ANON.

Suonate per organo. [Musical manuscript collection of 27 unrecorded 18th century works for organ]

Firenze: ca. 1790-1810.

Oblong folio (239 x 335 mm). Contemporary silk-lined wrappers with decorative manuscript titling within passepartout pictorial engraving to upper printed in dark teal blue. [i] (title), 2-76 pp. musical manuscript + [v] (blank) pp., final page with single-line text in an early 19th century hand ("Te Deum solenne ineff[?]ta Ave maris stella in Delaso[l]re terza mino[re]"). Notated in two hands in black ink on 10-stave rastrum-ruled paper. Watermark with a large coat of arms incorporating 3 crescent moons and the letters "HF" (similar to Heawood 813 [1784]).

Contains 27 pieces for organ, the last 7 in a different hand.

With early manuscript inscription to outer margin of upper wrapper: "[?]Luigi Dini di Nocchi," perhaps either the owner or copyist; the manuscript annotation to the final page may refer to a sacred vocal work, combining liturgical Latin with a hexachordal key name (delasolre terza minore).

The passepartout illustration features an attractive pastoral scene, including reclining figures, warriors, fountain, trees, a winged human figure in flight, two musicians playing bagpipes and a wind instrument, a figure in repose with a lute beside him, and playful manuscript additions including a whip for the flying figure, a bow for the lute, and a sword for the warrior. A banner at the lower portion of the engraving unfolds over the image's decorative border, inside of which is a single hand-ruled stave with music in 4/4 and text (the word "amen").

With "Gio.[vanni] Chiari rigatore di carta da Musica in Firenze" printed to lower margin.

Wrappers slightly worn, browned, and soiled; edges dusty. Minor internal wear and soiling; occasional small stains; some corners turned; edges uncut, with minor imperfections to several blank corners and edges. In very good condition overall.

None of the works in the present manuscript appear to be recorded in the RISM manuscripts database.

The pieces included in the collection are fugues, sonata-like movements (with tempo indications including allegro, moderato, and grave), and pastorales, with occasional markings for figured bass and indications for organ registration. The texture is primarily two and three parts, with some continuo figures and occasional performance instructions to arpeggiate the bass, pointing to a fuller texture.

One piece in the volume is marked "per l'Offert.[ori]o," (p. 45) indicating that this music might have been used in Church. The title page, which mentions pianoforte as an alternate instrument, speaks to the adaptability of keyboard music at the time; this was typical in the 18th and early 19th centuries, the most famous (and somewhat earlier) example being Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, where Clavier could mean any keyboard instrument on hand. 

The title, "Intavolature per Organo o Pianoforte," offers piano as an alternative to organ; the organ pieces here are most often also playable on piano. Pedal parts sometimes appear, but only in grand staff and typically long sustained notes. Italian organs at the time did not have an extensive pedalboard fit for figurative bass melodies. Even the pieces with pedal parts in this collection could easily have been adapted for piano by making adjustments to chord voicings.

Among the most distinctive pieces in the present volume are the pastorales, grouped together toward the end of the collection. One such piece, a rustic and transporting pastorale on p. 56, references the piva, a type of Italian bagpipe (famously invoked by Handel in The Messiah for its pastoral association), and features shifting time signatures and major and minor keys.

Chiari was a Florentine musicseller active in the late 18th-early 19th centuries (see Antolini: Dizionario degli Editori Musicali Italiani 1750-1930, p. 122); the musical and scribal style (somewhere between Baroque and Rococo) may be somewhat earlier, perhaps 1770s or 80s.

A highly interesting collection of 18th century keyboard works, all of which are apparently unrecorded.

Item #39420

Price: $1,500.00  other currencies