Andrea Antico
Encyclopedia
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
music printer, editor, publisher and composer of the Renaissance
Renaissance music
Renaissance music is European music written during the Renaissance. Defining the beginning of the musical era is difficult, given that its defining characteristics were adopted only gradually; musicologists have placed its beginnings from as early as 1300 to as late as the 1470s.Literally meaning...
, of Istrian birth, active in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
and in Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
. He was the first printer of sacred music in Rome, and the earliest competitor of Venetian
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
Ottaviano Petrucci
Ottaviano Petrucci
Ottaviano Petrucci was an Italian printer. His Harmonice Musices Odhecaton, a collection of chansons printed in 1501, is commonly misidentified as the first book of sheet music printed from movable type. Actually that distinction belongs to the Roman printer Ulrich Han's Missale Romanum of 1476...
, who is regarded as the first significant music printer.
Life
Antico was born in Montona in the Republic of VeniceRepublic of Venice
The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...
(today Motovun
Motovun
Motovun is a village in central Istria, Croatia. The population of the village itself is 531, with a total of 983 residents in the municipality ; 442 of the residents have Italian as their mother language...
in Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
). His ethnicity is not known; fifteenth century Montona had a mixed population of Italians and Croats. Little documentation has yet come to light regarding his early life, but he may have been active in the diocese of Parenzo (now Poreč
Porec
Poreč is a town and municipality on the western coast of the Istrian peninsula, in Istria County, Croatia. Its major landmark is the 6th century Euphrasian Basilica, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997....
) in Istria
Istria
Istria , formerly Histria , is the largest peninsula in the Adriatic Sea. The peninsula is located at the head of the Adriatic between the Gulf of Trieste and the Bay of Kvarner...
, based on a papal letter of 1516 which called him a "cleric of the diocese of Parenzo, now living in Rome". His first publication dates from 1510, and was a collection of frottole
Frottola
The frottola was the predominant type of Italian popular, secular song of the late fifteenth and early sixteenth century. It was the most important and widespread predecessor to the madrigal...
. Like Petrucci, whose similar Odhecaton had appeared eight years earlier in Venice, he began by publishing popular secular music.
In 1513 he secured papal privileges for printing music in the Papal States
Papal States
The Papal State, State of the Church, or Pontifical States were among the major historical states of Italy from roughly the 6th century until the Italian peninsula was unified in 1861 by the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia .The Papal States comprised territories under...
; this was the first such privilege to be granted, and shortly after the grant he was given the exclusive right to print organ
Organ (music)
The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
tablature
Tablature
Tablature is a form of musical notation indicating instrument fingering rather than musical pitches....
. This set him up as a competitor of Petrucci, who had similar privileges in the Republic of Venice
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...
(the right to print organ tablature in the papal states was originally Petrucci's, but since he had not printed any, the pope transferred it to Antico). A ten-year copyright was added to the printing privilege, although many reprints from Antico's plates and blocks, some from before the expiration of the copyright, were not always attributed to him.
While in Rome, Antico worked in financial partnership with Ottaviano Scotto, and also used the services of printer Antonio Giunta. Antico stayed in Rome until 1518, moving to Venice, where he began working as a printer in 1520. During the period from 1520 to 1522 he worked in partnership with Luca Antonio Giunta. What he did between 1522 and 1533 has not yet been determined, but he resumed his printing activities in 1533, still in Venice, this time working as an employee of Ottaviano Scotto, his previous collaborator from Rome. It has been suggested that Antico spent the years from 1522 to 1533 in Lyon
Lyon
Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....
, possibly working with the famous printer there, Jacques Moderne
Jacques Moderne
Jacques Moderne was an Italian-born music publisher active in France in the Renaissance Era....
, who was also from Istria.
Antico's last publication, a collection of motet
Motet
In classical music, motet is a word that is applied to a number of highly varied choral musical compositions.-Etymology:The name comes either from the Latin movere, or a Latinized version of Old French mot, "word" or "verbal utterance." The Medieval Latin for "motet" is motectum, and the Italian...
s for four voices by Adrian Willaert
Adrian Willaert
Adrian Willaert was a Flemish composer of the Renaissance and founder of the Venetian School. He was one of the most representative members of the generation of northern composers who moved to Italy and transplanted the polyphonic Franco-Flemish style there....
