Sei Quintetti per due Violini Alto et due Violoncelli Concertanti ... Opera XIII Libro secondo di Quintetti Nuyovamente Stampati a Spese di G.B. Venier. Prix 12₶.
Paris: Chez Mr. Venier Editeur de plusieurs Ouvrages de Musique rue St. Thomas du Louvre vis-à-vis le Chateau d'eau, et aux adresses ordinaires. En province, chez tous les Mdes. de Musique. A.P.D.R., [1775].
Folio. Sewn. Engraved. Uncut.
Violino primo: 1f. (recto title, verso blank), [i] Catalogue De Musique Instrumentale que Mr. Venier a fait graver, 2-25, [i] (blank) pp.
Violino secondo: [i] (title), 2-25, [i] (blank) pp.
Viola obligata: 1f. (recto title, verso blank), 21, [i] (blank) pp.
Violoncello Io.: 1f. (recto title, verso blank), 21, [i] (blank) pp.
Violoncello IIo.: 1f. (recto title, verso blank), 21, [i] (blank) pp.
Slightly worn and browned; minor soiling and fraying to edges; occasional small stains, foxing, and small holes. In very good condition overall.
First Edition. Gérard 271-276 (pp. 299, 301, 303, 304, 305, and 308). Lesure p. 57. BUC p. 116. RISM B3165 (one copy in the U.S. only, at Sibley Library, Eastman School of Music).
Boccherini was a cellist and a prolific composer of string quartets, trios and other works. In 1770 he became chamber virtuoso and composer in residence at the court of the Infante in Madrid, who requested that he provide string quintets with two cello parts; Boccherini complied with more than 100 works in this genre. While in Spain he developed a highly idiosyncratic style that emphasized virtuosity and brilliantly dramatic effects.
The fifth quintet in the present collection contains the music that come to be known as "Boccherini's Minuet."
"The music [of the minuet from Op. 13, no. 5] does not appear to have aroused any special interest among those who heard it in the 18th century. Its vogue began in France in about 1878 for no obvious reason. So immediate and so great was its success that for nearly a century the name of Boccherini has been known to concert-goers only from this short piece which very few of them have heard in its original form. ... The effect of this universal infatuation has been to place Boccherini once and for all - quite unjustifiably - in the category of 'petit maître galant' of the eighteenth century. In the words of M. Roland-Manuel: 'Boccherini's minuet has acquired for ever the reputation of usher and of the old-fashioned elegances of the eighteenth century: curtseys and fan-play and coquetry. ... It has become a collector's piece, a specimen of faded embroidery, an example of antiquated grace.' Such, at least, is the spirit in which it has been used by film directors like Orson Welles, in The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), and Alexander Mackendrick, with unforgettable effect, in The Ladykillers (1955)." Gérard, pp. 306-307.
An attractive uncut copy of the first edition of Boccherini's most iconic work.
Item #40602
Price: $1,350.00 other currencies