CIMAROSA, Domenico 1749-1801

Il Matrimonio Segreto. Dramma Giocoso in due Atti ou Le Mariage Secret Opera Comique en deux Actes ... paroles francaises de Moline. Prix 40₶‎. [Full score]

Paris: Imbault [PN 738], 1801 or 1802.

2 volumes. Folio. Half contemporary ivory vellum with teal blue marbled boards, decorative cut paper labels titled in manuscript to uppers.

Act I
[i] (title), [iv] ("Catalogue de Musique Vocale et Instrumentale mise au jour par Imbault" ), [i] (table of contents), 259, [i] (blank) pp.

Act II
[i] (blank), 260-492 pp.

Text in Italian and French.

Overpaste "Se vend chez Weissenbruch, Editeur et Marchand de Musique, Imprimeur et Libraire, place de la Cour, section 7, no. 1085, à Bruxelles" to title of Act I and first blank page of Act II.

Publisher's facsimile signature handstamp "Imbault" to lower outer corner of title; "142" in contemporary manuscript to blank outer margin of p. 335.

Provenance
Jacob Martain Severinus Heuckeroth, prominent Dutch musician and conductor (1853 to 1936), with his handstamp ("J.M.S. Heuckeroth") to title label, title, and final page of music; handstamp of the "Nederlandsche Radio-Unie Eigendom" title label, free front endpaper, and title.

Bindings worn, rubbed, and bumped. Occasional wear, light soiling, foxing, and small stains, mostly marginal; some light dampstaining, heavier to final leaves of both volumes; a few signatures partially detached; small binder's hole to blank inner margins.

Quite a good copy overall, with interesting provenance.

First Edition. Sonneck: Dramatic Music p. 88. BUC p. 191. Hirsch II, 137. RISM C2304 (4 copies in the U.S.).

In two acts to a libretto by Giovanni Bertati after George Colman the elder and David Garrick’s play The Clandestine Marriage, Il Matrimonio Segreto was first performed in Vienna at the Burgtheater on 7 February 1792.

"Cimarosa was always able to write music suffused with lightness, elegance and finesse. ... One of [his] strengths was the composition of witty and vivacious ensembles. Il matrimonio segreto, an ensemble opera in the style of Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, is composed of eight arias, four duets, three trios, a quartet, a quintet and two finales featuring all six characters. Frequently his operas begin with a trio or a quartet, and he excelled at creating large-scale chain finales. Although Cimarosa’s characters do not display layers of Mozartian complexity, he was capable of depicting human emotions in a touching but not over-sentimental manner, as in the opening duet ‘Cara non dubitar’ from Il matrimonio segreto." Jennifer E. Johnson and Gordana Lazarevich in Grove Music Online.

Item #40438

Price: $1,450.00  other currencies