The sixteenth century saw increased availability of musical material. The expansion of printing generated another route for transmitting music, in addition to oral and manuscript circulation. How did this shape individual interactions with musical material in early modern Europe and beyond? Who engaged with music books, and what forms did that engagement take?

Books containing music were used in performance of various kinds, in education, as part of collections, and more besides. Traces of these uses and others survive in alterations and annotations in and on the books. Using these as a starting point, we seek to better understand the readers and users of music books within the context of a changing cultural, religious, and political landscape.

This two-day conference explores how people engaged with books containing music in early modern Europe as part of the ongoing project DORMEME: dissemination, ownership, and reading of music in early modern Europe. Its aim is to bring together scholars of music, books, and history to examine divisions between material and textual, visible and audible, and print and manuscript. We will bring the music book into conversation with wider book culture and address the distinction between the music book solely as a tool for performance and as a material text inviting myriad interactions. By looking beyond these artificial distinctions, we hope to advance our knowledge of musical and non-musical literacy, the practical applications of books, and of the people who used them.

The provisional programme is available here.