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Lully, Jean Baptiste. (1632–1687) [Quinault, Philippe (1635-1688)] [Dolmetsch, Arnold. (1858–1940)]. "Armide, Tragédie...Nouvelle édition. Oeuvre XVIII" - FROM THE COLLECTION OF ARNOLD DOLMETSCH. Paris: Jean-Baptiste-Christophe Ballard. 1725.
Armide, tragédie mise en musique par Mr de Lully, représentée par l'Académie royale de musique en l'an 1686, et remise au théâtre en 1724, nouvelle édition, oeuvre XVIII.  Upright folio. Approx. 10 x 15 inches (38.2 x 26.3cm) Printed title; table and advertisement [iv];188 pp engraved music, woodcut initials, six illustrative head-pieces, ownership inscription to title ("Hedouin").  Mottled calf binding.  Dolmetsch Library stamp and pencil shelfmark ("II D 40") to verso of title.  Ownership inscription to title.  Splitting at joints, scuffing to covers, some damp-staining.  Overall in fine condition.  RISM L 2958.

Arnold Dolmetsch was an important force in the 20th-century revival of interest in early music.  His scholarship and performances with his family helped to resurrect forgotten instruments such as the viola da gamba, and as an expert instrument maker he crafted a psaltery for Yeats and a lute for Joyce.  Dolmetsch is even mentioned briefly in a passage from the "Eumaeus" episode of Ulysses, and the George Moore novel Evelyn Innes was based on his life.  He accumulated an impressive circle of important and influential friends as well as a legendary library of manuscript and print scores.

The early ownership signature "Hedouin" may be that of Henriette Hedouin (married name "Duhamel"), mother of violinist Gabriel Besson, one of the 24 Violons du Roi at Versailles as of 1726. ("L'ecole Francaise de violin...Vol 1," Lionel de La Laurencie, p. 233; "Les instruments à Archet...Vol. 2," Antoine Vidal, p. 255)

Opera (tragédie) in 5 acts with prologue, the text by P. Quinault, based on Torquato Tasso's epic poem Gerusalemme liberata, the selection in 1685 of Lully's patron, Louis XIV, from among several offered by Quinault. Regarded as one of the composer's greatest masterpieces, the opera was first performed at l’Opéra, Paris, 15 February 1686.  Roughly eight decades following Monteverdi's L'Orfeo, Lully produced Armide with his longtime collaborator, playwright Jean-Philippe Quinault. Together they had developed the genre of 'tragédie en musique' or 'tragédie lyrique', which served as a new form of opera, combining elements of classical French drama with ballet, the French song tradition, and a new form of recitative. Armide was one of Lully’s last operas and is therefore extremely developed in style. Unlike most of his operas, Armide concentrates on the sustained psychological development of a single character.  Because Lully had used his friendship with King Louis to secure a virtual monopoly on the public performance of stage music, it was only after his death that other opera composers emerged from his shadow. Jean-Philippe Rameau, fifty years his junior, eventually succeeded Lully as the dominant composer of French opera, but did not begin composing operas until 1733, when he was already almost 50. He was a highly controversial figure at the time, and his operas were subject to attacks by both the defenders of the French, Lullian tradition and the champions of Italian music. 

Lully, Jean Baptiste. (1632–1687) [Quinault, Philippe (1635-1688)] [Dolmetsch, Arnold. (1858–1940)] "Armide, Tragédie...Nouvelle édition. Oeuvre XVIII" - FROM THE COLLECTION OF ARNOLD DOLMETSCH

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Lully, Jean Baptiste. (1632–1687) [Quinault, Philippe (1635-1688)] [Dolmetsch, Arnold. (1858–1940)]. "Armide, Tragédie...Nouvelle édition. Oeuvre XVIII" - FROM THE COLLECTION OF ARNOLD DOLMETSCH. Paris: Jean-Baptiste-Christophe Ballard. 1725.
Armide, tragédie mise en musique par Mr de Lully, représentée par l'Académie royale de musique en l'an 1686, et remise au théâtre en 1724, nouvelle édition, oeuvre XVIII.  Upright folio. Approx. 10 x 15 inches (38.2 x 26.3cm) Printed title; table and advertisement [iv];188 pp engraved music, woodcut initials, six illustrative head-pieces, ownership inscription to title ("Hedouin").  Mottled calf binding.  Dolmetsch Library stamp and pencil shelfmark ("II D 40") to verso of title.  Ownership inscription to title.  Splitting at joints, scuffing to covers, some damp-staining.  Overall in fine condition.  RISM L 2958.

Arnold Dolmetsch was an important force in the 20th-century revival of interest in early music.  His scholarship and performances with his family helped to resurrect forgotten instruments such as the viola da gamba, and as an expert instrument maker he crafted a psaltery for Yeats and a lute for Joyce.  Dolmetsch is even mentioned briefly in a passage from the "Eumaeus" episode of Ulysses, and the George Moore novel Evelyn Innes was based on his life.  He accumulated an impressive circle of important and influential friends as well as a legendary library of manuscript and print scores.

The early ownership signature "Hedouin" may be that of Henriette Hedouin (married name "Duhamel"), mother of violinist Gabriel Besson, one of the 24 Violons du Roi at Versailles as of 1726. ("L'ecole Francaise de violin...Vol 1," Lionel de La Laurencie, p. 233; "Les instruments à Archet...Vol. 2," Antoine Vidal, p. 255)

Opera (tragédie) in 5 acts with prologue, the text by P. Quinault, based on Torquato Tasso's epic poem Gerusalemme liberata, the selection in 1685 of Lully's patron, Louis XIV, from among several offered by Quinault. Regarded as one of the composer's greatest masterpieces, the opera was first performed at l’Opéra, Paris, 15 February 1686.  Roughly eight decades following Monteverdi's L'Orfeo, Lully produced Armide with his longtime collaborator, playwright Jean-Philippe Quinault. Together they had developed the genre of 'tragédie en musique' or 'tragédie lyrique', which served as a new form of opera, combining elements of classical French drama with ballet, the French song tradition, and a new form of recitative. Armide was one of Lully’s last operas and is therefore extremely developed in style. Unlike most of his operas, Armide concentrates on the sustained psychological development of a single character.  Because Lully had used his friendship with King Louis to secure a virtual monopoly on the public performance of stage music, it was only after his death that other opera composers emerged from his shadow. Jean-Philippe Rameau, fifty years his junior, eventually succeeded Lully as the dominant composer of French opera, but did not begin composing operas until 1733, when he was already almost 50. He was a highly controversial figure at the time, and his operas were subject to attacks by both the defenders of the French, Lullian tradition and the champions of Italian music.