss., University of London, 1976). See also his
"Petrucci's Type-setters and the Process of Stemmatics," in the volume cited above in
n. 52, 245-80.
Hewitt, Odhecaton, 6-8.
"uncertain." Stanley Boorman's meticulous comparison of the extant copies of

the Odhecaton has confirmed that the Bologna copy is the earliest, but that it is a
to a different printing, and nineteen to
composite; thirty-five of the folios belong
yet another printing.56 The index belongs to the first layer. The missing attribu
tions in the later copies may be inadvertent or deliberate; knowledge of the print
not on this matter.
ing process does help
The question of the si placet parts is also difficult to resolve. As Hewitt
we do not know that Petrus Castellanus was a composer,57 and not
pointed out,
all of the added voices are exclusive to Petrucci's volumes. Moreover, some carry
the name of a composer. Adding

a fourth voice to a
three-part composition is a
test of skill, and it is perhaps this aspect that should be given more weight than the
were added to to date at a time
plausible idea that such parts bring older works up
when secular music was increasingly written for four rather than three voices. The
practice
was
widespread and not confined to the chanson; Stephen Self found at
least ninety added parts in the repertory from 1480 to 1530,58 and there may well
be more, since the label is often omitted. The examples in Petrucci's first three
one in Canti B, and nine in Canti C;
chanson prints (eight in the Odhecaton,
twelve of these are unique) vary considerably in the success with which the enter
was carried out. Itwould be very difficult to determine authorship simply
prise
because the composer's freedom is so restricted by the part-writing of the existing
voices.
It ismuch clearer that Petrus has taken a hand in providing resolutions for
canonic especially those bearing obscure inscriptions. Such help for the
voices,
singer fits well with Stanley Boorman's idea that Petrucci, aiming at a wider
market, some of the readings in order to cater to the "highest common

simplified
56
"The Tirst' Edition."
57 -
Hewitt, Odhecaton, 9 (on the siplacet works in the Odhecaton see pp. 83 86). It
ispossible that the laudaAve Maria virgo serena attributed to "Frater Petrus" inPetrucci's
Laude libro secondo of 1508 is by him. A modern edition is inKnud Jeppesen, ed., Die
um 1500 (Leipzig and Copenhagen: Breitkopf & H?rtel,
mehrstimmige italienische Laude
1935), no. 44.
58
See his edition, The Si Placet Repertoire of 1480-1530 (Recent Researches in the
Music of the Renaissance, 106; Madison: A-R Editions, Inc., 1996), which includes
twenty-four works, and his dissertation, "The Si Placet Voice: An Historical and Analyti
cal Study," 3 vols. (Ph.D. diss., The Ohio StateUniversity, 1990). Self also points to ano
thermotivation for adding voices of considerable significance: the arrangement of music
for instrumental ensemble.
factor," a notion that has been

amplified by Thomas Noblitt.59 Another factor
canons is a one: the to
affecting the resolution of practical change from choirbook
partbook format, which Petrucci used for his series of Masses, the locus of most
of the obscure canons. Some compositions have both the original form of the
voice part and its resolution, so labeled; others have only a resolution, which is not
as such. Some have been tenor
always labeled partially resolved, for example the
of Josquin's Missa Hercules dux Ferrariae.60 Some relatively straightforward
canons do not have a resolution, for example in Josquin's chanson Una musqu? de
one case I believe Petrus resolved a canon incorrectly,
Buscaya. In at least the
curious Agnus II of Obrecht's Missa Je ne demande, where Petrucci's version
differs considerably from the manuscript version. Thomas Noblitt concluded that
Petrucci's revision was spurious; I have posited that both versions are a resolution,
and that Petrus misunderstood the original canonic directions (not preserved) and
recomposed the part to make it fit the other voices.61 The vogue for cryptic
canons had crested at the
point that Petrucci started publication, and editors and
must to
scribes have wondered how much help they needed give the singers in
to enable them to canons must be lost;
order perform the music. Many original
we should be to Petrus for at least some as well as a
grateful retaining providing
resolution.
Petrus may also have taken a hand in editing the texts. Two examples where
Petrucci's version differs from early manuscript sources stand out. Antoine Bru
mel's settingof the fiveJoys of theVirgin, Ave cuius conceptio,begins differently
in Petrucci than in a manuscript source:
59
Boorman, "Petrucci's Type-setters and the Process of Stemmatics," 249; Noblitt,
"Textual Criticism of Selected Works Published by Petrucci."
60 set
I forth the hypothesis that the original notation included no music at all but
was entirely accomplished with canonic directions inmy chapter on "Masses Based on
Popular Songs and Solmization Syllables" in the Josquin Companion, ed. Richard Sherr
(Oxford University Press, forthcoming).
61
See Thomas Noblitt, "Problems of Transmission in Obrecht's Missa Je ne
demande? Musical Quarterly 63 (1977): 211-23; and Bonnie J. Blackburn, "Obrecht's
Missa/<? ne demande and Busnoys's Chanson: An Essay inReconstructing Lost Canons,"
Tijdschift van de Vereniging voor Nederlandse muziekgeschiedenis 45 (1995): 18-32.
Cappella SistinaMS 42 Petrucci,Motetti C
Ave cuius conceptio Ave celorum domina

