Operas of Clotilda, Hydaspes and Almahide [title from binding]: Songs in the New Opera, Call'd Clotilda ... &c. [With:] Songs in the New Opera Call'd Hydaspes ... &c. [And:] Songs in the New Opera Call'd Almahide. The Songs done in Italian & English as they are Perform'd at ye Queens Theatre
Conti, Francesco Bartolomeo, Francesco Mancini & John Jacob Heidegger
London. Printed for & Sold by John Walsh ... & P. Randall ... and I. Hare. 1709 / 1710 / 1710
A beautiful sammelband of first editions of three early works of the Italian Opera in England, including the first and second - 'Almahide' and 'Hydaspes' - sung entirely in Italian, all first performed at Sir John Vanbrugh's Queen's Theatre in the Haymarket during the reign of Queen Anne.
After Sir John Vanbrugh sold the Queen's Theatre in 1708, he had designed and built it himself and ran it initially with William Congreve and Thomas Betterton before buying them out and before his own preoccupation with the building of Blenheim forced him in turn to dispose of it, the theatre became the home of Italian opera in London. 'Clotilda', the first work in the present sammelband, adapted as a pasticcio by the Swiss impresario John Jacob Heidegger (1666 - 1749) from Francesco Conti's original opera, was performed at least seven times in 1709. The second work, 'Hydaspes', although chronologically the third, was the second opera to be sung entirely in Italian on the London stage and without the intermezzi in English. The opera was adapted from Francesco Mancini's 'Gl'amanti Generosi' possibly by Johann Christian Pepusch but certainly with the aid of the castrato Nicolini (Nicolo Grimaldi) who performed the title role. 'Hydaspes' had its premiere on March 23rd 1710 and was performed twelve times aided by the sensational scene where the eponymous 'Idaspe' strangles a lion while naked; in reality Nicolini wore a flesh suit but the sight must have been, at the least, diverting.
The third work, 'Almahide', based by Heidegger on Ariosti's 'Amor Tra Nemici' and originally with a libretto taken from Dryden (translated into Italian and then retranslated) featured arias taken from two works by Boconcini but was the first opera to be sung throughout in Italian and by Italian singers with the only English songs being by comic intermezzos. From its premiere on January 10th 1710 it ran for fourteen nights and featured in its cast two women and three castrati (see below).
This sammelband is also of great interest in terms of its printing, not least the use of pewter plates and punches, more versatile than the traditional copper for the production of detailed musical notation. The prolific John Walsh, who printed a very large number of musical books (Smith in his bibliography lists over 600 issued between 1695 and 1720), was an innovator in the field, likely the first to make use of pewter and a proponent and developer too of the passe-partout title. The present volume features pictorial passe-partout half-titles (all in this sammelband feature some contemporary colouring by hand) - the same for each work with the putti supporting the Royal arms of Queen Anne, the winged female trumpeter with the banner with motto, the seated Euterpe (the muse of music) with music and musical instruments - but with a second plate giving a different title for each; for 'Hydaspes' the title is supplied in manuscript and the passe-partout title is that for another work 'The Additional Songs … in Hydaspes' although the index verso appears to be correct. The titles too are engraved passe-partout versions with matching details for each save for the second plate added for the title. Also of note is that for the earlier operas, i.e. 'Clotilda' and 'Almahide', the sheets are all printed recto (or verso) only, while for 'Hydaspes' the sheets are all printed recto and verso. These differences as well as differences in the engraving style of each of the operas presented provide interesting contrasts and offer an opportunity for further complementary study.
Finally, in terms of the provenance of the volume, there is a musical connection, and a Scottish one, also: Ebenezer Oliphant, 7th of Condie, whose bookplate is found on the front pastedown had a Strathspey reel composed in his honour by John Bowie, the fiddler-composer, teacher and instrument tuner of Perth. Titled 'Mr. Oliphant of Condie's Welcome Home', the reel was published in Bowie's 'Collection of Strathspey Reels & Country Dances &c.' issued c.1789, and to which Oliphant was a subscriber; 'The Green Shades of Gask' that was also included references too the Clan Oliphant.
