[Acante et Céphise ou La Sympathie. Pastoral Héroïque a l'Occasion de la Naissance de Monseigneur le Duc de Bourgogne ... et représentée pour la premiére fois par l'Académie Royale de Musique, le Jeudi 18 Novembre 1751. Prix Treize livres en blanc & quinze livres rélié]. [Condensed score]
- [Paris] , 1751
[Paris], 1751. [Chez l'Auteur ... Boivin ... Leclerc]. Oblong folio. Full contemporary mid-tan calf with blindstamped double-rule to edges of boards, raised bands on spine in decorative compartments gilt, light tan title label, red edges, marbled endpapers. 139, [i] (blank) pp.
With "Acante et Céphyse pastorale, par Rameau" in contemporary manuscript to free front endpaper.
Provenance
Noted collector André Meyer (1884-1974), with "Collection Musicale André Meyer" in blue ink to blank verso of final leaf.
Binding worn, rubbed, and bumped; endpapers worn, with evidence of bookplate to front pastedown having been removed. Occasional minor browning, foxing, staining, and soiling. Lacking title. First Edition. Rare. Lesure p. 525. Sonneck Dramatic Music p. 134. Hirsch II, 761. BUC p. 871. RISM R122.
Acante et Céphise, an opera with a libretto by Marmontel, was composed to celebrate the birth of the Duke of Burgundy, elder brother of the future King Louis XVI. The work was first publicly performed in Paris at the Opéra on 19 November 1751; it may also have been performed the previous evening at Choisy.
"Acante et Céphise is the first French opera in which clarinets were given individual parts. They play in the overture (Feu d'artifice and Fanfare) in the divertissement of Act II, in the entr'acte between Acts II and III which is scored for clarinets and horns only and in the closing contredanse and chorus." Girdlestone p. 460.
The Meyer collection, formed over a period of some 75 years, was one of the most important 20th century collections of printed music, books on music, and musical autographs.
A lifetime first edition of an intriguing work of Rameau, and the first work in the history of French opera to include clarinet in its orchestration.
With "Acante et Céphyse pastorale, par Rameau" in contemporary manuscript to free front endpaper.
Provenance
Noted collector André Meyer (1884-1974), with "Collection Musicale André Meyer" in blue ink to blank verso of final leaf.
Binding worn, rubbed, and bumped; endpapers worn, with evidence of bookplate to front pastedown having been removed. Occasional minor browning, foxing, staining, and soiling. Lacking title. First Edition. Rare. Lesure p. 525. Sonneck Dramatic Music p. 134. Hirsch II, 761. BUC p. 871. RISM R122.
Acante et Céphise, an opera with a libretto by Marmontel, was composed to celebrate the birth of the Duke of Burgundy, elder brother of the future King Louis XVI. The work was first publicly performed in Paris at the Opéra on 19 November 1751; it may also have been performed the previous evening at Choisy.
"Acante et Céphise is the first French opera in which clarinets were given individual parts. They play in the overture (Feu d'artifice and Fanfare) in the divertissement of Act II, in the entr'acte between Acts II and III which is scored for clarinets and horns only and in the closing contredanse and chorus." Girdlestone p. 460.
The Meyer collection, formed over a period of some 75 years, was one of the most important 20th century collections of printed music, books on music, and musical autographs.
A lifetime first edition of an intriguing work of Rameau, and the first work in the history of French opera to include clarinet in its orchestration.