Music

Oblong quarto (278 x 208 mm). Unbound, folded. 29 pp. + 2 pp. of additional manuscript apparently not included in the final version. Notated in pencil on 16-stave paper. Signed and dated New York, Jan-April 1997. Supreme Virtue was commissioned by the Dale Warland Singers with the support of the Jerome Foundation and the Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University. The Dale Warland Singers premiered the work in Minneapolis in June 2000. The text consists of an English translation by Stephen Mitchell of verses from the "Tao te Ching." It was first recorded by the Seattle-based chamber choir Esoterics on the Terpsichore label in the winter of 2008. "For a few years I was the tenor section leader of a choir in Washington, and in singing with and composing for them I'd become more and more interested in the quasi-instrumental vocal gesture. Stephen Mitchell's pellucid translation of this verse of the Tao te ching - a series of moral challenges all beginning with the words "Can you?" - spurred me to… Read More

Paris: Pierres et Onfroy. [Fig. Musica] (cm.26) voll. 4, bella legatura originale, pieno vitello marmorizzato, ricchi fregi in oro al dorso e triplo filetto ai piatti. Sguardie e tagli marmorizzati, segnalibri in seta. -- pp. (8), XX, pp. 445, XVIII, 59; pp. (4), 444, 178; pp. (4), 702, 59; pp. (4), 476, 59,28, 8, LVI. Complessivamente contiene 59 tavv. f.t. con strumenti musicali e scene varie di cui una ripiegata, disegnate e incise da Bouland, Myris et Paris, Chenou, Piquenot ecc. più 10 tavv di musica + 2 ripiegate + 3 ripiegate molto grandi, queste ultime con schemi e tabelle. Inoltre centinaia di pagine con musica annotata e varie vignette con ritratti. Edizione originale rara e ben completa delle " Parties Separèe des Chanson " spesso mancanti. L' autore lavorò 30 anni a questa opera alla quale collaborò l' abate Roussier. Divisa in 6 libri: storia della musica, composizione, strumenti, musicisti e cantanti antichi e moderni; un capitolo è… Read More

Folio (ca. 356 x 278 mm.). Unbound. 9 leaves notated in pencil on one side of each leaf of 18-stave AZTEC C-18 music manuscript paper. A working manuscript, with erasures, alterations and cancellations. Together with: A copy of the published full score of the movement, i.e., pp. 107-138, and a 1-1/2 page printed commentary by the composer discussing the background of the work and briefly describing the music: "I should say, however, that as I was working on the last movement, I found myself thinking as much about the fox as about the hunting hounds. This, coupled with the fact that I recently acquired a recording of background music from the old movie serials that I used to go to as a kid, probably accounts for the quite ungentlemanly, almost lurid quality of the chase music." "Thurber's Dogs was commissioned for the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra of Columbus and the Thurber House to commemorate the 100th birthday anniversary of author James Thurber. It was completed on August 13, 1994. The first… Read More

2 pp. of a bifolium. Octavo. Dated Monday morning. Postmarked [?]January 12, 1835. With "Weynen Superfin" blindstamped to upper portions of leaves. Integral address panel with the recipient's name and the address of the Austrian Embassy in Paris to final page. With fully intact red wax seal. In Italian and French (with translation). Bellini tries to secure the Count a place at the première of his latest opera and invites the Count's wife to one of its dress rehearsals. "... I met your cousin at Madame Graham's and I begged him to tell you that I had gone to the Bureau des Italiens to try to grant your wish ... therefore, if the day of the first performance falls on a day when the halls are occupied almost entirely by subscribers, you'll get priority ... Tell [the Countess] I am sorry I am not yet able to leave my desk, since I'm always working on the opera. I hope she will want to honor me by coming to some dress rehearsal, to give me advice with her delicate musical taste ... " Slightly worn… Read More

Wien-Leipzig: Universal-Edition [PN U.E. 10.050], 1932. Small folio. Original publisher's wrappers. 1f., 13 pp. Publisher's catalogue dated July 1932 to verso of lower wrapper. Autograph inscription from the composer to title in black ink: "Dr. David Bach herzlichs überreicht von seinem Webern Nov. 1932." From the collection of the pianist and teacher Jacob Lateiner (1928-2010), with a note laid in from the distinguished music antiquarian Albi Rosenthal (1914-2004): "for Jacob - as a souvenir of his first (and frustrating) visit to Otto Haas - Albi, London, 12 May 1967." Wrappers slightly worn and soiled. First Edition. Moldenhauer pp. 714-15. "Alban Berg repeatedly assured the composer of his special admiration for this work. On 19 August 1932 he wrote: 'This Quartet is a miracle. What amazes me above all is its originality...' Schoenberg was equally impressed. On receipt of the printed score he thanked Webern for the 'fabulous piece.' Today theorists recognize the Quartet as a masterpiece… Read More

