IN VENETIA – the Gardano Family and the travel through time of Instrumental 17th century editions

Musical editions are without any doubt a fundamental link between past and present: today, centuries later, editions allow us to directly access the voice of remote eras. The Italian Ottaviano Petrucci, introduced at the very beginning of 16th century a new printing technique of multiple impression printing with movable type, allowing an impressive number of manuscripts to be copied, multiplied and disseminated. Venice, the capital of commerce, became a formidable center for music printing from the beginning of the sixteenth century. Mostly the work of editors was conducted and passed down by families. “To Mr. Gioan Battista Magni, a young man of great expectation in the Violin” with these words, Biagio Marini accompanies the Romanesca a Violino Solo of his “Arie, Madrigali et Correnti”, alluding to the fourth son of the publisher Bartolomeo Magni, originally from Ravenna, who moved to Venice during the 16th century, working in the renowned Gardano musical typography, characterized by the bear and lion coat of arms and the words “Stampa del Gardano”. Shortly after collaborating with the Gardano editions, Bartolomeo Magnimarried Diamante Gardano, nephew of Antonio Gardane, French of origin who was then Italianized in Gardano, owner and founder of the publishing house. Diamante was also daughter of Angelo who, together with some of his brothers, was running the prestigious publishing house at the time. A true fusion between two families of music editors was born: the Gardanos and the Magnis, a fusion that manifested itself in the prints with the wording “Stampa del Gardano appresso Bartolomeo Magni”. Biagio Marini must have been on excellent terms with the Magni / Gardano family, in fact he published several of his collections, ignoring the powerful competition of the Vincenti and other Venetian publishers who were also extremely well known at the time.