Solemni plena gaudio Maria plena gratia
Celestia, terrestria, Celestia, terrestria,
Nova replet letitia. Nova reples letitia.
Exactly the same difference appears in Petrucci's

Josquin's Aveedition of
Maria... virgo serena, inwhich the five Joys form the central section. The first of
own
Mary's Joys, in this text, is her conception in Anne's womb, known from
Catholic doctrine (laterdogma) as the ImmaculateConception. The belief that
Mary was conceived without Original Sin had been amatter of controversy for
centuries and was still unresolved at the time Brumel and
Josquin
set this text.
Sixtus IV sanctioned two different offices for the feast of theConception on 8
December (in 1477 and 1480), but did not formally declare thatMary's concep
tion was without sin. The main proponents of the doctrine were the Franciscans
(including Sixtus himself), their opponents the Dominicans. While this text does
not was "immaculate," any mention
specify that the Conception of the Concep
tion at all at that time was likely to be interpreted as such. The Dominicans
insistedon calling the feast the Sanctificationof theVirgin, holdingwith St.Tho
mas that no human was from Original
exempt Sin, but that Mary had
Aquinas
been sanctified inAnne's womb. Petrus Castellanus, as the maestro di a
cappella in
Dominican church, would not have had in his repertory any motet that gave such
prominence to the Immaculate Conception. Thus he must have changed the text
tomake it acceptable to Dominicans, and in this form the music was transmitted
to Petrucci.62
a
Loyset Compere's motet Sile fragor has reading that is shared by Motetti A
and Verona 758 but differs quite drastically from the other surviving sources,
which otherwise are not
closely related (Cappella Sistina 15, the Chigi Codex,
62
On the doctrine and another motet text specifically for the Immaculate Concep
tion, see Bonnie J. Blackburn, "The Virgin in the Sun:Music and Image for a Prayer Attri
buted to Sixtus IV", inEncomium musicae: Essays inHonor of Robert J. Snow, ed. David
Crawford (in press). See also Blackburn, "ForWhom Do the Singers Sing?," Early Music
25 (1997): 593-609, where I firstmentioned the reason for the change in themotet text at
609 n. 25. Another "Dominican" alteration may be observed in the some of the saints
named inCompere's Ave Maria gratia plena inMotetti A. Where the Chigi Codex has
Nicholas and Augustine, Petrucci has Dominic and Peter. The saints named differ in every
source and may offer a clue to the provenance of the manuscripts.
Barcelona 454, Speci?ln?k).63 The text is obscure, to say the least, but since it calls
upon the "mother of the Godhead" and speaks of music resounding in church,
we are
justified in assuming that it is sacred. Thus the last two lines, in the readings
of the other sources, come as somewhat of a shock: "Now it is fitting to go to the
fountain where Bacchus himself dwells; and let water be gone, while we enjoy
Bacchus' streams."64 The reading of Petrucci and Verona, much more in tune
with the rest of the text, is: "Thou art the sacred temple, thou art the most plenti
ful fountain, whose water taketh away inexhaustible thirst."65 Indeed, Petrus' lines
are a correct text is at best a very very bad attempt at
elegiac couplet; the Bacchus
two hexameters, and the rest of the poem no better.66 The Bacchus text, however,
fits the music much better, and it is found in earlier sources; I think that there is no
doubt that it is the original text. Petrus must have appreciated the music but found
