IAML/IASA Annual Conference, Perugia, Monday 2 September 1996, 16:15 - 17:45

IAML. Working Group on Music Periodicals

Thomas F. Heck (The Ohio State University, Columbus)

The Role of Half-Tones and 'Whole-Tones' in the Illustration of Music Periodicals

Much significance been attributed to the development of the 'screen half-tone' illustration, near-photographic in quality, in printing in the final two decades of the 19th century. Cultural historians call it "an iconographical revolution of the first order," but music historians have not examined the question in depth. This study reviews the normal methods of illustration found in illustrated music periodicals during the period c. 1880-1914 (of which there are over fifty titles), examining Il teatro illustrato e la musica popolare in detail, and asks whether the pre-1900 appearance of the half-tone photographs in such journals as The Musical World, and Musical opinion & musical trade review, had any real significance.

Le rôle des "demi teintes" et des "teintes pleines" dans l'illustration des périodiques musicaux

On attribue une signification importante au dévelopment de l'illustration dite 'demi-teinte', similigravure de qualité quasi-photographique, encontrée pour la premiére fois dans la presse vers la fin du 19e siècle. Certains historiens de la culture la considèrent une "revolution iconographiqu", mais les musicologues n'eu ont pas encore beaucoup parlé. Cette étude expliquera les methodes courantes de l'illustration qui se trouvent dans les périodiques musicales au cours des années 1880-1914, examinera Il teatro illustrato e la musica popolare en détail, et cherchera à déterminer si l'usage des demi-teintes dans des journeaux, tels The Musical World, et Musical opinion & musical trade review , avait une signification réelle.