, is dated 1539, and no information is known about Antico's life after this year.
Work and influence
Unlike Petrucci, who used moveable type and a multiple-impression technique, Antico made woodblock prints. While this technology was older than moveable type and more laborious to prepare, it allowed for high-quality prints when done by a fine craftsman, and Antico was acknowledged to be one of the finest woodblock printers of the time.One of his Roman-period publications, the Liber quindecim missarum of May 9, 1516, contained mass
Mass (music)
The Mass, a form of sacred musical composition, is a choral composition that sets the invariable portions of the Eucharistic liturgy to music...
es by Josquin des Prez
Josquin Des Prez
Josquin des Prez [Josquin Lebloitte dit Desprez] , often referred to simply as Josquin, was a Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance...
, Pierre de La Rue
Pierre de La Rue
Pierre de la Rue , called Piersson, was a Franco-Flemish composer and singer of the Renaissance. A member of the same generation as Josquin des Prez, and a long associate of the Habsburg-Burgundian musical chapel, he ranks with Agricola, Brumel, Compère, Isaac, Obrecht, and Weerbeke as one of the...
, Antoine Brumel
Antoine Brumel
Antoine Brumel was a French composer. He was one of the first renowned French members of the Franco-Flemish school of the Renaissance, and, after Josquin des Prez, was one of the most influential composers of his generation....
, Jean Mouton
Jean Mouton
Jean Mouton was a French composer of the Renaissance. He was famous both for his motets, which are among the most refined of the time, and for being the teacher of Adrian Willaert, one of the founders of the Venetian School....
, Antoine de Févin
Antoine de Févin
Antoine de Févin was a French composer of the Renaissance. He was active at the same time as Josquin des Prez, and shares many traits with his more famous contemporary.-Life:...
, and Matthaeus Pipelare
Matthaeus Pipelare
Matthaeus Pipelare was a Flemish composer, choir director, and possibly wind instrument player of the Renaissance.He was from Louvain, and spent part of his early life in Antwerp. Unlike many of his contemporaries, many of whom traveled to Italy, Spain or elsewhere, he seems never to have left...
. This was the first sacred music to be published at Rome itself (Petrucci had published sacred music in Venice more than a decade earlier). Antico told Pope Leo X in the dedication that he had spent three years laboriously preparing the woodcuts for this publication. The graphic artist responsible for the cover page designs as well as the abundant illustrations in the Liber quindecim missarum and elsewhere was probably Giovanbattista Columba.
While in Venice, he published many kinds of music, including frottole by Bartolomeo Tromboncino and Marchetto Cara arranged for voice and lute; French motets and chansons; motets, including a collection of works by Willaert
Adrian Willaert
Adrian Willaert was a Flemish composer of the Renaissance and founder of the Venetian School. He was one of the most representative members of the generation of northern composers who moved to Italy and transplanted the polyphonic Franco-Flemish style there....
; and some of the first books of madrigals, including collections by Philippe Verdelot
Philippe Verdelot
Philippe Verdelot was a French composer of the Renaissance, who spent most of his life in Italy. He is commonly considered to be the father of the Italian madrigal, and certainly was one of its earliest and most prolific composers; in addition he was prominent in the musical life of Florence...
and Jacques Arcadelt
Jacques Arcadelt
Jacques Arcadelt was a Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance, active in both Italy and France, and principally known as a composer of secular vocal music...
.
Antico was also a composer, and occasionally included his own frottole in his publications, signing them "Andrea Anticho D.M." They are in a light, fairly simple, and homophonic
Homophony
In music, homophony is a texture in which two or more parts move together in harmony, the relationship between them creating chords. This is distinct from polyphony, in which parts move with rhythmic independence, and monophony, in which all parts move in parallel rhythm and pitch. A homophonic...
musical style.