BOCCHERINI, Luigi 1743-1805

[G. 189-194]. Sei Quartetti Concertanti Per Due Violini Alto e Violoncello ... Opera [27] Prix 9... APDR. [Parts]

Paris: Sieber, [?1778].

Folio. Disbound. Violino primo: 1f. (title), [1] (publisher's catalogue), 2-13, [i] (blank) pp.; Violino secondo: [1] (title), 2-13, [i] (blank) pp.; Alto viola: [1] (title), 2-13, [i] (blank) pp.; Violoncello: [1] (title), 2-13, [i] (blank) pp. Engraved. Watermark coat of arms.

The quartets are in E-flat major (Gérard 191), G minor (Gérard 194), C major, (Gérard 192), A major (Gérard 190), D major (Gérard 189), and C minor (Gérard 193) respectively.

"No. 28" in contemporary manuscript to head of each title; calculations in ink to final blank page of Alto viola part.

Title pages slightly soiled; minor staining; some leaves torn at edges; title of Violino seondo part with minor tears to margins; closely trimmed, with minimal loss to Violoncello part; holes to final leaf of Alto viola part with loss of several notes.

Probable First Edition. Gérard p. 192 (with plate number 436; mentions two issues but both with addresses different from the present copy). BUC p. 117 (first issue). Hirsch III, 132. RISM B3134 (2 copies only in the U.S., at the University of Michigan and the Eastman School of Music).

"Boccherini was a prolific composer of chamber music: he composed well over 100 string quintets, nearly 100 string quartets and over 100 other chamber works... The earliest trios and quartets... are in a standard Italian chamber music idiom, apart from their frequent use of the cello in its tenor register (natural in a virtuoso cellist) and an unusually ornate melodic style." Stanley Sadie in Grove Music Online.

Item #26993

Price: $650.00  other currencies