Beschreibung:

ITALY -- 17th CENTURY. Music manuscript, 'Scelta di Recitativi', comprising melodies, words and continuo for approximately 67 recitatives, apparently in a single fluent 17th-century hand, with occasional indications of tempo and dynamics, title on vellum decorated with foliate and floral motifs in pen, ink and liquid gold with the arms of Giovanna Bourbon del Monte, one full page drawing in the manner of Stefano Della Bella depicting five soldiers in a wooded landscape, a besieged fortress in the distance, one large initial capital decorated with flowers and figural motifs in pen, ink and liquid gold, 42 initial capitals with decorative pen-strokes and some with grotesques and allegorical symbols, four with colours or liquid gold, 199 leaves, oblong 8vo (135 x 280mm) , blanks, index (apparently incomplete, listing 42 first-lines), (acidification of ink causing losses to some decorated capitals; light browning and staining in places). Mid-late 17th-century Roman maroon morocco gilt by the workshop of Gregorio and Giovanni Andreoli for Giovanna Bourbon del Monte, boards tooled with post-fanfare design of black-painted strapwork, central octagonal cartouches enclosing the arms of Giovanna Bourbon del Monte, enclosed by mask, putto, and floral tools, surrounded by the initials 'GDM' and 4 fleurs-de-lys, compartments densely tooled in gilt and silver, central field surrounded by tools of putti, flowers and fleurs-de-lys, dog-tooth border with fan cornerpieces, remains of clasps on three sides of upper board, spine diaper-patterned with black-painted strapwork, gauffered gilt edges (silver oxidised, splits on joints, cracking across boards, rubbed, worming on spine). Provenance : Giovanna Bourbon del Monte (binding, and by descent). A HIGHLY ATTRACTIVE COLLECTION OF RECITATIVES; A MANUSCRIPT FROM THE MEDICI COURT CIRCLE, bound by the workshop of the Andreoli brothers, binders to popes and noble bibliophiles. The tools that form the fan cornerpieces are those used in a binding executed on a manuscript dated 1644 for Pope Innocent X (r. 1644-1655; cf. Legatura romana barocca 1565-1700 (Rome: 1991), no.48) and the putto tool is employed on a binding for Pope Alexander VII (r. 1655-1667; cf. J. Ruysschaert Les frères Andreoli (Vatican City: 1992), no. 22). Few of the recitatives are attributed to any composer: exceptions are 'Dal cielo d'un volto coll' arco' (f.117v), attributed to 'S. Francesco Battag a'; 'Ecco speranze mie fallaci e vane' (f.124), described as 'Recitativo del S r Franc[es]co Maria Carlini'; 'Sian mille pure mille' (f.150v), 'Del S. Giovan i'; and 'Lasciatemi dormire' (f.161), 'Del Sig. Domenico Anglesi'. Equally rare is any indication of context, although the splendidly decorated 'Ferma ferma quel ferro' (f.26b) is described as the 'Lamento del Valdestain', 'Uccidetemi pur fieri tormenti' (f.168v) as 'Lamento di Fileno', and 'Mezza trà riva [?] e monte' (f.184v) as 'Lamento d'Olimpia'. The compositions of Domenico Anglesi (c.1610-15 to after 28 August 1669) are for the most part lost, and the present recitative appears to be an addition to the slender known oeuvre of 'one of the most progressive and rewarding Italian songwriters of the period' (Grove). Anglesi was instrumentalist and composer to the Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1638; this, together with the binding by the Andreoli brothers' workshop (which executed at least 3 bindings for members of the de Medici family, cf. Foot Davis Gift I, pp. 333-336) and the drawing in the manner of the Medici court artists, connect the volume closely to the circles of the Medici court in the mid-17th Century.