Popular Cuban Music 80 revised and corrected compositions by Grenet, Emilio

Folio (ca. 356 x 278 mm.). Unbound. 9 leaves notated in pencil on one side of each leaf of 18-stave AZTEC C-18 music manuscript paper. A working manuscript, with erasures, alterations and cancellations. Together with: A copy of the published full score of the movement, i.e., pp. 107-138, and a 1-1/2 page printed commentary by the composer discussing the background of the work and briefly describing the music: "I should say, however, that as I was working on the last movement, I found myself thinking as much about the fox as about the hunting hounds. This, coupled with the fact that I recently acquired a recording of background music from the old movie serials that I used to go to as a kid, probably accounts for the quite ungentlemanly, almost lurid quality of the chase music." "Thurber's Dogs was commissioned for the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra of Columbus and the Thurber House to commemorate the 100th birthday anniversary of author James Thurber. It was completed on August 13, 1994. The first… Read More

Wien-Leipzig: Universal-Edition [PN U.E. 10.050], 1932. Small folio. Original publisher's wrappers. 1f., 13 pp. Publisher's catalogue dated July 1932 to verso of lower wrapper. Autograph inscription from the composer to title in black ink: "Dr. David Bach herzlichs überreicht von seinem Webern Nov. 1932." From the collection of the pianist and teacher Jacob Lateiner (1928-2010), with a note laid in from the distinguished music antiquarian Albi Rosenthal (1914-2004): "for Jacob - as a souvenir of his first (and frustrating) visit to Otto Haas - Albi, London, 12 May 1967." Wrappers slightly worn and soiled. First Edition. Moldenhauer pp. 714-15. "Alban Berg repeatedly assured the composer of his special admiration for this work. On 19 August 1932 he wrote: 'This Quartet is a miracle. What amazes me above all is its originality...' Schoenberg was equally impressed. On receipt of the printed score he thanked Webern for the 'fabulous piece.' Today theorists recognize the Quartet as a masterpiece… Read More

Leipsic: Breitkopf & Härtel [PN 94], 1802. Folio. Unbound, as issued. Preserved in a modern full dark green cloth folder with black leather label gilt to spine. [1] (title), 2-13; 9; 8; 8; 8 pp. Engraved. Early signature to title. Slightly browned throughout; repairs to spine of first violin part with slight paper loss. First Edition. Rare. LvBWV v.1 , p. 173. Hirsch IV, 267. Dorfmüller-Weinhold, p. 211. Hoboken 2, 153. "Between the Op. 18 Quartets and those of Op. 59 lie about six or seven years and the 'Eroica.' A whole world, in Beethoven's terms... The bridge between the two worlds is built of works other than quartets, and the only piece of chamber music for strings belonging to this interim stage is the splendid Quintet in C, Op. 29 (with two violas), which lies nearer to the first than to the second period. This work, which may be in some ways regarded as a crown to Op. 18, is still shamefully neglected. As a whole it has greater breadth and economy of line than even the F major Quartet,… Read More

Milano: Tito di Gio. Ricordi [PNs 34681-34715], 1863. Folio. 19th century quarter dark red morocco with red textured boards. 1f. (recto title, verso blank), 1f. (recto named cast list, verso index of 35 numbers), [3] (blank), 4-315 (music), [i] (blank) pp. Title, cast list, and contents typeset; music engraved. Without publisher's blindstamp. With separate caption title, price, imprint, and pagination to each number; continuous pagination to lower outer corners. Named cast includes Barbot as Leonora, Graziani as Don Carlo di Vargas, Tamberlick as Don Alvaro, Nantier-Didiée as Preziosilla, Angelini as Padre Guardiano, and de Bassini as Fra Melitone. Binding worn and shaken; head and tail of spine frayed; tears to foot of spine; front endpaper lacking inner corners and with music seller's handstamp; hinge split following second leaf. Minor foxing; some minor staining to lower edges throughout; tear to lower margin of pp. 297-98; pp. 314-15 partially detached. First complete edition, first issue… Read More

Paris: Léon Escudier [PNs L.E. 1500.; L.E. 1500. (1-4, 6-9, 11, 14); L.E. 1501. (1-3); L.E. 1504 (4).], 1855. Folio. Quarter contemporary dark green textured cloth with dark green pebbled paper boards, blind rules to spine, titling gilt. 1f. (recto title engraved by A. Vialon with the names of four of Verdi's operas printed within decorative borders, verso blank), [1] (named cast list and table of contents), 2-415, [i] (blank) pp. Engraved. Named cast includes Cruvelli, Sannier, Gueymard, Bonnehée, Obin, Boulo, Loenig, Marié, Coulon, and Guignot. Publisher's handstamp to lower margin of title. Binding somewhat worn and rubbed; endpapers browned. Occasional light foxing, soiling, and bleeding; several corners slightly creased; small tear to lower margin of pp. 55-56 with archival tape repair, not affecting music; several pages with minor annotations in pencil. A very attractive copy overall. First Edition of the first version of the opera. Hopkinson 56A(a). Chusid p. 170. Les Vêpres… Read More

