CORELLI, Arcangelo.

Sonate a Violino e Violone o Cimbalo. Dedicate all altezza Serenissima Elettorale di Sofia Carlotta, Elettrice di Brandenburgo ... da Arcangelo Corelli da Fusignano, Opera Quinta. Parte Prima [- Seconda].

[Rome,] Incisa da Gasparo Pietra Santa, [1700]. Oblong folio, ff. [i], 2, pp. 3–68; fine engraved frontispiece by Girolamo Frezza (1659–1741) after Antonio Meloni (d. 1700) of St Cecilia offering music to the emblem of the dedicatee; decorative engraved title to part two by Pietro Cervini on p. 40; some skilful restoration to outer edge of frontispiece, occasional light foxing, but a very good copy in modern half calf gilt; an inserted leaf added in the eighteenth-century contains a manuscript ownership note dated 1742 (partially erased) and subsequent early nineteenth-century manuscript ownership details. First edition, earliest issue (without the additional imprint) of Corelli’s only solo sonatas. One of the finest examples of Italian music publishing.Corelli’s (1653–1713) sonatas made an enormous impact on violin playing and were published in at least forty-two editions during the eighteenth-century alone. Most of these editions, however, appeared outside Italy, for the publication of this beautiful score immediately preceded three-quarters of a century of almost total decline in Italian music publishing.OCLC lists copies at Harvard, Indiana and the Eastman School of Music. RISM C 3800; British Union-Catalogue of Early Music II, p. 220; Hirsch III,164; Sartori, Bibliographia della musica strumentale italiana, 612 (b); Eitner, Quellen-Lexikon III, p. 52.

• GBP 2,800.00 > other currencies
• ordernr.: F1201

• bookseller: Bernard Quaritch Ltd. (GREAT BRITAIN)