All of these operas are scarce on the market; although all are represented in institutions, 'Almahide' is the rarest with Hunter reporting only nine locations.
‘This was the first opera performed in England, wholly in Italian, and by Italian singers; who were Nicolini, Valentini, Cassani, Margarita, and Isabella Girardeau’. (Charles Burney).
'One of the most fascinating but little-studied aspects of dominance achieved by engraving is the use by Walsh and others of the passe-partout technique of printing title-pages. The technique involved the creation of title-page plates with a blank area within which title information could be printed from a second plate or supplied in manuscript. Different works thus have the same passe-partout title-page. Such title-pages are distinguished from engraved or woodcut borders in that they carry some pertinent information, such as the imprint. Engraved title-pages were not that unusual during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries but they were nearly always cut for a particular book [Alfred Forbes Johnson in 'A Catalogue of Engraved and Etched English Title-Pages Down to the Death of William Faithorne', 1934]. Plates were occasionally reworked for use in second and subsequent editions but publishers do not seem to have considered adapting them for passe-partout use. The condition necessary for the emergence of the passe-partout title-page as a regular feature was the frequent publishing of similar items. Thus it was in maps and music that the passe-partout technique was first established.' (David Hunter).
[Hunter 53 (59), 69 (69) & 64 (64); see David Hunter's 'Opera and Song Books Published in England 1703 - 1726: A Descriptive Bibliography', London, 1997; see also David Hunter's 'The Printing of Opera and Song Books in England, 1703 - 1726' in the Music Library Association's 'Notes', 1989; Smith 296, 354, 344; see William C. Smith's 'A Bibliography of the Musical Works Published by John Walsh During the Years 1695 - 1720', London, 1948].
After Sir John Vanbrugh sold the Queen's Theatre in 1708, he had designed and built it himself and ran it initially with William Congreve and Thomas Betterton before buying them out and before his own preoccupation with the building of Blenheim forced him in turn to dispose of it, the theatre became the home of Italian opera in London. 'Clotilda', the first work in the present sammelband, adapted as a pasticcio by the Swiss impresario John Jacob Heidegger (1666 - 1749) from Francesco Conti's original opera, was performed at least seven times in 1709. The second work, 'Hydaspes', although chronologically the third, was the second opera to be sung entirely in Italian on the London stage and without the intermezzi in English. The opera was adapted from Francesco Mancini's 'Gl'amanti Generosi' possibly by Johann Christian Pepusch but certainly with the aid of the castrato Nicolini (Nicolo Grimaldi) who performed the title role. 'Hydaspes' had its premiere on March 23rd 1710 and was performed twelve times aided by the sensational scene where the eponymous 'Idaspe' strangles a lion while naked; in reality Nicolini wore a flesh suit but the sight must have been, at the least, diverting.
The third work, 'Almahide', based by Heidegger on Ariosti's 'Amor Tra Nemici' and originally with a libretto taken from Dryden (translated into Italian and then retranslated) featured arias taken from two works by Boconcini but was the first opera to be sung throughout in Italian and by Italian singers with the only English songs being by comic intermezzos. From its premiere on January 10th 1710 it ran for fourteen nights and featured in its cast two women and three castrati (see below).
This sammelband is also of great interest in terms of its printing, not least the use of pewter plates and punches, more versatile than the traditional copper for the production of detailed musical notation. The prolific John Walsh, who printed a very large number of musical books (Smith in his bibliography lists over 600 issued between 1695 and 1720), was an innovator in the field, likely the first to make use of pewter and a proponent and developer too of the passe-partout title. The present volume features pictorial passe-partout half-titles (all in this sammelband feature some contemporary colouring by hand) - the same for each work with the putti supporting the Royal arms of Queen Anne, the winged female trumpeter with the banner with motto, the seated Euterpe (the muse of music) with music and musical instruments - but with a second plate giving a different title for each; for 'Hydaspes' the title is supplied in manuscript and the passe-partout title is that for another work 'The Additional Songs … in Hydaspes' although the index verso appears to be correct. The titles too are engraved passe-partout versions with matching details for each save for the second plate added for the title. Also of note is that for the earlier operas, i.e. 'Clotilda' and 'Almahide', the sheets are all printed recto (or verso) only, while for 'Hydaspes' the sheets are all printed recto and verso. These differences as well as differences in the engraving style of each of the operas presented provide interesting contrasts and offer an opportunity for further complementary study.
