GEMINIANI, Francesco 1687-1762

Geminiani's Celebrated Six Concerts, as Perform'd by Mr. Cramer before their Majesties at the Antient Concert Tottenham Street and at the Hanover Square Concert Adapted for the Harpsichord, Organ, or Pianoforte. Price 7/6. [Op. 2.] [Concerti grossi]. [Keyboard arrangements]

London: Printed for G. Goulding, No. 6 James St. Covent Garden, 1788.

Folio. Half dark blue calf with marbled boards, spine in decorative compartments gilt, dark tan title label gilt. 1f. (recto title, verso blank), 31, [i] (blank) pp. Engraved throughout.

Binding very slightly worn; gilt titling faded. Moderate browning; occasional light soiling and foxing to margins; title soiled; small creases and tears to lower outer edge of final leaf with soiling to blank verso.

First Edition of this arrangement. Careri-Italian p. 256, 2g. BUC p. 367. RISM G1476 (two copies in the U.S., both at Library of Congress).

Composed primarily in a two- and three-part texture, the orchestral dimension of these concertos is preserved through the use of solo and tutti markings. The publisher suggests that the works may be performed on harpsichord, organ, or piano. A harpsichordist or organist may employ registration to achieve the desired orchestral effects, while a pianist may employ dynamics and registration to achieve similar effects. The score is also figured, allowing performers who are fluent in thoroughbass and wish to enrich the texture with extra chords to easily do so.

"The celebrated Adagio" in D major appears on p. 12, indicating that Geminiani's music was still popular with the musical public over twenty years after his death.
A noted pupil of Corelli, Geminani's "contemporaries in England considered him the equal of Handel and Corelli, but except for the concerti grossi op. 3, a few sonatas and the violin treatise, little of his musical and theoretical output is known today. He was, nevertheless, one of the greatest violinists of his time, an original if not a prolific composer and an important theorist.

Geminiani's concertos are characterized by firm harmonic stability. Modulations are frequent but usually transitory; however, they were perceived as individual and characteristic. ‘It is observable’, wrote Hawkins, ‘upon the works of Geminiani, that his modulations are not only original, but that his harmonies consist of such combinations as were never introduced into music till his time’. It was the variety of transitory modulations that surprised Hawkins, rather than the harmonic organization of the whole movement, which was in itself unoriginal. The perceived novelty was not so much in the choice of new keys as in the way of arriving at them and in preparing the modulations." Enrico Careri in Grove Music Online

The "Mr. Cramer mentioned" on the title is Wilhelm Cramer (1746-1799), a violinist of Silesian descent. "The son of a Mannheim violinist, Jakob Cramer (1705–70), he was a precocious violin pupil. He studied with Johann Stamitz, Domenicus Basconi, and Christian Cannabich, and in about 1752 joined the Mannheim orchestra, where he became known as one of the finest violinists of his day. He left Mannheim to work for the Duke of Württemberg in Stuttgart, and he soon obtained permission to travel to Paris and London. He appeared at the Concert Spirituel in Paris in 1769 and by 1772 he had arrived in London, where his success, and the encouragement of J.C. Bach, led him to decide to remain permanently in England.

For the next two decades Cramer was considered London’s foremost violinist, lauded equally for the ‘fire, tone, and certainty’ of his solo playing (Burney) and for his authority as an orchestral leader. A particular speciality was his technique of off-the-string bowing, still unusual at the time: perhaps it was for this reason that his name became associated with one type of transitional violin bow. Certainly he brought the precision and firmness of Mannheim symphonic practice to London, as leader of the Bach–Abel concerts from 1773 and of succeeding series at the Hanover Square Rooms, including the Professional Concert (1785–93), of which he was one of the principal organizers. He led at the Italian Opera almost every season from 1777 to 1796, and became equally associated with the Handelian tradition, as leader at the Concert of Ancient Music and at numerous festivals in London and elsewhere (including the prestigious Handel Commemoration in 1784). The connection with Bach and Abel led to invitations to play chamber music at court, and around 1784 he was appointed leader of the Queen’s Band (though not of the more ceremonial King’s Band, as sometimes stated). Throughout this period he remained active as a concerto soloist, and he was also celebrated as a chamber music player; indeed he was London’s first major quartet leader, appearing regularly with the same players at the Professional Concert." Simon McVeigh in Grove Music Online

Elegant keyboard arrangements of Geminiani's orchestral music, evoking both public concert life and domestic-music making of late 18th century England.

Item #39998

Price: $750.00  other currencies