the presence of the god of wine unsuitable in a text that could be sung in church,
and therefore he changed the last lines.
If Petrucci on Petrus Castellanus for the bulk of his repertory in
depended
Venice, itwas indeed a very sizeable one. The sacred music must have come from
the choirbooks of SS. Giovanni e Paolo; no music survives from
unfortunately,
the sixteenth century or earlier.67 If the collection was inherited, as Lorenzo Gazio
thought, by Frate Armonio, the singer at St.Mark's, itmay have perished with all
63
Jeffrey Dean kindly called my attention to this some years ago and provided a
transcription with translation, used here. A modern edition is in Loyset Comp?re, Opera
omnia, ed. Ludwig Finscher (Corpus Mensurabilis Musicae 15; American Institute of
Musicology, 1961), 4: 49-51. Finscher underlays both texts.
64
"Nunc fontem adire decet quo Bacchus insidet ipse; et discedat lympha, Liberi
dum carpimus rivos." All sources have "liberos"; Dean plausibly emended to "Liberi."
65
"Tu sacrum templum, tu fons uberrimus ille es / cuius inexhaustam detrahit unda
sitim."
66 owe
I thanks to Leofranc Holford-Strevens for his expert evaluation of the text.
67
Nor do we gain any clear idea from the extant records justwhen polyphonic
music would have been performed. The choirmaster and other singers, however, were
engaged by the Scuola piccola di S.Orsola, attached to the church of SS.Giovanni e Paolo,
to sing a polyphonic Mass and at both Vespers on the feast of St.Ursula. This ismade clear
in a register of the Scuola (ASV, Scuole piccole, B. 602) under the date 2 October 1516:
"Per spexe ditte a chassa ditta contadi amesser fraVizenzo et compagni chanttadori cantto
a lanostra festa do vespori et una messa a chantto
figurao dacordo con luiper nome di tutti
L.10." (fol. 10).
the other sixteenth-century manuscripts at that institution. But themusic may not
entirely be lost.
The records of SS. Giovanni e Paolo revealed that the man who copied MS
Padua A 17, the Padua cathedral choirmaster Giordano Passetto, had his musical
we have of him, however,
training under Petrus Castellanus. The earliest notice
comes from Ferrara. In January 1504 the Ferrarese ambassador to Venice sent
a a was to be shown to
Ercole d'Est? composition by Venetian singer. The work
must have been deemed
Josquin for his evaluation. It acceptable, because inApril
the ambassador sent the whole Mass, identifying the composer as "a friar of Santi
Giovanni e Paolo, a conventual of the Order of San Domenico, a young man of
twenty years of age, named Fra Giordano de Venezia, who is considered very
also offered to compose awork over any tenor
gifted in these things."68 Giordano
the Duke might care to send him. We learn from the documents in SS. Giovanni e
Paolo that Fra Giordano also an organist. InApril 1505 he was given permis
was
sion to play the organ at the nunnery of Santo Spirito inVenice.69 And when the
e Paolo, Martino V?neto, left the church in 1509,
regular organist of SS. Giovanni
Giordano assumed the post.70 He was made a "pater conventus" on 17December
1518 and elected bursar on 11 February 1520,71 but he left a few months afterward
Aloisius de Redulfis, was elected on 25 May) to become
(his successor,
68
See Lewis Lockwood, "Josquin at Ferrara: New Documents and Letters," in
Josquin des Prez: Proceedings of the International Josquin Festival-Conference, ed. Edward
E. Lowinsky in collaboration with Bonnie J. Blackburn (London: Oxford Univer
sity Press, 1976), 103-37 at 116 and 134-35. Lockwood made the identification with
