17161. [Avant-Garde]. Group of Unusual Avant-Garde Scores
Collection of 18 editions of avant-garde compositions from the 1950's–1960's, including pieces by John Cage, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Morton Feldman, Maurico Kagel, and others. Most of the scores have unusual pictorial or graphic notation, for example scores designed to be read right-side-up and then upside-down (Komorous' Olympia) or graphical scores which can be "read" in an order chosen by the performer (Kasemet's Timepiece.) Some display enormous complexity, as in Kayn's Signals, while others are minimal and pictorial: Kagel's Himmelsmechanik consists of a series of scenery drawings with timed sound effects of wind and weather. Overall a very interesting overview of experiments in musical notation and compositional practice during the post-war avant-garde. Scores of varying sizes, the largest 11.5 x 17.5 inches; overall in fine condition, with a few with slight water damage. Read More...
Boldly penned autograph letter from the important fashion and portrait photographer to journalist Jeff Goldberg: "Dear Jeff, Anything you or 'People' can do around Sept. 7th to 10th (the show opens on the 10th) to help bring people's attention to it would be greatly appreciated by me." N.d.; 2 pp. on Avedon's letterhead, with original envelope postmarked July 2, 1975, and a copy of the press release announcing the new photography department of the Marlborough Gallery in New York and the inaugural exhibition of Richard Avedon's work (2 pp., June 16, 1975). In fine condition. 8 x 10 inches (20.3 x 25.3 cm). Read More...
Signed photograph postcard of the pioneering female aviator, the first woman to fly over the Andes between Chile and Argentina. Bolland is shown standing next to the propeller of her G3 in Mendoza on March 30, 1921, two days before her legendary flight from Mendoza to Santiago. She has signed with a flourish and noted the date and the route of her flight. In very fine condition. 3.5 x 5.5 inches (8.9 x 13.7 cm). Read More...
Signed photograph postcard of the Spanish pioneer of aviation, political figure and brother of later dictator Francisco Franco. Shown in his military uniform, Franco has signed at the right. In very fine condition. 3.5 x 5.5 inches (8.8 x 13.1 cm).
An unusual original 1963 photograph taken before the great French singer's Carnegie Hall recital. He is shown flanked by the jazz trumpeter and an unidentified man. 13 x 18 cm. Press clipping on verso, in fine condition.
New York: Avon Books. 1996. First edition, first printing. . Hardcover with dustjacket, 6.5 x 9.5, 336 pages. Boldly signed on the half-title page in blue felt tip, “B. B. King.” In fine condition, with some trivial wear to the dustjacket.
Silver and Mother-of-pearl Belt Buckle,in the shape of a Gibson Les Paul electric guitar, inscribed on reverse "B.B.", thought to have been given by King to fellow guitarist J. Geils, with whom he toured in the 1970s. Provenance: The Estate of J. Geils. Approx 5 x 1.8 inches, with an associated leather belt. Read More...
Autograph manuscript of the Russian-born composer's Litany for bassoon and piano, written for the prominent American bassoonist Leonard Sharrow. Black ink on 17 loose blue-print sheets, pages numbered in pencil; changes have been made on pp. 5 (notes changed in pencil), 14 (small deletions cut out), 16 (tempo marking changed in pen), and 17 (small square cut out). In very fine condition overall. Rare. One photocopy of the holograph score is held at the SUNY Buffalo Library, but the work is apparently unpublished. Read More...
14883. [BASSOON] Ozi, Etienne. (1754-1813). Nouvelle méthode de basson par Ozi [...] Adoptée par le Conservatoire pour servir à l'étude dans cet etablissement [...] Gravée par Md. Le Roy.
Paris: Imprimerie du Conservatoire de Musique. [1803]. Method for the bassoon by the influential French bassoonist and composer. Engraved throughout. With one folding plate ("Tablature du Basson") including two illustrations of the bassoon and additional illustrations accompanying textual commentary at conclusion. Rare. [4], ii, 145 p. illus., 1 foldout plate. Two later labels on the title page, of "Lippi, Luthier," and "Jean-Baptiste Laprevotte, Facteur d'Orgues et de Serinettes," partially obscuring the original publisher's imprint. Blue paper boards with handwritten front label. Heavy overall wear and tears to the boards and spine; volume slightly warped. Area of damp staining to the lower edge of the pages throughout, especially strong on the folding plate. However, structurally sound and internally otherwise in very good condition. 10 x 13 inches (25 x 33 cm). Read More...
Parma: Co I Tipi Bodoniani. 1796. First edition. 8vo. Original white wrappers. (8), 30, pp., with the last blank. A very good copy of the original edition of this elegant collection of Italian poems by Giovanni Rosini, beautifully printed by Bodoni. The booklet is dedicated to the marquise Vittoria Torrigianni Santini. Brooks 629 'Ravissante impression bodonienne'; Gianni, Cat., p. 56, Nr. 77; Vita del Giov. Bodoni (1816), p. 101. Read More...
An amusing ca. 1900 French postcard featuring a bizarre collage of little babies "playing" orchestral instruments. Some writing in French along the lower border and verso, dated 1903.
Autograph copy of a psalm and hymn text in the hand of the 19th-century German composer and organist (unrelated to J. S. Bach), an important member of the musical life of Berlin and a teacher of the young Mendelssohn. Bach has written out the German text of a piece for choir and winds by Friedrich Schneider, "Jehowah! Dir frohlockt der König." 51 lines in ink and pencil in three sections, the first two headed "Psalm" and "Hymnus," and the final section in pencil with some strikethroughs and corrections. 3 pp. Unsigned, undated [ca. 1830's]. In delicate condition with creases and some significant tears, writing in pencil on the final leaf, overall good. 8.5 x 10.75 inches (22 x 27.2 cm).
