Menuets Italiens, des Célébres, Leonardo Vinci, Scarlatti, Bononcini, Bernardo Palazzo, Gioseppe, Veronese, Nicolo Vanieri, di Roma, e Martini Valmone. Recueillis par Mr. Bouvard. Gravé par L. Huë Prix 2 tt. ... Avec Privilege du Roy.
Paris: Madame Boivin ... Monsr. le Clerc ... Le. Sr. Huë Gravr. [ca. 1737].
Folio (22.4 x 31 cm). Modern half dark brown mottled calf with marbled boards, spine with decorative devices and titling gilt. 1f. (recto title printed within decoratively ruled border, verso blank), 9, [i] (privilege) pp. Engraved.
With manuscript ownership inscription in lower right corner of first page of music: "Bateman 1745."
Scored for melody instrument (?violin) and figured bass.
Binding slightly worn and stained. Slightly foxed; very minor loss to lower outer corners and edges.
Quite rare. Not in Lesure, BUC, or RISM. BNf: 42874649.
The minuets in this collection, compiled by composer François Bouvard, were, in all likelihood, drawn from Italian opera and ballet productions attended by Bouvard during his travels in Italy. While Scarlatti, Bononcini, and Vinci were well-known in their day, the other composers represented here, Bernardo Palazzo, Gioseppe[!] Veronese, Nicolo Vanieri di Roma, and Martini Valmonte, seem not to appear in any other printed or manuscript sources from the time. All of the music, including that of the unknown composers, is vibrant and imaginative.
François Bouvard (ca. 1683-1760) was a French composer, teacher and opera singer. The main source of information about him is the Parfaict brothers’ Dictionnaire des théâtres, which states that Bouvard entered the Opéra at a very young age to sing soprano parts, with a ‘voice of such a range that its like had never been heard.’ After his voice broke, when he was about 16, he spent a couple of years in Rome. He was back in Paris by February 1701, where his first (Italian) air appeared in a collection published by Ballard. In 1702, thanks to the patronage of M. de Francine, the Académie Royale de Musique performed his first opera, Médus, with great success, but in 1706 Cassandre, composed in collaboration with Bertin de La Doué, was a failure. Throughout the years 1701–11 Bouvard regularly published airs in Ballard’s collections, initially airs sérieux or airs italiens, and from 1706 onwards airs à boire, which became one of his specialities. These publications suddenly ceased in 1711, and we have no trace of the musician from that date until 1723. A remark in Boisgelou’s Table biographique suggests that he spent a long time abroad, mainly in Italy. A second Italian sojourn would explain why his death certificate (in the Archives de la Seine, fonds Bégis) names him as ‘knight’ and ‘count of St John Lateran’ and why two of his cantatas, L’énigme and L’époux indifférent, as well as his last air (1756), are signed ‘Bouvard, chevalier romain’." Robert Fajon in Grove Music Online
Giovanni Bononcini (1670-1747) was a celebrated composer and virtuoso cellist, highly sought after in cosmopolitan cultural centers of Europe including London, Paris, Madrid and Vienna. His patrons included two rulers of the Holy Roman Empire, Emperor Leopold I and Empress Maria Theresa.
Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725) is "generally considered the founder of the Neapolitan school of 18th-century opera." Malcolm Boyd, Roberto Pagano and Edwin Hurley in Grove Music Online
Leonardo Vinci's (?1696-1730) "music exerted a direct influence on many composers of the next generation, notably Pergolesi and Hasse, and also made an impact on older composers such as Vivaldi and Handel, whose later works incorporate elements of the style of Vinci and his colleagues." Kurt Markstrom in Grove Music Online.
Item #39503
Price: $800.00 other currencies