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Thetis et Pelée; tragédie en musique

Description: Pascal Collasse was one of the few opera composers able to secure successful performances in the years following Lully’s death. Collasse then went on to supply the music for the entire opera, Thétis et Pélée, which was premiered at the Paris Opéra on 11 January 1689. Thétis remained popular throughout Collasse’s lifetime, in spite of its rather weak plot. Owing to its success is primarily the music, including a significant storm scene in Act II. This departure from the Lullian tradition is … more
Date: 1716
Creator: Collasse, Pascal, 1649-1709 & Fontenelle, M. de (Bernard Le Bovier), 1657-1757

Achille et Polixene, tragédie dont le prologue & les quatre derniers actes

Description: Achille et Polixene, Jean-Baptiste Lully's last opera, premiered on 7 November 1687, eight months after Lully's death on March 22 of that year. Since the composer had only finished the overture and first act, the score was completed by Pascal Colasse, Lully's secretary and student, to a text by Jean Galbert de Campistron based on events in Virgil's Aeneid.
Date: 1687
Creator: Collasse, Pascal, 1649-1709; Lully, Jean Baptiste, 1632-1687 & Campistron, Jean Galbert de, 1656-1723

[Binder's Collection: Columbus Public Library, Parts]

Description: Bound compilation of parts to accompany the volume M218.C67. This collection's contents do not overlap entirely with those of main volume. The library catalog record follows the handwritten numbering in the main volume, which generally assigns numbers to titles held in common between the two volumes. Therefore, some works are described by their position relative to numbered items. The set of parts also has several short manuscript pieces added at the end; some parts are for both violin or flute… more
Date: unknown
Creator: Columbus Metropolitan Library (Franklin County, Ohio)

[Binder's Collection: Columbus Public Library, Scores]

Description: Bound compilation of sheet music for violin and piano, assembled by the Columbus Public Library (now the Columbus Metropolitan Library). This volume consists of scores and piano parts, although its contents do not overlap entirely with those of the accompanying set of violin parts. The library catalog record follows the handwritten numbering in the volume, which generally assigns numbers to titles held in common between the two volumes. Therefore, some works are described by their position rela… more
Date: 1834/1879
Creator: Columbus Metropolitan Library (Franklin County, Ohio)

7e. quatuor, pour deux violons, alto et violoncelle, oeuv.80

Description: This is a digital copy of the four parts of Charles Dancla's seventh string quartet, op.80 in D minor. Charles Dancla was the most prominent member of a family of musicians and a virtuoso violinist, composer and teacher. In 1828, he was admitted to the Paris Conservatory of Music, where he won the first prize in 1833. At the Conservatory, he studied violin with Paul Guérin and Pierre Baillot. Dancla played solo violin with the orchestra of the théâtre Royal de l'Opera Comique and with the Soc… more
Date: 186X
Creator: Dancla, Charles, 1817-1907.

Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune

Description: This is the orchestral score of Debussy's Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune. The copy was presented to Edouard Colonne with the inscription by the composer on the title page, "à Monsieur E. Colonne en hommage d'infinie gratitude artistique, Claude Debussy, Oct. 1895." The score contains performance markings in pen, pencil and crayon; possibly by Colonne. In original green wrapper. Preserved in green cloth-and-marbled-paper chemise with matching slipcase.
Date: 1895
Creator: Debussy, Claude, 1862-1918

Les Elemens

Description: This four-act ballet was premiered on 22 December 1721 at the Tullieries and, later, performed at L'Academie Royale de Musique on 29 May 1725 and 27 May 1734, and at the Theatre on 22 May 1742. Various dramatis personae present an allegorical depiction of the French court.
Date: 1742
Creator: Destouches, André Cardinal, 1672-1749

Omphale, tragedie en musique

Description: Omphale (1701) is one of Destouches’s contributions to the Lullian genre of the five-act tragédie en musique. Half a century after the premiere, Friedrich Melchior Grimm targeted the opera in his pamphlet “Lettre sur Omphale” (1752), which continued the earlier debate between advocates of Lully and Rameau. This written attack also precipitated the famous guerre des bouffons, which was sparked by a performance of Pergolesi’s La serva padrona (1733) in 1752.
Date: 1701
Creator: Destouches, M. (André Cardinal), 1672-1749