Leipzig: im Schwickertschen Verlage. 1787 and 1797. Versuch über die wahre Art, das Clavier zu spielen, mit Exempeln und achtzehn Probe-Stücken in sechs Sonaten erläutert. Erster Theil. Dritte ... vermehrte Auflage. Bound together with: Zweyter Theil, in welchem die Lehre von dem Accompagnement und der freyen Fantasie abgehandelt wird. Zweite ... vermehrte Auflage. VIII, 103, [1]; [8], 280 pp. One fold-out engraved table. Modern half vellum binding. Several early pencil annotations through the first volume; overall fine. 7 x 8.25 inches (18 x 22 cm). Read More...
Leipzig: Faksimile-Reihe Bachscher Werke und Schriftst. 1971. 2-color collotype of the instrumental and vocal parts in their original format. Scored for hn, 2-ob, 2-vln, va, bc, and SATB chorus. Afterword by Werner Neumann. The facsimile designed to resemble the original, the folder in linen and decorative paper. The box folder that holds the score has shelf and surface wear, bumped corners and marks. The facsimile score is in excellent condition, complete, unmarked. 9 x 14 inches.
Zurich: Hans Georg Nägeli. [ca. 1802]. Oblong folio. 182 (of 183) pages; lacks half-title and last leaf. Engraved throughout. Modern 1/4 calf; title heavily soiled and rubbed, trimmed and mounted, varying soiling and foxing, dampstaining in gutters in second half of volume, penultimate leaf rehinged and remargined. Published around half a century after the first edition, this is a notable publication in the history of the Bach revival at the beginning of the nineteenth century. RISM B 523; Hoboken 1, 146; Kinsky, pages 80 and 120 ("schöngestochene Neudruck in Partitur und Klavierauszug war eine anzuerkennende verlegerische Tat"). Read More...
13699. Bach, J.S. (1685-1750). GROSSE PASSIONSMUSIK NACH DEM EVANGELIUM MATTHAEI ...VOLLSTÄNDIGER KLAVIERAUSZUG VON ADOLPH BERNHARD MARX, [VOCAL SCORE]
Berlin: Schlesinger. [1830]. First Edition, Second Issue. Oblong 4to (c.24.5 x 33cms). Engraved throughout. [PN] 1571. List of subscribers (3 pages), index on verso, 190 pp. Publisher’s stamp to title, performance markings in pencil, ownership inscription neatly cut from top outer corner of the title affecting the engraved surface, small margin tears to one page, otherwise in very crisp and fine condition throughout. Quarter vellum, brown marbled boards. First edition of the vocal score, second issue (plate number corrected on p.157). Fuld, p.171; RISM B 436; cf Hoboken 27. Read More...
11235. [Bach, J.S. (1685-1750) & Handel, George Frederic. (1685-1759)] Gerber, Ernst Ludwig. (1746 - 1819). Historisch-Biographisches Lexicon der Tonkünstler, welches Nachrichten von dem Leben und Werken musikalischer Schriftsteller, beruhmter Componisten, Sanger, Meister auf Instrumenten, Dilettanten, Orgel-und Instrumentmacher, enthalt...Zweyter Theil. N-Z. - WITH 18TH CENTURY FRONTIS PORTRAITS OF BACH AND HANDEL
Leipzig: Breitkopf, und Compag.. 1792. First Edition. First edition of the second volume (of 2) of one of the most important and comprehensive musical dictionaries of the eighteenth century. 860 columns, woodcut borders and devices plus 80 pages index. Early stamp of the Hochschule fur Lehrerbildung Sarrebrücken to title, a few other stamps and notations, scattered foxing throughout, generally fine. Half leather over brown marbled paper boards, gilt decoration and title to spine. Facing stipple-engraved portraits of Bach and Handel bound in as frontispieces, outer edge of the second tipped along edge of the titlepage. Eitner IV, 204; Wolffheim I, 226; Gregory-Bartlett 108. Read More...
Lipsia [Leipzig]: Breitkopf & Härtel. [1805]. First edition. 57pp. Upright folio. Fine quarter leather. Erroneously published as a work by J. S. Bach, this Mass in G major has been variously attributed to Lotti and Bach's second cousin, J. L. Bach. (Schmieder, Anhang 167). Extremely rare, 5 copies recorded by Worldcat.
Rare autograph letter from the German music historian and musicologist best known for his 1873 biography of Johann Sebastian Bach and as the founder, in 1874, of the Leipzig Bach-Verein. Dated January 24, 1876. Writing to Leipzig music publisher Edmund Astor (son-in-law of Jakov Rieter-Biedermann and director of the Rieder-Biedermann Verlag's Leipzig office), Spitta acknowledges the receipt of a payment and clarifies the terms of an agreement about the publication of an article about the Leipzig Bach-Verein. He details the changes which will need to be made to his introduction to a volume of Bach cantatas which will be published by Rieter-Biedermann, and finishes by mentioning Heinrich von Herzogenberg, his co-founder of the Bach-Verein, who has recently stepped in for Alfred Volkland to conduct a concert. Full translation below. 2 pp. on a bifolium, with one area of light smudging but overall in fine condition. 5.5 x 8.5 inches (14 x 21.7 cm). Read More...
Leipzig: Peters. [not before 1814]. Oblong folio. Engraved. [PN] 793. 6 pp. Terry p. 348 (incorrectly identified as the first edition; in fact, it was first published by Kühnel in 1810). Reprinting from the original plates. A few light spots, spine reinforced with paper, outer edges somewhat nicked, else fine. Read More...