Leipsic: Breitkopf & Härtel [PN 94], 1802. Folio. Unbound, as issued. Preserved in a modern full dark green cloth folder with black leather label gilt to spine. [1] (title), 2-13; 9; 8; 8; 8 pp. Engraved. Early signature to title. Slightly browned throughout; repairs to spine of first violin part with slight paper loss. First Edition. Rare. LvBWV v.1 , p. 173. Hirsch IV, 267. Dorfmüller-Weinhold, p. 211. Hoboken 2, 153. "Between the Op. 18 Quartets and those of Op. 59 lie about six or seven years and the 'Eroica.' A whole world, in Beethoven's terms... The bridge between the two worlds is built of works other than quartets, and the only piece of chamber music for strings belonging to this interim stage is the splendid Quintet in C, Op. 29 (with two violas), which lies nearer to the first than to the second period. This work, which may be in some ways regarded as a crown to Op. 18, is still shamefully neglected. As a whole it has greater breadth and economy of line than even the F major Quartet,… Read More

Milano: Giovanni Ricordi [PNs 16221-16241], 1844. Oblong folio. Mid-tan leather-backed marbled boards, spine with decorative gilt rules. 1f. (title within decorative blue border), [i] (table of contents with plate numbers), [i] (named cast list), 3-229, [i] (blank) pp. Title, table of contents, and cast list typeset, music engraved. Each number with its own plate number, price, and secondary pagination. Cast list includes the names of the singers for the opera's premiere. Page 56 blank (and unpaginated). Binding quite rubbed and worn; slightly shaken. Title slightly foxed; occasional light soiling and wear to blank margins; worming, primarily to blank margins; some tears; small tear to lower blank margin of pp. 217-218 repaired; tape repair to blank verso of final leaf, not seriously affecting music to recto. Quite a nice copy overall. First complete edition, first issue. Scarce. Hopkinson 41A(a). Chusid p. 63. Catalogo Ricordi online. Ernani, to a libretto by Francesco Maria Piave after Victor… Read More

Milano: Tito di Gio. Ricordi [PNs 34681-34715], 1863. Folio. 19th century quarter dark red morocco with red textured boards. 1f. (recto title, verso blank), 1f. (recto named cast list, verso index of 35 numbers), [3] (blank), 4-315 (music), [i] (blank) pp. Title, cast list, and contents typeset; music engraved. Without publisher's blindstamp. With separate caption title, price, imprint, and pagination to each number; continuous pagination to lower outer corners. Named cast includes Barbot as Leonora, Graziani as Don Carlo di Vargas, Tamberlick as Don Alvaro, Nantier-Didiée as Preziosilla, Angelini as Padre Guardiano, and de Bassini as Fra Melitone. Binding worn and shaken; head and tail of spine frayed; tears to foot of spine; front endpaper lacking inner corners and with music seller's handstamp; hinge split following second leaf. Minor foxing; some minor staining to lower edges throughout; tear to lower margin of pp. 297-98; pp. 314-15 partially detached. First complete edition, first issue… Read More

Paris: Léon Escudier [PNs L.E. 1500.; L.E. 1500. (1-4, 6-9, 11, 14); L.E. 1501. (1-3); L.E. 1504 (4).], 1855. Folio. Quarter contemporary dark green textured cloth with dark green pebbled paper boards, blind rules to spine, titling gilt. 1f. (recto title engraved by A. Vialon with the names of four of Verdi's operas printed within decorative borders, verso blank), [1] (named cast list and table of contents), 2-415, [i] (blank) pp. Engraved. Named cast includes Cruvelli, Sannier, Gueymard, Bonnehée, Obin, Boulo, Loenig, Marié, Coulon, and Guignot. Publisher's handstamp to lower margin of title. Binding somewhat worn and rubbed; endpapers browned. Occasional light foxing, soiling, and bleeding; several corners slightly creased; small tear to lower margin of pp. 55-56 with archival tape repair, not affecting music; several pages with minor annotations in pencil. A very attractive copy overall. First Edition of the first version of the opera. Hopkinson 56A(a). Chusid p. 170. Les Vêpres… Read More