Passetto.
69 "Frater
Jordanis Passetus potest ire ad pulsandum organa Sancti Spiritus Venetijs.
Ultima aprilis [1505]." Rome, Archivio Generalizio dell'Ordine dei Predicatori, Reg. IV.
15, fol. 49.
70
ASV, SS. Giovanni e Paolo, Busta 11, fols. 48v-49, dated 10 March 1509.
He was to have 14 ducats in the first year and 16 in the second (the salary he had been paid
by the nuns of Santo Spirito). In 1518 he was earning 6 ducats from the Scola Germa
norum of St.Nicholas, and another 6 ducats from the Scola of St. Peter Martyr, rising to
8 and then 10 in succeeding years (fol. 84).Martino went to the cathedral atUdine, where
he was called a "celeb?rrimo organista"; he died in 1511. See Giuseppe Vale, "La cappella
musicale del Duomo di Udine," Note d'archivio per la storia musicale 7 (1930): 87-201,
at 99.
Ibid., fols. 87v and 93.
maestro di cappella at the cathedral of Padua, where he spent the rest of his career.
He died in 1557.72
One of the conditions of Passetto's new post was that he prepare amanu
new It is very a
script of "good and songs and motets." likely that large part of
PaduaA 17, copied in 1522, consisted of music broughtwith him fromVenice
that he had heard (if not sung) in SS. Giovanni e Paolo under Petrus Castellanus'
direction. In this connection, the large number of concordances with the first
volume of theMotetti de la Corona is striking; although itwas printed in Fossom
brone, it came out during Petrus' lifetime and could still have been edited by him,
even before Petrucci left Venice. Scholars have noted the similarities
perhaps
between the readings of Padua A 17 and this volume, and Stanley Boorman has
studied them in detail.73 Not knowing the background of Passetto, he reasonably
posited that themanuscript had been copied from theprint. I think itmore likely,
however, that the music
of both manuscript and print goes back to a common
source: the choirbooks of SS. Giovanni e Paolo. It is
certainly suggestive that the
concordances between Padua A 17 and theMotetti de la Corona drop off sharply
after the second volume: there are eight with vol. 1 and ten with vol. 2, but none
with vol. 3 (much of it a rather older repertory), and only one with vol. 4. Much
work still needs to be done on a systematic comparison of readings before we can
be certain about the relationship between Padua A17 and theMotetti de la Corona
(and the closeness of readings does not hold for every concordance), but I should
like to suggest that in both this case and that of Josquin's Missa de Beata Virgine,
discussed above, the close correspondence of readings between amanuscript and
a mean that the former was
print need not copied from the latter.
Church records, concerned as they are with day-to-day events, rarely favor
us with any notion of the musical
importance of the singers and choirmaster. Did
we not know the remarks by Albertus de Castello and Bartolomeo Budrio, Petrus
Castellanus would have appeared as insignificant amusician as the hundreds ?
?
indeed thousands of choirmasters of churches and cathedrals who have left
no mark in history. And yet the praise of Petrus as "amonarch inmusic'" and
72
On his career inPadua see Raffaele Casimiri, "M?sica emusicisti nella Cattedrale di
Padova nei secoli XTV, XV, XVI," Note darchivioper la storiamusicale 18 (1941): 101 -3.
73
See "Petrucci at Fossombrone," ch. 10, and "Petrucci's and the Process
Type-setters
of Stemmatics," especially 260-61.
someone "most renownedfor religion and for musical never

