Add MS 71544

JOHN LENTON: ‘Instrumentall Musick for New Yeares Day’; 1699. 1st treble part only. In the hand of the same scribe throughout: the fact that the end of the music (f. 8) is signed ‘J: L:’ suggests that the manuscript may well be autograph. The title page reads: ‘Instrumentall Musick For New Yeares day 1699. By John Lenton, Composer to his Ma[jes]tie’. Dedication (f. 1v) ‘To The Most Illustrious Princess, Her Royall Highness Princess Ann of Denmark, The Author humbly Dedicates’. The music comprises twelve numbered movements, some of them having titles, as follows: [1.] ‘Overture’; 2. ‘Minuett’; 3. ‘A Slow Aire’; 7. ‘Fuge Tune’; 8. ‘Minuett’; 9. ‘Harp Tune Slow’; 10. ‘Hornpipe’; 11. ‘Duke of Gloucester’s March’; 12. ‘Trumpett Minuett’. Lenton played in the King’s Private Musick from 1685 until 1718, and composed various pieces of incidental music and consort music. His The Gentleman’s Diversion ([publisher unknown], 1693), known in only one incomplete copy (Cardiff Public Library, M.C.1.90), is thought to be the first violin tutor in any language. This collection of instrumental music, written for Anne, Princess of Denmark, later Queen of England, is apparently not known from other sources. See M. Tilmouth, ‘Lenton, John’, The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. S. Sadie (1980). Sold by J. & J. Lubrano, 1993. Presented by Mrs E. C. Plow, 8 Nov. 1993.

Paper; ff. 8. ff. 2v-8 paginated 1-12 by the scribe. Stubs of 3 folios remain before f. 1, of one folio between ff. 1 and 2, and of a further 3 folios at the end of the manuscript. Four staves per page. 92 x 195mm. Contemporary binding of full polished morocco with raised bands; decorative gilt stamping on boards and spine, with title ‘1st. TR:’ on both boards. Marbled endpapers. Gilt edges.