Finally, in terms of the provenance of the volume, there is a musical connection, and a Scottish one, also: Ebenezer Oliphant, 7th of Condie, whose bookplate is found on the front pastedown had a Strathspey reel composed in his honour by John Bowie, the fiddler-composer, teacher and instrument tuner of Perth. Titled 'Mr. Oliphant of Condie's Welcome Home', the reel was published in Bowie's 'Collection of Strathspey Reels & Country Dances &c.' issued c.1789, and to which Oliphant was a subscriber; 'The Green Shades of Gask' that was also included references too the Clan Oliphant.
All of these operas are scarce on the market; although all are represented in institutions, 'Almahide' is the rarest with Hunter reporting only nine locations.
‘This was the first opera performed in England, wholly in Italian, and by Italian singers; who were Nicolini, Valentini, Cassani, Margarita, and Isabella Girardeau’. (Charles Burney).
'One of the most fascinating but little-studied aspects of dominance achieved by engraving is the use by Walsh and others of the passe-partout technique of printing title-pages. The technique involved the creation of title-page plates with a blank area within which title information could be printed from a second plate or supplied in manuscript. Different works thus have the same passe-partout title-page. Such title-pages are distinguished from engraved or woodcut borders in that they carry some pertinent information, such as the imprint. Engraved title-pages were not that unusual during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries but they were nearly always cut for a particular book [Alfred Forbes Johnson in 'A Catalogue of Engraved and Etched English Title-Pages Down to the Death of William Faithorne', 1934]. Plates were occasionally reworked for use in second and subsequent editions but publishers do not seem to have considered adapting them for passe-partout use. The condition necessary for the emergence of the passe-partout title-page as a regular feature was the frequent publishing of similar items. Thus it was in maps and music that the passe-partout technique was first established.' (David Hunter).
[Hunter 53 (59), 69 (69) & 64 (64); see David Hunter's 'Opera and Song Books Published in England 1703 - 1726: A Descriptive Bibliography', London, 1997; see also David Hunter's 'The Printing of Opera and Song Books in England, 1703 - 1726' in the Music Library Association's 'Notes', 1989; Smith 296, 354, 344; see William C. Smith's 'A Bibliography of the Musical Works Published by John Walsh During the Years 1695 - 1720', London, 1948].
[60 leaves: titles + index + 4, '0', 52; 39 leaves: titles, second title with index verso, (blank recto) + 1 - 72; 71 leaves: titles + index + 4, 64]. 3 vols. in 1. Folio. (378 x 230 mm). Engraved pictorial passe-partout half-title to each work with putti and Euterpe and the arms of Queen Anne, each with contemporary colour by hand, engraved passe-partout title to each work, engraved index leaves and engraved musical scores throughout, 'Clotilda' with the leaves foliated at upper right or left, printed recto or verso only and presented as spreads or discrete single leaves, with titles above and integral musical directions; 'Hydaspes' with the engraved passe-partout half-title but with the title supplied in manuscript, incorrect engraved passe-partout title (see below) with correct (?) index with advertisement verso and the overture and whole vocal score engraved recto and verso;' Almahide' with engraved passe-partout half-title, engraved passe-partout title, leaf with engraved index and the overture and vocal score printed recto or verso only and presented as spreads or discrete single leaves foliated throughout with Italian text and English translation beneath. Contemporary panelled calf, boards with decorative roll tool border to enclose central gilt ruled panel with fleurons at corners, gilt title direct in blind to central compartment of front panel, smooth spine with gilt floral tools within gilt decorative rules, a.e.g.
#48592
