Suites de Pieces Pour le Clavecin. ... Premier Volume
- London: Printed for & Sold by the Author In Meard's Court near St. Ann's Church Old Soho. And by Thos. Cobb at the Engraving and Printin, 1732
London: Printed for & Sold by the Author In Meard's Court near St. Ann's Church Old Soho. And by Thos. Cobb at the Engraving and Printing Office in Bow Church Yard, 1732. Oblong folio. Modern half light tan leather with marbled boards, dark tan leather title label to spine gilt. 1f. (recto title, verso blank), 1f. (recto dedication to Lady Walpole, verso blank), 2ff. (subscribers list, printed on rectos only), 59, [i] (blank) pp. Engraved throughout.
Subscribers include composers Pietro Castrucci, Willem de Fesch, Maurice Greene, Geo: Frederick Handel Esqr., Chas. Jennings, John Frederick Lampe, Johann Christoph Pepusch, and Peter Prelleur.
Provenance
Noted collector André Meyer, with his handstamp, "Provenant de la collection musicale d'André Meyer Décéde en Mai 1974 F. Meyer Octobre 84," to recto of rear free endpaper and "Collection André Meyer 1884 - †. 10 5.1974" in pencil to verso.
Binding slightly worn. Minor internal wear, browning, and soiling; occasional stains; small tears repaired. First Edition. BUC p. 959. RISM S3680 and SS3680 (2 copies in the U.S., at NYPL Lincoln Center and the Library of Congress).
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.
This is the first publication we have seen with Handel as a subscriber.
Elegantly printed.
Subscribers include composers Pietro Castrucci, Willem de Fesch, Maurice Greene, Geo: Frederick Handel Esqr., Chas. Jennings, John Frederick Lampe, Johann Christoph Pepusch, and Peter Prelleur.
Provenance
Noted collector André Meyer, with his handstamp, "Provenant de la collection musicale d'André Meyer Décéde en Mai 1974 F. Meyer Octobre 84," to recto of rear free endpaper and "Collection André Meyer 1884 - †. 10 5.1974" in pencil to verso.
Binding slightly worn. Minor internal wear, browning, and soiling; occasional stains; small tears repaired. First Edition. BUC p. 959. RISM S3680 and SS3680 (2 copies in the U.S., at NYPL Lincoln Center and the Library of Congress).
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.
This is the first publication we have seen with Handel as a subscriber.
Elegantly printed.