CORELLI, Arcangelo 1653-1713

Concerti Grossi Con Due Violini, viola, e Violoncello Concertino obligato e Due altri Violini e Basso di Concerto Grosso Dedicati Alla Sacra Maestà di Giorgi Rè della Gran Brettagna Francia ed Ibernia &. &. &. da Francesco Geminiani Composti delli Sei Soli della prima parte dell'Opera Quinta D'Arcangeli Corelli [Op. 5]. [Concerti grossi]. [Orchestral arrangements of violin sonatas]. [Complete set of parts]

London: Printed by Wm. Smith at Corelli's Head against Norfolk Street, near St. Clement's Church in the Strand, and John Barrett at the Harp and Crown in Coventry Street, near Piccadilly, 1726.

Folio. 7 parts.

1) Violino primo del concertino: 1f. (recto title, verso blank), 22 pp.
2) Violino secondo del concertino: 1f. (recto title, verso blank), 17, [i] (blank) pp.
3) Violino primo ripieno: 1f. (recto title, verso blank), 13, [i] (blank) pp.
4) Violino secondo ripieno: 1f. (recto title, verso blank), 13, [i] (blank) pp.
5) Alto viola: 1f. (recto title, verso blank), 13, [i] (blank) pp.
6) Violoncello: 1f. (recto title, verso blank), 15, [i] (blank) pp.
7) Basso ripieno: 1f. (recto title, verso blank), 13, [i] (blank) pp.

First Edition, first issue of this arrangement. Rare. Marx p. 315, no. 3. Careri-Italian p. 293, 15a. BUC p. 221. Smith & Humphries 436/437. RISM C3866 and G1521 (most copies incomplete).

With:
Corelli, arranged by Geminiani
Concerti Grossi Con due Violini, Viola e Violoncello di Concertini Obligati, e due altri Violini e Basso di Concerto Grosso Quali Contengono Preludii Allemande Correnti Gigue Sarabande Gavotte e Follia Composti della Seconda Parte del Opera Quinta d'Arcangelo Corelli per Francesco Geminiani. [London]: I: Walsh ... Ios: Hare, [1729]. [Op. 5]. [Concerti grossi] [Orchestral arrangements of violin sonatas]. [Complete set of parts].

1) Violino primo del concertino: 1f. (recto title, verso blank), [i] (blank), 14 [93-106], [i] (blank) pp. 
2) Violino secondo del concertino: 1f. (recto title, verso blank), 11, [i] (blank) pp. 
3) Violino primo del concerto grosso: 9, [i] (blank) pp. Quarto. Lacking title.
4) Violino secondo del concerto grosso: 1f. (recto title, verso blank), 8 pp. Quarto.
5) Alto viola: 1f. (recto title, verso blank), 7, [i] (blank) pp.
6) Violoncello del concertino: 1f. (recto title, verso blank), 13, [i] (blank) pp.
7) Basso del concerto grosso: 1f. (recto title, verso blank), 8 pp. 

First Edition, first issue of this arrangement. Rare. Marx p. 316, no. 6. Careri-Italian p. 293, 15b. Smith & Humphries 437. BUC p. 221. RISM C3879, G1527 (one copy in the U.S., at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor).

Violino del concerto grosso drawn from B. Cooke's issue, London, ca. 1732. Marx p. 318, no. 11. BUC p. 221. RISM C3872 and G1527 (most copies incomplete).

Some original pagination cancelled, replaced with alternate contemporary pagination and numbering in brown and red ink.

With overpaste to imprint on several parts: "Sold by John Young Musical Instrument Maker, at ye Dolphin & Crown, ye West end of St. Pauls Church, where you may be furnished wth. all sorts of Violins, Flutes, Hoboys, Bass-Viol, Harpsicords or Spinets, & Books of Tunes with Directions for any of these Instruments, also Music, Rul'd Paper and Strings, at reasonable rates."

Disbound. Slightly worn; some, mostly moderate, foxing and soiling; binder's holes to inner margins; occasional small tears to lower margins with several paper repairs.

"Despite the modest size of his output, comprising six collections of instrumental music and a handful of other authentic works, and its virtual restriction to three genres – solo sonata, trio sonata and concerto – Corelli exercised an unparalleled influence during his lifetime and for a long time afterwards. This influence, which affected form, style and instrumental technique in equal measure, was most closely felt in Italy, and in particular in Rome, where he settled in early manhood, but soon spread beyond local and national confines to become a European phenomenon. As a violinist, teacher of the violin and director of instrumental ensembles Corelli imposed standards of discipline that were unusually strict for their period and helped to lay the groundwork for further progress along the same lines during the 18th century. To Corelli belong equally the distinctions of being the first composer to derive his fame exclusively from instrumental composition, the first to owe his reputation in large part to the activity of music publishers, and the first to produce ‘classic’ instrumental works which were admired and studied long after their idiom became outmoded." Michael Talbot in Grove Music Online

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

"Geminiani’s concerto arrangements of Corelli’s sonatas Op. 5 belong, with the Concertos Opp. 2 and 3, to his most popular works. Immediately after the first appearance of the Prima parte in 1726, which was available by subscription only (or in small quantities from dealers who subscribed for multiple copies), reprints were published which were sold for half of Geminiani’s original price. New reprints and issues appeared until the middle of the century and the works must have been part of the stock repertoire of many music clubs and concert organizations until around 1800 (and sometimes even later)." Rudolf Rasch: "The Thirty-One Works of Francesco Geminiani" (geminiani.sites.uu.nl/).

Item #40019

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