Issé

Description: 1724 score of André Cardinal Destouches' opera Issé. Destouches’s Issé premiered in 1697, just nine years after the death of Jean-Baptiste Lully. The tradition of featuring new operas at the court prior to a public premiere—common during Lully’s later years—was reinstated with this work. When Destouches revived the opera in 1708, he enlarged the original three-act work to five acts. This allowed for expanded divertissements, choruses, and more elaborate arias, which appealed to contemporary… more
Date: 1697
Creator: Destouches, M. (André Cardinal), 1672-1749 & La Motte, M. de (Antoine Houdar), 1672-1731

Les deux chasseurs et la laitière; comédie en un acte

Description: Undated score of Egidio Duni's opera Les deux chaussures et la laitière. Duni’s French style was shaped by the developments of the War of the Buffoons, which pitted French tragic opera against Italian comic opera. The newly emergent opéra comique genre, for which Duni is still considered to be one of the major contributors, combined elements of both styles. His significance in the development of opéra comique is evident in the long-term success of Les deux chasseurs et la laitière, which was… more
Date: 1763
Creator: Duni, Egidio, 1708-1775 & Anseaume, M. (Louis), 1721-1784

Les deux chasseurs et la laitière; comédie en un acte

Description: Duni’s French style was shaped by the developments of the War of the Buffoons, which pitted French tragic opera against Italian comic opera. The newly emergent opéra comique genre, for which Duni is still considered to be one of the major contributors, combined elements of both styles. His significance in the development of opéra comique is evident in the long-term success of Les deux chasseurs et la laitière, which was performed at the Comédie-Italien until 1792, almost twenty years after th… more
Date: 1763
Creator: Duni, Egidio, 1708-1775 & Anseaume, M. (Louis), 1721-1784

[Binder's Collection: Oliver Brett]

Description: Bound compilation of sheet music collected by Oliver Sylvain Baliol Brett, 3rd Viscount Esher. The front cover is monogrammed O.S.B., with a bookplate reading "Ex libris Oliver Brett" on the front inside cover. Nearly all items contain a primary or secondary publishing location imprint in London. The collection is unusual for its inclusion of arrangements for banjo. The titles are generally in alphabetical order, beginning with the letter "K," which suggests the existence of a prior volume. Man… more
Date: unknown
Creator: Esher, Oliver Sylvain Baliol Brett, Viscount, 1881-1963

[Binder's Collection - Eva Eve - Duke M1507-C655-1841]

Description: Bound compilation of sheet music from a variety of composers, with multiple works from Giuseppe Verdi, M.W. Balfe, and Gaetano Donizetti. This volume is held by Duke University, and is posted here in conjunction with the Binders Volumes Research Initiative, a project funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities - Humanities Collections and Reference Resources (PW-290538-23).
Date: 1841/1858
Creator: Eve, Eva, 1841-1890

Amour au village : opera-comique, en un acte, et en vaudeviles

Description: Libretto for Charles-Simon Favart's 1754 opera L'amour au village. Charles-Simon Favart gained prominence for his parodies of extant operas during the middle of the eighteenth century. His L’amour au village (1754), a typical example of the genre, was based on Carolet’s L’amour paysan (1737). The parody technique consisted of setting new texts to existing melodies and writing new dialogue based on a familiar plot. L’amour au village includes a typical vaudeville finale. In the Virtual Rare … more
Date: 1754
Creator: Favart, M. (Charles-Simon), 1710-1792

Sonate pour le piano-forte par John Field

Description: John Field's Sonata for Piano in B major, dedicated to Mademoiselle Alexandrine de Nekloudoff. Pages 7 and 8 of the music were bound upside-down and in reverse order.
Date: 185X
Creator: Field, John, 1782-1837

Armide: Drame héroique, mis en musique

Description: Armide was premiered at the Paris Opéra on September 23, 1777, recalling the earlier success of Lully’s opera of the same name, which premiered nearly a century earlier on February 15, 1686. After collaborating on several reform operas with Calzabigi, Gluck revived the older dramatic tradition of Quinault (Lully's librettist) by setting the older text in the modern musical style. The seventeenth-century five act model requires more continuous music, with few distinct arias, as well as diverti… more
Date: 1783
Creator: Gluck, Christoph Willibald, Ritter von, 1714-1787

