Second Livre de Sonates A Deux Violons Sans Basse. Composées Par. M. Leclair L'Ainé Gravées par Mme. son Epouse. Dédiées, a Monsieur Baron Conseiller du Roy Notaire. Oeuvre XII, Le Prix 7.tt 4.f On peu jouer ces Sonates à deux Violes. [Set of parts]
Paris: Chez L'Auteur ... La Ve. Boivin ... Le Sr. Leclerc ... Mlle. Castagnery ... La Ve. Roussel, [ca. 1753].
Two volumes. Folio. Full green vellum with dark red leather title labels gilt to uppers. Engraved throughout.
Violino primo: 1f. (recto title, verso blank), 1f. (recto dedication, verso "Catalogue des Oeuvres de M. Leclair"), 22 pp.
Violino secondo: [i] (title), 2-22 pp.
Provenance
Louis Picquot (1804-1870), author of the first biography and catalogue of works of Luigi Boccherini , with his handstamp ("Bibl. Musicale de L. Picquot Bar - Le - Duc") to lower margin of titles and Arnold Dolmetsch (1858-1940), musician and pioneer in the Early Music revival, with his handstamp to blank verso of first violin part and center lower margin of p. 2 of second violin part.
Bindings slightly worn, bumped, rubbed, and warped, that of second violin part with crack to upper right portion; occasional mild soiling and stains, primarily to margins, a bit heavier to pp. 12-15 of second violin, with paper repair to lower margin of p. 13.
First Edition, later issue. Lesure p. 379 (second violin only). BUC p. 606. RISM L1333 (one complete copy in the U.S. only, at the Library of Congress).
Op. 12, a mature work, incorporates an impressive battery of expressive devices, including varied galant figurations, chromaticism, peculiar articulations, double-, triple- and quadruple-stops, Corellian melismas, and bariolage passages where the realization of the arpeggios is left to the discretion of the performer.
Leclair, a French composer, violinist, and dancer, "is considered the founder of the French violin school. ... [His] achievement as a composer lay in his modification of the Corellian sonata style to accommodate French taste. The result was the goûts réunis prophesied by Couperin, the vermischter Geschmack later recommended by Quantz. He imbued the Italian sonata style with elements drawn from the Lullian dance and from the pièce of the French viol players and harpsichordists. Leclair was often able to combine the two styles and to arrive at a new synthesis. In this he was a child of his time, for comparable syntheses were attempted by many of his contemporaries. Leclair was one of the most successful. In his concertos he stayed close to Vivaldian models in the fast movements, more often introducing the French taste in the slow movements." Neal Zaslaw in Grove Music Online
The first and only edition of Leclair's Op. 12, a work of considerable imagination and virtuosity, this copy with a distinguished provenance.
Item #39787
Price: $1,350.00 other currencies