Music, Print and Presentation in Saxony During the Seventeenth Century

At the start of the seventeenth century composers such as MichaelPraetorius, Johann Hermann Schein and Heinrich Schütz sawmuch of their music into print; at the end of the century, however,musicians such as Johann Kuhnau or Nikolaus Adam Strungk enteredprint comparatively little, if at all. This article uses thedecline in music printing as a way to understand the changingrole of music and musicians in society. At the start of thecentury, the intensity of music printing testified to the Lutheranmarket for music, but also to the efforts of composers to promoteand present themselves in print. After the Thirty Years' War,however, the market for printed music collapsed, as many courtsand cities began to expect virtuoso performances and a constantsupply of new compositions.     

Re-erecting Houses in Shropshire in the Late Seventeenth Century

Literary evidence for moved houses in seventeenth-century Shropshire as chronicled by Richard Gough in his ‘History of Myddle’ is checked by site surveys, and the results are analysed. Examination of the relevant buildings points to the need for re-assessment of the theory that such structures were flimsy and had earth-fast posts. Comparisons are included, one of which concerns the re-cycling of a ‘ffat-oxe-house’ for which a building contract survives.     

A Patient With Word Blindness in the Seventeenth Century

Johann Jakob Wepfer (1620–1695), city physician in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, published two books on “apoplexy.” He proposed new ideas about the events in the brain during such attacks, based on Harvey’s theory of the circulation of the blood. Wepfer postulated extravasation of whole blood or serum in the brain, in opposition to the Galenic notion of blocked ventricles. His case histories are remarkably precise and untainted by interpretation. This allows the recognition of a patient with word blindness, who was also unable to read words written by himself. Unlike patients with pure “alexia without agraphia,” he could not write complete sentences because of additional language defects, especially speech comprehension. Jules Dejerine (1849–1917) would, in 1892, not only describe a patient with the pure form of this syndrome (cécité verbale avec intégrité de l’écriture spontanée et sous dictée) but also provide an explanation of its anatomical basis.