[Dance]
Valtz, Contredances & Choisies pour la Flûte - Autograph Musical Manuscript
Autograph musical manuscript, ca. 1800, containing flute parts for a selection of waltzes and other dances. The attractive hand-calligraphed cover design features highly decorative lettering and an ornamental border, signed within the border "Lenoble Fecit" and with two unidentified ownership signatures to the cover and one on the inside cover. Contents as follows: 13 dances labeled "Valz" and numbered 5-17; "Pastorale de Nina"; 2 further "Valz" dances, unnumbered; one dance titled "Le Rossignol Valtz"; 8 dance pieces in various meters numbered 1-8; 7 further dances labeled "Valz," unnumbered; 4 pieces in 6/8 time labeled "Poule," numbered 3-6; several pages left blank; and 11 further dances, some with choreography instructions, with titles including "La Douceur," "La Bergerette," "La Gorette," and "Calif de Baghdad." 32 pp. total; 27 pp. of music. Also included is a single leaf of autograph music for piano, apparently also a dance tune in 2/4. Overall foxing and toning, wear and soiling to the cover, and edge wear commensurate with age; overall in very good condition. 10.25 x 6.5 inches (26.4 x 16.3 cm).The waltz originated in the mid-eighteenth century as an Austrian and Bavarian folk dance, and became wildly popular in Vienna in the late eighteenth century before spreading across Europe at the turn of the nineteenth century. This manuscript shows evidence of the waltz being performed together with the Quadrille, a French dance which gained popularity during the same era: "La Poule" ("The Hen") was the third of the five figures making up the Quadrille, followed by "La Pastourelle." The spelling of "valtz" or "valz" within the manuscript suggests a fairly early date, as the French spelling "valse" had apparently not yet been adopted. François-Adrien Boieldieu's opéra comique Le calife de Bagdad was first performed at the Opéra-Comique, Paris on 16 September 1800 and soon became highly popular throughout Europe. (14884)
Printed Music Classical Music