Penn State musicologist Marica Tacconi discovered the fakes on sabbatical in Venice. //

Penn State musicologist Marica Tacconi wasn't planning to discover forged music books when she started her sabbatical research at the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana in Venice in 2018. But when she encountered an embellished, leather-bound music book ostensibly from the 17th century, something about it struck her as off. Subsequent analysis showed that her instincts had been right: the book was an early 20th-century forgery, as were two other music books, supposedly from the same period, that she examined in the collection. Tacconi gives a full account of her investigations in a recent paper published in the Journal of Seventeenth Century Music.

The Marciana Library acquired the music books—catalogued as MSS 740, 742, and 743—in 1916 and 1917 from a musician and book dealer named Giovanni Concina. But before Tacconi undertook her analysis, the books had neither received much scholarly attention nor been studied as a set. //

david newallArs Scholae Palatinaereplyabout 9 hours agoReader Fav
I wonder why they were forged. Apparently not for financial gain as they sold for so little. Somebody went to a lot of effort and didn't receive fame or fortune. //

agkhayyamWise, Aged Ars Veteran about 9 hours ago

david newall wrote:
I wonder why they were forged. Apparently not for financial gain as they sold for so little. Somebody went to a lot of effort and didn't receive fame or fortune.

And now this feels like the beginning of a Dan Brown novel...