1 page. Octavo (ca. 168 x 122 mm). Dated Thursday evening. On mourning stationery. In French (with translation). "I have to attend [?Louis] Laloy's premiere; naturally that is tomorrow, on Friday ... Would you change the enclosed tickets for Saturday? Thanks again ..." Slightly worn and browned; creased at folds and upper outer corner of final blank folio; small rust stain from paper clip to inner margin of final folio, not affecting text. "One of the most important musicians of his time, [Debussy's] harmonic innovations had a profound influence on generations of composers. He made a decisive move away from Wagnerism in his only complete opera Pelléas et Mélisande, and in his works for piano and for orchestra he created new genres and revealed a range of timbre and colour which indicated a highly original musical aesthetic." François Lesure and Roy Howat in Grove Music Online. "Laloy [1874-1944] was a noted defender of contemporary French music and was a close friend of, and mediator between,… Read More

Milano: Giovanni Ricordi [PNs 16221-16241], 1844. Oblong folio. Mid-tan leather-backed marbled boards, spine with decorative gilt rules. 1f. (title within decorative blue border), [i] (table of contents with plate numbers), [i] (named cast list), 3-229, [i] (blank) pp. Title, table of contents, and cast list typeset, music engraved. Each number with its own plate number, price, and secondary pagination. Cast list includes the names of the singers for the opera's premiere. Page 56 blank (and unpaginated). Binding quite rubbed and worn; slightly shaken. Title slightly foxed; occasional light soiling and wear to blank margins; worming, primarily to blank margins; some tears; small tear to lower blank margin of pp. 217-218 repaired; tape repair to blank verso of final leaf, not seriously affecting music to recto. Quite a nice copy overall. First complete edition, first issue. Scarce. Hopkinson 41A(a). Chusid p. 63. Catalogo Ricordi online. Ernani, to a libretto by Francesco Maria Piave after Victor… Read More

Benois, Alexandre 1870-1960. Watercolour and pencil on laid paper with partial watermark "MBM." 320 x 240 mm. Signed by the artist with initials and dated 1932 in pencil at lower left. With pencilled notes in Benois's hand. Very slightly soiled; 35 mm. tear to blank right margin repaired; remnants of mounting paper to upper corners of verso. Possibly a preparatory drawing for the Tsaritsa's costume. Rimsky-Korsakov's last opera, Coq d'Or (The Golden Cockerel) was first performed in Moscow at the Solodovnikov Theatre (Sergey Ivanovich Zimin's private opera company), on September 24/October 7, 1909. It is in a prologue, three acts, and an epilogue by Nikolay Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov to a libretto by Vladimir Nikolayevich Bel'sky after the eponymous imitation folk tale in verse by Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin, based in turn on 'The House of the Weathercock' and 'Legend of the Arabian Astrologer' from The Alhambra by Washington Irving. "The Golden Cockerel is the only one of Rimsky- Korsakov's 15… Read More

BERLIOZ, Hector (1803-1869)
Autograph letter signed "Hector Berlioz" to his brother in law Camille Pal
N.p, 13th July 1860, 2 p. 1/2 in-8
Few pinholes without affecting the text, usual period fold marks
Beautiful letter from Berlioz on the preparations of Les Troyens


"Mon cher Camille
J'ai reçu les cinq cents francs que vous m'envoyez de la part de mon fermier du Jacques. Merci de votre constante exactitude. Voilà mes nouvelles : Louis vient de subir avec succès ses examens, il est reçu Capitaine au long cours. Il cherche maintenant un navire qu'il trouvera sans doute à Marseille.
Je souffre de jour en jour davantage de ma névralgie, il y a des heures de douleurs à peu près intolérables. Combien cela va-t-il durer encore ? En tout cas, j'ai mis toutes mes affaires musicales et autres dans un ordre parfait. Je vais encore à Bade pour y diriger le festival ; et je prendrai les eaux de Luxeuil auparavant.
Pour les Troyens, ils attendent que leur salle soit construite ; on y travaille sur la… Read More

New York: Columbia Theater Associates of Columbia University, 1950 Original printed tri-fold playbill, with a typed slip for a replacement cast member laid-in; playbill is displayed in a two-sided black glass frame; sale also includes an original ticket stub tipped-in. Presentation copy from Langston Hughes, along with inscriptions from other cast and production members (Muriel Rahn who played Cora Lewis and Jan Meyerowitz who wrote the music). In 1949, Hughes reworked his pet thesis of the "tragic mulatto" from his 1928 play "Mulatto" into an opera, "The Barrier," the music written by modern composer, Jan Meyerowitz. The opera was first produced in the Brander Matthews Hall at Columbia University in 1950 and directed by Milton Smith. The playbill reproduces Hughes? thoughts on his libretto, "It concerns the bitter wall of color between the inhabitants of Albamar Plantation in contemporary Georgia, Colonel Thomas Norwood, his brown housekeeper, Cora Lewis, and their… Read More