Armide: Drame héroique, mis en musique

Description: Armide was premiered at the Paris Opéra on September 23, 1777, recalling the earlier success of Lully’s opera of the same name, which premiered nearly a century earlier on February 15, 1686. After collaborating on several reform operas with Calzabigi, Gluck revived the older dramatic tradition of Quinault (Lully's librettist) by setting the older text in the modern musical style. The seventeenth-century five act model requires more continuous music, with few distinct arias, as well as diverti… more
Date: 1783
Creator: Gluck, Christoph Willibald, Ritter von, 1714-1787

Iphigenie en Aulide; tragédie. Opera en trois actes

Description: Although he did not have a production planned, Gluck composed the music for Iphigénie en Aulide for Paris, with the intention (along with Roullet) of establishing himself at the Opéra. He initially had difficulties convincing the Academy of Music to arrange for the production, but with the support of Marie Antoinette, the opera was finally realized in 1773. Gluck revised Iphigénie for performances in 1775. The most significant change was the addition of Diana as a character, whose appearanc… more
Date: 1811
Creator: Gluck, Christoph Willibald, Ritter von, 1714-1787 & Du Roullet, François Louis Gaud Lebland, marquis, 1716-1786

Iphigenie en Aulide; tragédie. Opera en trois actes

Description: Although he did not have a production planned, Gluck composed the music for Iphigénie en Aulide for Paris, with the intention (along with Roullet) of establishing himself at the Opéra. He initially had difficulties convincing the Academy of Music to arrange for the production, but with the support of Marie Antoinette, the opera was finally realized in 1773. Gluck revised Iphigénie for performances in 1775. The most significant change was the addition of Diana as a character, whose appearance… more
Date: 1811
Creator: Gluck, Christoph Willibald, Ritter von, 1714-1787 & Du Roullet, François Louis Gaud Lebland, marquis, 1716-1786

Orphée et Euridice; tragédie; opéra en trois actes

Description: The Viennese premiere of Orfeo was extremely well received, and Gluck decided to revise the opera as Orphée et Eurydice for Paris in 1774, with the French adaptation and additions provided by Pierre Louis Moline. The role of Orpheus was lowered slightly for an haute-contre singer (a male operatic voice type more in line with an alto range), adhering to French preferences. The opera was lengthened, to create a more magnificent spectacle, with extra arias, ensembles, and instrumental numbers. G… more
Date: 1783
Creator: Gluck, Christoph Willibald, Ritter von, 1714-1787 & Moline, M. (Pierre Louis), ca. 1740-1821

Armide: drame héroïque

Description: Armide was premiered at the Paris Opéra on September 23, 1777, recalling the earlier success of Lully’s opera of the same name, which premiered nearly a century earlier on February 15, 1686. After collaborating on several reform operas with Calzabigi, Gluck revived the older dramatic tradition of Quinault (Lully's librettist) by setting the older text in the modern musical style. The seventeenth-century five act model requires more continuous music, with few distinct arias, as well as diverti… more
Date: 1811
Creator: Gluck, Christoph Willibald, Ritter von, 1714-1787 & Quinault, Philippe, 1635-1688

Echo et Narcisse, drame lyrique en trois actes

Description: After the resounding success of Iphigénie en Tauride (1779), Gluck set out to compose his last of the seven Paris operas, which turned out to be his final opera. Whereas Iphigénie en Tauride is often considered Gluck’s best opera, its immediate successor, Echo et Narcisse (1779) was ill-fated and quickly disappeared from the repertoire. Echo was premiered a mere four months after Tauride, and the Parisian audience was not prepared for the differences between these two operas. Although the mu… more
Date: 1779
Creator: Gluck, Christoph Willibald, Ritter von, 1714-1787 & Tschudi, Jean-Baptiste-Louis-Théodore, baron de, 1734-1784

Alceste: tragedie opera en trois actes

Description: According to Grove Music, "when Admetus, King of Pherae in Thessaly, is ill and about to die an oracle announces that he will be saved if someone else is willing to die in his stead. His wife Alcestis displays her conjugal devotion by offering herself; she dies and Admetus recovers. Under the influence of tragédie lyrique, Calzabigi enriched his libretto with choruses, ballets and opportunities for impressive scenery."
Date: 1776
Creator: Gluck, Christoph Willibald, Ritter von, 1714-1787; Calzabigi, Ranieri de, 1714-1795 & Du Roullet, François Louis Gaud Lebland, marquis, 1716-1786
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