Brocktorff Project - Music Printing

  T hough I have not shared posts for some time, the Brocktorff Project is ongoing and progressing.  This blog is intended to accompany the larger project on nineteenth-century music printing in Malta.   So far we have checked out  the different ways music was printed throughout its history, and the way sheet music was bound. We have also taken a peek at how conservators will so patiently intervene to preserve ill treated, worm eaten, stained, and neglected sheet music. I feel very fortunate that Dr Theresa Zammit Lupi kindly allowed us to witness some of this process of paper conservation.  I do hope you will be checking out these pages! 

To all the followers of this blog and those who have so kindly contributed towards and believed in the Brocktorff Project, I wish a Very Happy New Year and all the best of health, happiness, and fulfillment of dreams in 2024! My next page will be dealing with conservation of printed music. Unfortunately, old music found in granny's and grand aunt's house is frequently either left in the alcove by the roof gathering dust and collecting dripping water, or just discarded. The music is dusty, has worm holes and smells mouldy, so the younger generation is simply not interested in it. This is the inevitable truth.  But the time will come when they do seek it - it always does! This pile of paper is part of our musical heritage and we are obliged to preserve it and pass it on to future generations. I feel very strongly about this responsibility. With the expertise of Dr Theresa Zammit Lupi most of the music in my own collection printed locally by the Brocktorffs has now been patiently ...

To continue on the same subject of PAPER: Japanese paper is very sought after for its unique qualities. It comes in various thicknesses of which a very fine, thin variety is used in conservation - for mending paper tears, broken corners and edges, and pages that have come apart. When it has an extremely fine grain it is almost transparent, totally unobtrusive but durable and ideal for the conservation of documents, paintings or prints on paper, and also for sheet music. This is not ordinary paper, and the time and patience required to produce it, of course, make it an expensive commodity.   This link shows you how this kind of Japanese paper is made. ‪ #‎minowashi‬ – Explore | Facebook Dr Theresa Zammit Lupi used similar very fine paper in the Brocktorff Project for the conservation of the sheet music in my collection. More on this still to come. 

Paper was produced in many centres around Europe, in areas where there was plentiful water which was necessary for the procedure of its production. Paper mills were usually built alongside rivers or other available water outlets.  I am providing a link to a very interesting article on some well-known centres of paper production in Italy, showing the way paper is made. (Thanks to Pixartprinting, 2017) : 5 paper museums to visit in Italy this summer | Pixartprinting Paper did not reach Malta only from Italy. In the first half of the 19th century, Malta was importing paper from different sources. We find printers obtaining their supply of paper from Marseilles, Genova and also from Trieste. More on this in the forthcoming publication. Printers were importing paper for their own different requirements - for printing daily newspapers, for the printing of books, or for writing documents, for drawing and painting, and also for the writing and printing of music. The quality of the paper wo...

  I am absolutely thrilled to announce that the Malta Book Fund has awarded me funding for the publication of my research on the Music Printing by the Brocktorff Lithographers.   Thank you! This is so very encouraging! Hopefully there will be a new publication in hand in 18 months time. I feel one large step closer to achieving my goal in this Project. And we soldier on because there is much more I have envisaged. But we will get there :) Thank you to all those supporting my Project and believing in me. I will say THANK YOU again to: APS Bank Ganado Advocates Mr Robert Von Brockdorff  

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Dr Theresa Zammit Lupi, because she is the same person who very patiently did the conservation of some of the music in my collection for this music printing project - more on that coming later!. Theresa has recently hit the news for a sensational discovery she made in the Graz University Library, Austria. We are so very  proud of her! She discovered a papyrus fragment which showed that it had been bound into a book and not just scrolled as our history books have told us so far. This is actully 400 years earlier than the known 'book' and dates to the 3rd century BC. WELL DONE THERESA! (1) Facebook This blog on music printing is constantly expanding - Keep Following!

WELCOME TO THE BROCKTORFF PROJECT BLOG! SO THRILLED TO BE FINALLY LAUNCHING THE BROCKTORFF PROJECT! T his blog is intended to accompany a larger project on nineteenth-century music printing in Malta by the Brocktorff family of artist/lithographers.  Details of the whole project can be viewed on the page 'About the Brocktorff Project'.   Detail from a music title page printed by the Brocktorff family This blog will be l ooking at the different ways music was printed throughout its history, the way sheet music was bound, the ill treatment and neglect that music often suffers, and how conservators will very patiently intervene to preserve this precious paper heritage for the future.   I hope you will be looking out for these pages in the coming months! Really looking forward to sharing all this with you! :) Our thanks to:  APS Bank    www.apsbank.com.mt   Ganado Advocates   Mr Robert von Brockdorff   for kindly helping us commence this Proj...