MS Mus. 142

MS Mus. 142. ENGLISH VIOLIN MUSIC; circa 1680. A set of four part-books of suites of chamber and theatre music, comprising two violin parts and two virtually identical bass parts, probably intended for bass viol and theorbo. Each of the four parts, which are now bound together in one volume, is wrapped in a bifolio with the title ‘First Treble [Second Treble, Bass] of 14 Lessons by Mr Baptist In 3 pts And [Mr] Robert Smith’ (ff. 1, 11, 21, 31). Ink, on twelve staves per page. In the same hand throughout; a few minor corrections to accidentals have been made in pencil by a later hand. The movements of each suite are numbered, but otherwise generally untitled, and the key of each suite is written at the start, in the form ‘G #’ etc. All the named composers, with the exception of Lully, were associated with the Twenty-Four Violins of the Chapel Royal. Some of the pieces by Robert Smith are also found in New York Public Library, MS Drexel 3849, and some of those by John Banister in Oxford, Christ Church MS Mus. 1183. A note of the contents on f. iv is in the hand of Vincent Novello. The manuscript subsequently passed to W. H. Cummings, whose bookplate is f. iii. Sold at Sotheby’s, 17 May 1917 (lot 241), and subsequently by F. S. Ellis, whose catalogue entry is pasted to the cover (f. ii). Purchased at Sotheby’s, 21 May 1999 (lot 95).

ff. vi + 40 + 24*. 332 x 208mm. Nineteenth-century half morocco binding.

1. ff. 2, 12, 22, 32. ‘Mr Baptist’ (Jean-Baptiste Lully): suite of three movements (overture, gavotte and minuet) from the tragédie lyrique ‘Cadmus et Hermione’ (1673), in G. A different arrangement from that for the same instruments printed in Ouverture auec tous les airs de L'Opera de Cadmus (Amsterdam: J. P. Heus, 1682). Followed by a second minuet in G, not from ‘Cadmus’.

2. ff. 3, 13, 23, 33. ‘R[obert] S[mith]’: suite in three movements (overture, air and bourrée), in G.

3. ff. 3v-4v, 13v-14v, 23v-24v, 24*, 33v-4v. ‘J[ohn] B[anister]’: suite in seven movements, in G. The second movement is entitled ‘Saraband’ in the first treble part only, and the third movement is entitled ‘R: Ô’ (‘rondo’) in all parts (followed by a minuet, air and two jigs). f. 24* is a pasted-down correction to the first bass part; the corrected version is written in the second bass part.

4. ff. 5, 15, 25, 35. ‘R[obert] S[mith]’: suite in five movements (jig, gavotte, ‘R: Ô’ [rondo], minuet and hornpipe), in G minor.

5. ff. 5v-6v, 15v-16v, 25v-6v, 35v-6v. ‘R[obert] S[mith]’: suite in four movements (prelude, air, jig and minuet), in A minor.

6. ff. 6v-7, 16v-17, 26v-7, 36v-7. ‘Mr [Thomas] Far[mer]’: suite in three movements (overture, minuet and jig), in G.

7. ff. 7v-9v, 17v-19v, 27v-9v, 37v-9v. ‘Mr [John] Len[ton]’: fourteen movements, the first five (‘Pre[lude]’ [so titled in the bass parts], minuet, saraband, Scotch tune and jig) constituting a suite in G and the remainder (overture, two minuets, air, minuet, air, saraband, minuet and hornpipe) a suite in C. The composer’s name is given in the fuller form ‘Mr Lenton’ in the first bass part.