learning" could
compensate for the vividness of an eyewitness account of a
performance under
a
his direction. We may have such witness a
in Frater Felix Fabri, Dominican friar
who visited Venice twice in the 1480s and has left us a full and colorful account of
his impressions. Although I have not been able to document Petrus' presence at
SS. Giovanni e Paolo earlier than 1486, to the nature of the
owing sporadic
records before 1490, nor to pinpoint the date of his appointment as maestro di
? as a date before
cappella though circumstantial evidence, argued above, makes
1490 likely? Fabri's description of music at SS.Giovanni e Paolo fits verywell
with Albertus' and Budrio's remarks.
Venice, the normal embarkation point for pilgrimages to the

Holy Land,
was the destination of Frater Felix, who set out from Ulm on his second
pil
grimage (havingbeen very dissatisfiedwith the first) in the company of a group of
in 1483. He a detailed
young German noblemen kept diary in Latin, surely the
most account of this period.74 The travelers arrived in
fascinating pilgrimage
Venice on 27 April 1483 and settled into the Fondaco de' Tedeschi. Ithappened
that because of bad weather, the expedition was forced to stay in Venice for a
whole month, and Felix spent the time pilgrimagingaround the city, visiting relics
and attending Mass. Two feast days of Dominican saints fell in that month,
St. Peter Martyr on 29 April and St. Catherine of Siena on the first Sunday inMay
in cases on the great concourse of
(4May). Felix remarks both people in the
convent church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo, where the feasts were cele
impressive
brated with great ceremony. To this account he appends a description of the city
of Venice, and when he comes to SS. Giovanni e Paolo he notes that
in truth, the observance of the rule is scanty, nor has it been reformed, but
the friars there live as itwere in the pomp of secular glory, so that on feast
days they sing the office of theMass, Vespers, and Compline in polyphony
with secular ceremony, for which reason young people and ladies flock
74
The standard edition is Fratris Felicis Fabri Evagatorium in Terrae Sanctae,
Arabiae et Egypti peregrinationem, ed. Conrad Dietrich Hassler, 3 vols. (Bibliothek des
literarischen Vereins in Stuttgart, 2-4; Stuttgart: Societatis litteraria Stuttgardiensis, 1843
49). Itwas translated into English by Aubrey Stewart and published in the Library of the
Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society, 20 (London, 1892-93).
there not so much because of divine service but in order to hear melodies
and discantors. have two
They organs_75
Felix belonged to theObservant branch of theDominicans, and the laxityof the

Conventuals frequently shocked him (he thoroughly approved of the friarsof
S. Domenico, where he often visited). The size of the church and the convent also
were more than one hundred friars and
impressed him, and he remarks that there
many doctors (of theology). Frater Felix says nothing about the music at St.
Mark's; perhaps itwas outshone by music at SS. Giovanni e Paolo at this time ?
but then Felix arrived just after the feast of St.Mark, on 25 account
April, and his
have been different had he witnessed the ceremonies on that
might day.76
Felix returned to Venice in 1487 as a delegate to the general meeting of the
Order, at which a Venetian, Joachim Turrianus, was installed asMaster-General.

The meeting, attended by Dominicans from throughout Europe, took place at
SS. Giovanni e Paolo with considerable pomp and splendor (itwas also attended
men and women this rather austere
by many Venetians, alike), which dazzled
German. And nowhere was this more evident than during the final "Mass and
Compline, which ended with polyphony, organs, and straight and S-shaped
trumpets; Compline alone lasted three hours, but without boring those present
75
"Verum observantia est ibi tenuis, necdum est reforn atus, sed vivunt ibi
regularis
fratres in quadam saecularis gloriae pompa, unde festivis diebus Missae off icium et vespe
ras ac completoria cantant in figurad vis cum solemnitate saeculari; quapropter ad officia
illa confluit multitudo juvenum et dominarum, non tarnpropter divinum officium, quam
melodiae et discantorum auditum. habent ..."
propter Organa duplicata Evagatorium,
vol. 3, p. 425 (this section is not in the English translation, which stops at the point where
Fabri left Sinai). Such reports form the basis of themodern notion of music in religious
ceremonies in the 16th century. Just how rare such performances may be in the context of
ecclesiastical ritual, even in the center of Christendom, the Papal Curia, has recently been
underlined by Jeffrey Dean in "Listening to Sacred Polyphony c.1500," Early Music 25
(1997): 611-36.
76
Little is known about music at St. Mark's before Willaert. See Giulio Maria
Ungaro, "The Chapel of St.Mark's at theTime of Adrian Willaert (1527-1562): A Docu
mentary Study" (Ph.D. diss., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1986), ch. 2,
"The Chapel of St. Mark's before Willaert." There were 16 adult singers and 7 boys
(including Alberto's son Francesco) in 1486 (p. 42). Laurenz L?tteken has discovered
that Johannes de Quadris was "musicus et cantor" there from at least 1436 to 1457; see
'"Musicus et cantor diu in ecclesia sanctiMarci de Veneciis': note biografiche su Johannes
de Quadris," Rassegna v?neta di studimusicali 6 (1990) :43 - 62. Iain Fenlon has published
a very informative description made by aDutch pilgrim in 1525 in "St.Mark's before
Willaert," Early Music 21 (1993): 547-63.
because of the diversity of the music."77 That phrase, "because of the of

