Faramondo an Opera as it is Perform'd at the King's Theatre in the Hay-Market. [HWV 39]. [Full score]

London: Printed for & Sold by I. Walsh, Musick Printer and Instrument maker to his Majesty, at the Harp & Hoboy in Catherie Street in the Strand. No. 633, 1738. Folio. Early half dark brown mottled calf with marbled boards, raised bands on spine with black leather title label gilt. 1f. (recto title, verso blank), 1f. (recto "A Table of Songs," verso blank), 1f. (recto "The Subscribers Names," verso blank), 88 pp. Engraved throughout.

Contemporary manuscript additions to p. 66.

Provenance
Possibly from the collection of noted tea merchant Richard Twining (1749-1824), head of the eponymous English tea company, with contemporary Inscription to free front endpaper "Richard Twining hon[o]r[able] the Gift of his esteem'd Friend Mr. John Hingeston." Also with armorial bookplate of British architect Sir Gilbert Samuel Inglefield (1909-1991) incorporating a lion, shield, crowned helmet, pair of birds, and the motto "The Sun My Compass" to front pastedown.

Binding worn, rubbed, and bumped. Slightly worn; occasional light foxing and soiling; upper margin of p. 56 trimmed to just within platemark. First Edition. Smith p. 25, no. 1. BUC p. 426. RISM H139 and HH139.

Faramondo, an opera in three acts to a libretto anonymously adapted from Apostolo Zeno's Faramondo (1699, Venice) as revised for Francesco Gasparini (1720, Rome), was first performed in London at the King's Theatre on 3 January 1738.

"Handel composed Faramondo between 15 November and 24 December 1737. (He broke off work after completing Act 2 to write the anthem The Ways of Zion do Mourn for the funeral of Queen Caroline.) The libretto is based on the early legendary history of France as elaborated at notorious length in La Calprenède's pseudo-historical romance Pharamond (1661-70). (Pharamond was supposedly king of the Franks from about 420 to 428.) In the original production the distinguished mezzo-soprano castrato Gaetano Majorano, known as Caffarelli, [1710-1783] sang Faramondo." Winton Dean in Grove Music Online

The present edition comprises the overture and arias of the opera. Singers names are given before each aria. The subscribers include the distinguished composer, scholar, and antiquarian Johann Christoph Pepusch (1667-1752), a German who made his career in London.

A lifetime first edition of Handel's noted opera, premiered in 1738 by a cast including the famed castrato Caffarelli.