Benois, Alexandre 1870-1960. Watercolour and pencil on laid paper with partial watermark "MBM." 320 x 240 mm. Signed by the artist with initials and dated 1932 in pencil at lower left. With pencilled notes in Benois's hand. Very slightly soiled; 35 mm. tear to blank right margin repaired; remnants of mounting paper to upper corners of verso. Possibly a preparatory drawing for the Tsaritsa's costume. Rimsky-Korsakov's last opera, Coq d'Or (The Golden Cockerel) was first performed in Moscow at the Solodovnikov Theatre (Sergey Ivanovich Zimin's private opera company), on September 24/October 7, 1909. It is in a prologue, three acts, and an epilogue by Nikolay Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov to a libretto by Vladimir Nikolayevich Bel'sky after the eponymous imitation folk tale in verse by Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin, based in turn on 'The House of the Weathercock' and 'Legend of the Arabian Astrologer' from The Alhambra by Washington Irving. "The Golden Cockerel is the only one of Rimsky- Korsakov's… Read More

Paris: sans nom, 1890. Livre. Assez bon. broché. Dédicacé par l'auteur. Edition originale. In-folio. Paris, sans nom, 1890. 38 x 29 cm, in-folio, (6) 35 pp., broché sous couverture rempliée et imprimée de papier parcheminé, portefeuille moderne de pleine toile noire, pièce de titre. Edition originale de la partition, tirée à 150 exemplaires. Celui-ci l'un des 50 exemplaires de tête sur Hollande (n° 35) enrichi, sous la justification, d'un ENVOI autographe signé de Debussy au compositeur et critique musical Gaston Carraud. Rare. La fragile couverture est défraîchie (pertes de papier, dos absent)..

Sonate a Vilolino e Violone o Cimbalo. Dedicate all Altezza Serenissima Electorale di Sofia Charlotta Electrice di Brandenburgo. Parte Prima [Parte Seconde Preludii Allemande Correnti Gighe Sarabande Gavotte e Follia]. Opera Quinta.Hardcover. Fine. Engraved frontispiece by P. P. Bouche after Antonio Meloni tipped-in. (The frontispiece was issued with the second impression, but was given gratis to buyers of the first impression.) Oblong Folio. Original contemporary full brown reverse calf leather binding, spine with 4 raised bands and red gilt lettered morocco label on front cover. London: Sold by John Walsh (1700). First English Edition. First edition printed outside Italy, probably very shortly after the first Rome edition. First Impression. (Bibliography of Musical Works by John Walsh. #427, page 97). In two parts, with title page of the second part present. Pages engraved throughout. One of the most famous publications of violin music. Corelli was the iconic point of reference for all the… Read More

Executed in ink, pencil, gouache, and silver paint on wove paper. Unsigned, but with monogrammatic handstamp to lower left corner. With annotations in ink in Russian relative to various parts of the costume. 13.125" x 8.75" (332 x 222 mm.). Slightly worn and soiled; some edge tears and repairs; upper right corner with erasure resulting in minor paper loss. Korovine designed costumes for productions of Russian operas including Borodin's Prince Igor, Mussorgsky's Khovanshchina, and Rimsky-Korsakov's Sadko and Le Coq d'Or. "Konstantine Korovine is one of the most famous of Russia's twentieth-century stage designers ... [He] made his debut as a theatrical painter in 1885 when he executed the sets and costumes for the production of Snegurochka at Savva Mamontov's Private Opera (after Vasnetsov's designs) and, thereafter, he emerged rapidly as an independent stage designer - decorating, according to one souce, 80 operas, 37 ballets and 17 dramas during his lifetime. Korovine brought to the Russian stage… Read More

Newbury Port: Printed & sold by the Author in Newbury Port & by most Booksellers in Boston, 1771. Small octavo. Newly bound in full dark brown panelled calf with spine in blindruled compartments with dark red title label gilt. 1f. (recto title within decorative border, verso "The Name of the Notes," "Lesson for Tuning the Voice," and "The Table"), 18 pp. Engraved throughout. With 62 compositions, primarily for 3 voices but some for 2 and 4, textless, no attributions, one traced to an American source (Psalm 100 New), 55 traced to non-American sources, 6 unidentified, 33 in the core repertory. Tunes in order of appearance: Putney; Morning Hymn; Rickmansworth; St. Helens; Norwich; Sutton; St. Martins New; Farnham; Dunchurch; Trinity; Worksop; Barby; St. Patrick's; Portsmouth; Landaff; Wells; Newbury Port; Orange; Gilford; Little Malborough[!]; New York; Bromsgrove; Epsom; Strowdwater; Colchester New; Hexham; Plymouth; Cambridge; Stanes; Egham; Ely; St. Anns; York; London New; Fareham; Evning[!]… Read More

An original, framed, four-sided piece of Mirage Music Ltd. sheet music for the 1968 Rolling Stones song 'Jumpin Jack Flash' by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. It is a rare piece of sheet music, but here all the rarer with Mick Jaggers signature. I can trace no other signed example.This was previously owned by one of the Biba Girls, the iconic 60s fashion shop and this is where is was signed by Mick Jagger.