diversity
the music," suggests that Petrus de Castello was already in of the music at
charge
SS. Giovanni e Paolo in 1487. If Petrucci came to Venice because it was the
center of
printing Italy, he may also have come there because of the diversity of
music it had to offer. Petrucci's invention would have availed him little had he not
had an ample fund of first-rate music to print. It is time that we now pay tribute to
the supplier and editor of that music, Petrus Castellanus.
77 non dico solennitate, sed pompa, officia

"Denique dicere fas non est, quanta,
divina peragebantur, praecipue Missa et completorium, quae in f igurativis organis, rubis et
trompetis finiebantur, ita, ut completorium tribus duraret horis sine taedio adstantium
propter musicae diversitates." Evagatorium, vol. 3, p. 435. Hassler published Felix's
account of the general meeting of the Order at the end of his edition of the pilgrimage
account.
APPENDIX
Summary List of Singers and Organists at SS. Giovanni e Paolo, 1496-1524
An unknown number of singers in the polyphonic choir during Petrus Castella

nus' term as maestro di cappella will have been novices in the convent, but profes
? ?
sional musicians almost all bass singers were hired are nei
regularly. There
ther lists of singers nor payment records during this period; except where other
wise noted, all of the information comes from the minutes of Council meetings in
e
the Liber Consiliorum covering the period 1450-1524 (ASV, SS. Giovanni
Paolo, Busta 11). The minutes from 1450 to 1490 are very summary. Volumes in
the series Reg. IV are registers of letters of theMaster-General of the Order, in
the Archivio Generalizio at Santa Sabina in Rome.
Aloisius de Redulfis (Rodulphus) Venetus, Frater

Organist. Present in the convent from at least 20 March 1504, when he was
elected subsacristan. On 19November 1511 he was named "Infirmarius," and on
16 July 1518 he became master of the novices. He was elected organist for five
years on 25 1520 at an annual salary of 12 ducats. On 24 November 1521 he

May
was elected on 30 1523 "pater conventus."
subprior and May
Bartholomeus de Rechanato, Frater
Singer. On 6 November 1500 he was conceded 3 pounds monthly from the

income of Santa Maria dei Miracoli. On 2March 1501 he was to have 6 ducats
plus whatever he earned as hebdomadal priest at Santa Maria dei Miracoli. On

17 January 1505 he was given permission with a few others to celebrate rites out
side the convent. He was elected master of the novices on 16 January 1516.
Bernardinus, Presbiter
Bass singer. On 28 October 1502 he was hired at amonthly salary of 1 ducat
as a
temporary replacement for Frater Donatus, upon whose return he would resume
his post at the Carmelite n.
church
(see above, 16). On 5Dec. 1503 he was given a
one-year contract at 12 ducats. On 25 November 1504 the Council was asked to
decide whether Bernardinus or Donatus should be hired for the following year;
the latter was chosen. Bernardinus was rehired for three years on 20 December
1510 at an annual 12 ducats, on the feast on
salary of plus food and wine days
which he sang, and on 25 April 1514 his contract was extended for another three
years.
Bernardinus, Presbiter
Soprano singer.On 27 April 1514 itwas proposed thathe be hired in exchange

for a room and expenses only; owing to the dearness of the times, the Council
decided not to engage him.
Danielis Venetus, Frater

was named succentor, with the same as
Singer. On 28 July 1509 he salary he had
was elected a
singer. On 5 July 1518, then the subprior, he "pater conventus," and
on 11 was elected
September 1519 he became bursar. On the 16th he prior of the
chapel of Madonna della Pace.
Donatus Venetus, Frater

Bass singer. On 27 January 1497 he was dismissed from the convent, where he
was paid for singingpolyphony, and succeeded byNicolaus Camaldulensis (see
above, n. 14). He was reinstated on 27 March 1498. On 28 October 1502 he was
allowed to be absent for six months to recover his health on the condition that
he return and sing in the chapel for another six months (see above, n. 16). On
18April 1503,having returned,hewas elected subprior.On 25November 1504,
in view of his long service as a singer, he was rehired in place of Bernardinus at a
one ducat,
monthly salary of promising not to be absent without permission.
Francisais, Presbiter
Singer. Son of the lateMagister Albertus, the maestro di cappella. On 20 May

