GEMINIANI, Francesco 1687-1762

Sonate a Violono e Basso ... Dedicate All'Illustrissima ed Eccellentissima Signora Margarita Contessa D'Orrery. Opera IV. [Op. 4]. [Violin sonatas]

London: [The Author], 1739.

Large folio. Half mid-tan calf with marbled boards, titling gilt to spine. 1f. (recto blank, verso frontispiece), 1f. (recto title, verso blank), 48 pp. On heavy paper with wide margins.

The fine engraved frontispiece by P. Aveline after E. Bouchardon depicts Apollo riding a chariot of clouds pulled by three horses, the three graces, three satyrs dancing to the accompaniment of a panpipe-playing satyr, a stream with two swans, a cello and violin, sheet music, and a seated winged figure holding a portrait of the composer in profile, with text in Latin below the image "Debent Charitas hæc pignora Vati."

Provenance
From the library of noted British musicologist and collector Godfrey Edward Pellew Arkwright (1864-1944), with his bookplate to front pastedown.

Some noteheads pencilled over in continuo part of lowermost system, p. 7.

Binding slightly worn, rubbed, and bumped; manuscript note with publication details laid down to front pastedown. Minor soiling to first and last leaves; light foxing and soiling to blank lower margin, primarily in first half of volume; paper repair to blank lower margin of p. 23; pp. 35-36 bound in upside down; tear to blank upper margin of p. 39 repaired. Lacking privilege leaf.

In very good condition overall.

First Edition, first issue. Careri-Italian p. 264, 4a (Careri notes that 4b, the Johnson edition printed for the author, included a frontispiece; the title of this edition, however, is the earliest, printed for the author and not noting a publisher). BUC p. 368. Hirsch III, 219. RISM G1501.

"The copies of the Sonatas Op. 4 and Le prime sonate that do not mention a publisher, but give London and 1739 as their place and year of publication respectively, can serve as a first reference for these Works: they must be considered as belonging to be the First Issues of Geminiani’s own Editions, actually more than one issue for each edition. ... The Violin Sonatas Op. 4 are among Geminiani’s major accomplishments. The set ranks among the top-five of his practical works as far as prestige, importance and dissemination are concerned—the other four being the Violin Sonatas of 1716, the Corelli Concertos and the Concertos Opp. 2 and 3. Published in 1739, it is the last of these works, chronologically. After 1740 Geminiani went on composing but none of these later compositions would be considered of equal value as the earlier main works. Musical style around him changed quickly from 1740 onwards and in a direction that was counter to some basic principles of his own composition. He remained true to his “Baroque” idioms applied in a fundamentally unpredictable way, whereas general composition moved to smooth melodic lines in clear and symmetrical metrical patterns with rather predictable melodic formulas and simple harmonies. Geminiani’s Violin Sonatas Op. 4 are among the technically most demanding works of his time and can be compared to similar violin sonatas by composers such as Pietro Antonio Locatelli, Francesco Maria Veracini, Jean-Marie Leclair and Giuseppe Tartini. It is difficult to say whether there are influences from these masters upon one another, in any direction. Due to the relatively conservative character of British musical life in the eighteenth century, Geminiani’s sonatas remained available on the musical market considerably longer than those of the other composers for the violin of his generation." Rudolf Rasch: "Work 9: Le prime sonate (1739)" in "The Thirty-One Works of Francesco Geminiani." geminiani.sites.uu.nl/

Rasch explains the complex publishing history of Geminiani's Op. 4, noting that the first edition was engraved in Paris by Hue; engraving abroad enabled the composer to retain a greater measure of intellectual property rights than he had exercised earlier in his career.

A tall, attractive, large paper copy, with unusually wide margins, of Geminiani's Op. 4, one of the composer's most distinguished achievements in the sonata genre, with a fine engraved frontispiece.

Item #39993

Price: $2,850.00  other currencies