Six Suits of Lessons for the Harpsichord Compos'd by Mr. Smith Author of the Opera call'd The Fairies. Opera Terza
- London: Printed for I. Walsh in Catharine Street in the Strand, 1755
London: Printed for I. Walsh in Catharine Street in the Strand, 1755. Oblong folio. Modern half dark brown calf with marbled boards, spine in decorative compartments gilt, dark red title label gilt. 1f. (recto title, verso blank), 41, [i] (blank) pp.
With figured bass in contemporary manuscript ink to pp. 10-11 (the Allegro of Lesson II); occasional pencil markings.
Binding slightly worn, rubbed, and bumped. Moderately browned; some signs of wear; occasional foxing and staining; title worn and archivally reinforced with tissue to verso of outer margin; paper repairs to lower outer corners of final two leaves with outer margin of final leaf archivally reinforced. In very good condition overall. First Edition, first issue. Smith & Humphries 1377. BUC p. 959. RISM S3679 (giving precedence to the second issue).
Smith, an English composer of German birth, was the son of Johann Christoph Schmidt (John Christopher Smith Sr., d. 1763), Handel's first copyist in London; the younger Smith became Handel's secretary, musical assistant, and amanuensis in Handel's later years when blindness hampered the great composer's writing and conducting activities.
"Smith, according to Burney, was a ‘studious and cultivated man, and much esteemed by many of the first people in the kingdom.' " Barbara Small in Grove Music Online
Smith's harpsichord suites, replete with fashionable galant melodies, ornaments, and syncopation, as well as athletic effects like hand-crossing and rapid exchanges of the hands, were clearly influenced by Handel, Rameau, and Domenico Scarlatti. He succeeds at creating imaginative and original keyboard works, with his influences serving as a jumping off point.
A handsomely printed edition of Smith's lively and creative contribution to galant keyboard literature.
With figured bass in contemporary manuscript ink to pp. 10-11 (the Allegro of Lesson II); occasional pencil markings.
Binding slightly worn, rubbed, and bumped. Moderately browned; some signs of wear; occasional foxing and staining; title worn and archivally reinforced with tissue to verso of outer margin; paper repairs to lower outer corners of final two leaves with outer margin of final leaf archivally reinforced. In very good condition overall. First Edition, first issue. Smith & Humphries 1377. BUC p. 959. RISM S3679 (giving precedence to the second issue).
Smith, an English composer of German birth, was the son of Johann Christoph Schmidt (John Christopher Smith Sr., d. 1763), Handel's first copyist in London; the younger Smith became Handel's secretary, musical assistant, and amanuensis in Handel's later years when blindness hampered the great composer's writing and conducting activities.
"Smith, according to Burney, was a ‘studious and cultivated man, and much esteemed by many of the first people in the kingdom.' " Barbara Small in Grove Music Online
Smith's harpsichord suites, replete with fashionable galant melodies, ornaments, and syncopation, as well as athletic effects like hand-crossing and rapid exchanges of the hands, were clearly influenced by Handel, Rameau, and Domenico Scarlatti. He succeeds at creating imaginative and original keyboard works, with his influences serving as a jumping off point.
A handsomely printed edition of Smith's lively and creative contribution to galant keyboard literature.