1524 he was permitted to have a room, bread, and wine on the same conditions as
Johannes Antonius, singing in the chapel when needed.78
78
There isno other mention of aMagister Albertus asmaestro di cappella; probably
he is theAlberto francese who was singer and maestro di cappella at St.Mark's, 1476-91.
His name was Albert Pizoni or Pichion, as emerges from the records of his appearance
before the Patriarch of Venice to answer the claim that his wife had engaged in a bigamous
second marriage. See Ongaro, "The Chapel of St. Mark's," 39-40.
Johannes de Francia, Frater
Singer. On 8December 1499, to retain his services lest the choir suffer, his salary
was set at 6 ducats for to the 4 ducats he received
singing in the choir in addition
for teaching ("pro cantoria") (see above, n. 15).
Johannes Anthonius, Dominus (Cistercian monk)

Bass singer. On 8December 1514 he was hired for one year on the condition that
he live in the convent, to Bernardinus' contract.
expenses paid, without prejudice
Johannes Frater
Antonius, (Camaldolese monk)
Bass singer. He was hired for three years on 24 September 1518 in exchange for
to
daily bread and wine, and also given permission sing elsewhere if he provided a
substitute.
Jordanis Venetus, Frater
Organist. See above, nn. 69-70.
Martinus Venetus, Frater
Organist since at least 1486. On 31 August 1487 he was permitted to

play the
organ at S. Pietro Martire on Murano (Reg. IV. 9). On 23 October 1498 his salary
was set at 16 ducats, with the on
requirement that he keep the organ in repair, and
8November 1500 itwas raised to 20 ducats. On 3 June 1501 he was
given part of
the garden in front of his cell (Reg. IV. 15). On 6 December 1504 he was ap
as a 1505 itwas decided that 16 ducats
proved "pater conventus." On 1August
would be sufficient salary, though he was still required to keep the organ in tune.
On 10March 1509, having received a curacy, he petitioned that his vacant cell be
conceded to Frater Thadeus de Ambrosijs. He went to the cathedral at Udine,
where he died in 1511 (see above, n. 70).
Nicolaus, son of Giovanni Diedo

He was elected on 10 August 1516 for two years at a 10
Organist. salary of
ducats.
Petrus de Fosis, Magister

Bass singer. On 23 October 1498 he was hired to sing at the feast of All Saints for
two ducats.(The notice, however, was struck through.) At that time Petrus de
Fossis was maestro di cappella at St. Mark's.
Prosper, Frater (Franciscan friar)

"Cantor optimus." On 18October 1493 the convent was instructed to reimburse
him L.8572for his expenses in renovatinghis cell if theywished to lethim go (Reg.
IV. 10).On 4November 1496, having decided to leave,he petitioned to give his
cell to another friar in exchange for his expenses in renovating it.On 11 January
1499 he was accorded a perpetual domicile in the convent and meals "similar to
the other singers."
Troilus, Presbiter
Bass singer. On 25 January 1515 he was hired, with bread and wine only
as com
pensation.
Vincentius Venetus, Frater

Bass singer. He was hired on 20 March 1504 and renewed on 14December 1506
under the same conditions as Frater Prosper. On 25 April 1514 he was invited to
become maestro di cappella at the reduced salary of 6 ducats, because of the
"disturbances of the time." On 2May 1514 he was reinvited, this time at no salary
but with an allowance and he accepted. On 1 June 1515 his salary was
of wood,
set at 8 ducats. On 2 February 1521 he became master of the choirboys ("magister
musice puerorum"). He was probably the Fra Vincenzo da Venezia dei domeni
cani who was a
singer in the cathedral of Treviso 1500-3.79
79
See Giovanni D'Alessi, La cappella musicale delDuomo di Treviso (1400-1633)
(Vedelago: Tip. "Ars et Religio," 1954), 61.
The research for this paper was supported by grants from the Gladys Krieble Delmas
Foundation (Summer 1986) and the American Philosophical Society (Summer 1987). I
presented my initial findings at the annual meeting of the American Musicological Society,
I return toVenice and com
Pittsburgh, 1992, but delayed publication, thinking that would
research on music at SS. Giovanni e Paolo in the sixteenth century. But other topics
plete
have occupied me in recent years. The opportunity to dedicate the study toNino Pirrotta,
whom I firstmet in 1973 and visited inRome on a regular basis since Imoved to England
in 1990, proved irresistible, and I offer it to him (now, alas, his memory) with warmest
thanks from someone who was not quite his musicological "grandchild" but nevertheless
learned an immense amount from his writings.

