[Thanks to Ward Project Music Cataloger Andrea Cawelti for contributing this post.] Alois Senefelder (1771-1834), actor and enthusiastic playwright, became consumed with finding a cheaper method of printing his own plays after discovering the expense of letterpress and engraving processes. He experimented with various kinds of etching on stone, which he later abandoned in favor of “chemical printing,” in which he wrote on the stone with greasy ink and coated the surface with a mixture of water, acid and gum arabic (frankincense). He then inked the surface and the ink was absorbed by the writing. The resulting impression could be taken directly from the surface of the stone. Upon coming across a piece of badly printed music (so he claimed) he realized that his stone printing process would be perfect for the production of music.
After continuing to experiment and improve the process, Senefelder went to London where he received patent letters in June of 1801. He established the Chemische Druckerey (later S.A. Steiner & Comp.) in Vienna, in July of 1803. A recent gift from John Milton Ward, William Powell Mason Professor of Music emeritus at Harvard University, provides us with a rare opportunity to examine some of the earliest examples of the direct lithographic process.
In this detail, we can see the tell-tale evidence of hand-drawn note heads. Direct lithography involved writing directly on a lithographic stone in reverse, with greasy ink or pen-like instruments. In this example we can also see that the inking of the stones was not yet perfected, leaving a great deal of ink residue across the stone.
By 1807, we can see that the entire process has become cleaner. Shortly thereafter, lithography became the dominant printing process for music, and eventually, the cheap, clean method of which Senefelder had originally dreamed, still widely in use today.
For further information:
Senefelder describes his work in Vollständiges Lehrbuch der Steindruckerey (Munich, 1818), which was translated into English by A. Schlichtegroll as A Complete Course of Lithography (London, 1819) and later as The Invention of Lithography, translated by J.W. Muller (London, 1911). Another excellent source of further information can be found in Michael Twyman’s study based on the H. Baron Collection, Early Lithographed Music (London, 1996). The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians also provides an excellent overview of the rise of lithography in their article on “Printing and publishing of music.”