Ottaviano de'Petrucci  

(1466 - 1539)

A great pioneer of the gigantic industry called music publishing, was Ottaviano de’Petrucci, the first modern printer of sheet music. In 1501 appeared his first publication, a collection of 96 songs out of all quarters of the four winds.  In this album, which was called Odhecaton (The great of the Earth) you could find all the great masters of the Renaissance.

Petrucci publicised songs and masses, but was also world-famous by his publications of lute music.  These were not in musical notation but in finger notation: the lute player could see precisely where and on which snares of his instrument he had to place his fingers. In 1507 he published the first book of printed lute music like this.