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Petrucci's Venetian Editor: Petrus Castellanus and His Musical Garden

Author(s): Bonnie J. Blackburn

As a person, Ottaviano Petrucci is remarkably

to you ... me with what re

appear for another three years.

... if this new child of

capture the public under your auspices.

As an editor... he did an excellent

uniformly fine musical quality.9

Who was Petrus Castellanus? In 1938 Coenraad Walther Boer tentatively

one I have I found some discards

"San Zoannepolo" (sometimes Zanipolo) is the Venetian dialect name for

theorists or music composers are rare, and

are several more to him in the Council on 2

teritorio Tervisino: sex menses. In quantum nos dare non

In the same council itwas decreed, no one

he, as was reported, no longer intends to return to the convent.23

A proposal was made to elect Frater Vincentius as maestro

S. Domenico, the other Dominican church inVenice, to the Dominican convent

de Castello was next to the cell of Frater Petrus if

Frater Petrus Castellanus a man

30April 1513.The end inoffice [of sacristan]of thevenerableFatherFrater

This is followed by the statement: "The saidFatherPetrus died on 16May 1516."

disciplinae. But it is admirably concise in presenting the fundamentals

Beginning with Pedro Cerone, ElMelopeo y maestro (Naples, 1613), the

probably because it appears inAlbertus Castellanus' Liber sacerdoialis of 1523,

though Cerone refers to it as his "Compendio de M?sica."37 By a complicated

Petrus, ismuch more likely

What bearing does the identification of Petrus Castellanus have on Petruc

36 sex syllabarum aggregatis dicitur in cantu deductio"

Fossombrone, where he began publishing again in 1511, but at a gready reduced

composers, Petrucci published a volume of Masses by Weerbeke, another one by

Marbriano de Orto, three volumes of Masses by Josquin, Mass fragments by Jos

tion; it needs to be tested common

personally. But I think it quite

Hewitt, Odhecaton, 6-8.

"uncertain." Stanley Boorman's meticulous comparison of the extant copies of

the name of a composer. Adding

market, some of the readings in order to cater to the "highest common

factor," a notion that has been

Cappella SistinaMS 42 Petrucci,Motetti C

Ave cuius conceptio Ave celorum domina

Exactly the same difference appears in Petrucci's

Ibid., fols. 87v and 93.

someone "most renownedfor religion and for musical never

Venice, the normal embarkation point for pilgrimages to the

Felix belonged to theObservant branch of theDominicans, and the laxityof the

Order, at which a Venetian, Joachim Turrianus, was installed asMaster-General.

because of the diversity of the music."77 That phrase, "because of the of

77 non dico solennitate, sed pompa, officia

Summary List of Singers and Organists at SS. Giovanni e Paolo, 1496-1524

An unknown number of singers in the polyphonic choir during Petrus Castella

Aloisius de Redulfis (Rodulphus) Venetus, Frater

years on 25 1520 at an annual salary of 12 ducats. On 24 November 1521 he

Bartholomeus de Rechanato, Frater

Singer. On 6 November 1500 he was conceded 3 pounds monthly from the

plus whatever he earned as hebdomadal priest at Santa Maria dei Miracoli. On

Soprano singer.On 27 April 1514 itwas proposed thathe be hired in exchange

Danielis Venetus, Frater

Donatus Venetus, Frater

Singer. Son of the lateMagister Albertus, the maestro di cappella. On 20 May

Johannes Antonius, singing in the chapel when needed.78

Johannes de Francia, Frater