A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Syntagma Musicum
SYNTAGMA MUSICUM, i.e. Musical Treatise. A very rare work, by Michael Prætorius.
A detailed account is given in vol. iii. pp. 25–26. It remains only to speak of its interest as a bibliographical treasure. It was originally designed for four volumes, three only of which were published, with a supplementary collection of plates which Forkel mistook for the promised fourth volume. The first volume of the edition described by Fétis was printed at Wittemberg in 1615; the second and third at Wolfenbüttel in 1619; and the collection of plates—Theatrum Instrumentorum seu Sciagraphia—at Wolfenbüttel in 1620.[1] A copy of this edition is in the Town Library at Breslau;[2] Mr. Alfred H. Littleton also possesses a very fine and perfect copy, which corresponds, in all essential particulars, with that described by Fétis. But neither Fétis nor Mendel seems to have been aware of the existence of an older edition. A copy of this is in the possession of the Rev. Sir F. A. G. Ouseley. The 1st volume bears the same date as Mr. Littleton's copy, 'Wittebergae, 1615'; but the 2nd and 3rd volumes are dated 'Wolfenbüttel, 1618'; and the difference does not merely lie in the statement of the year, but clearly indicates an earlier issue. In the edition of 1618, the title-page of the 2nd volume is printed entirely in black: in that of 1619, it is in black and red. The title-page of the 3rd volume is black in both editions; but in different type: and, though the contents of the 2nd and 3rd volumes correspond generally in both copies, slight typographical differences may be detected in sufficient numbers to prove the existence of a distinct edition, beyond all doubt. It has long been known that twenty pages of the General Introduction were more than once reprinted; but these belong to the first volume, and are in no way concerned with the edition of 1618, of which, so far as we have been able to ascertain, Sir F. Ouseley's copy is an unique example.
But, apart from its rarity, the book is doubly interesting from the extraordinary dearth of other early treatises on the same subject. Three similar works only are known to have preceded it; and the amount of information in these is comparatively very small. The earliest is a small volume, of 112 pages, in oblong 4to, by Sebastian Virdung, entitled 'Musica getuscht und aussgezogen, Basel, 1511.' It is written in German dialogue, carried on between the 'Autor' and 'Silvanus'; and is illustrated by woodcuts of Instruments, not unlike those in the Syntagma. The next, also in small oblong 4to, is the 'Musica instrumentalisch deudsch' of Martin Agricola, printed at Wittemberg in 1529, but preceded by a Preface dated Magdeburg 1528. This also contains a number of woodcuts, like those given by Virdung. The third and last treatise—another oblong 4to—is the 'Musurgia seu praxis musicæ' of Ottomarus Luscinius (Othmar Nachtigal, or Nachtgall), dated Argentorati (Strasburg) 1536, and reprinted, at the same place, in 1542. The first portion of this is a mere Latin translation of the dialogue of Virdung. The book contains 102 pages, exclusive of the Preface, and is illustrated by woodcuts, like those of Virdung and Agricola.
All these three volumes are exceedingly scarce, and much prized by collectors, as specimens of early typography, as well as by students, for the light they throw upon the Instrumental Music of the 16th century, concerning which we possess so little detailed information of incontestable authority. The Breslau Library possesses none of them. A copy of Nachtigal's 'Musurgia' is in the British Museum; and also a very imperfect copy—wanting pages 1–49, including the title-page—of Agricola's 'Musica Instrumentalis.' Mr. Littleton possesses perfect copies of the entire series.
An earlier work by Nachtgall—'Musicæ Institutiones'—printed at Strasburg in 1515, does not touch upon Orchestral or Instrumental Music; and does not, therefore, fall within our present category.