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Sotheby's - Music: Books & Manuscripts

Posted: 03 Jun 2021, 11:55
by Fred G. Unn
Sotheby's has an interesting lot of "Music: Books & Manuscripts" available right now. Auction ends June 8. A few things aren't crazy expensive, but the lot is sort of fun to peruse even if well out of budget. From their site:

"The highlights of the sale are the autograph score and parts for C. P. E. Bach’s Trio Wq. 144, and Schubert’s last letter. Other notable items include a fine portrait of Verdi after the painting by Domenico Morelli, and an important archive of correspondence between the great nineteenth-century Bach scholar Philipp Spitta and the Berlin teacher and pianist Ernst Rudorff, from whose former collection also originate: a remarkable collection of drawings by Mendelssohn’s drawing master Samuel Rösel; a copy of the first edition of Mendelssohn’s violin sonata Op. 4 probably presented to Betty Pistor, an early sweetheart of the composer and Rudorff’s mother; and a rare collection of autograph letters by Louise Reichardt, daughter of J. F. Reichardt (who is also represented here in a number of lots of printed music). In addition to a varied selection of first and early editions of music by Bach, Beethoven, Chopin and Mozart (including the first edition of his piano concerto in A, K. 414, of 1785), the sale also includes some attractive association items, such as a letter opener made from the yew tree in Mendelssohn’s Berlin garden, a conducting baton belonging to Schumann, Haydn’s visiting card and a decorative souvenir made from the hair of Joseph and Michael Haydn."

Here's the link:
https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2021/music

Re: Sotheby's - Music: Books & Manuscripts

Posted: 03 Jun 2021, 20:17
by John Ruggero
Its amazing what's out there. The letters from Elisabet Herzogenberg (the woman Brahms should have married) and her husband look very interesting. I wonder if they are unknown. Those to Brahms were published many years ago.

If the autograph to Beethoven's op. 106 ever turned up, it would be a sensation. The bidding would start at many millions.

Re: Sotheby's - Music: Books & Manuscripts

Posted: 06 Sep 2021, 17:07
by benwiggy
Another auction: the library of Arnold Dolmetsch! It includes first edition of D Scarlatti's sonatas, and the current bid is £8,000...!!!

https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction ... -dolmetsch

Re: Sotheby's - Music: Books & Manuscripts

Posted: 06 Sep 2021, 21:13
by Fred G. Unn
Wow, there's a bunch of cool stuff in there! I actually have a hardcover copy of the the Da Capo 1972 reprint of the Playfield "An Introduction to the Skill of Musick." Mine's the 12th edition with chapters from the 13th and 14th. Pretty cool that the both the original 4th and 6th editions are up for sale. Archive.org has the 4th edition here:
https://archive.org/details/introductio ... 9/mode/2up

The Morley book is very important too and there are a bunch of scans of it on IMSLP. The fact that there's a first edition of that JJ Quantz flute book available is amazing!

Re: Sotheby's - Music: Books & Manuscripts

Posted: 07 Sep 2021, 13:04
by benwiggy
Fred G. Unn wrote: 06 Sep 2021, 21:13
The Morley book is very important too and there are a bunch of scans of it on IMSLP.
While I was working at a book publishing firm about 20 years ago, I took advantage of their editorial and design resources, and produced my own edition of Morley's book. I typeset the text, with consistent spellings; scanned in all the woodcut illustrations; and made endnotes, translating all the Latin and Greek, citing the Classical allusions, etc. It was a great way to learn the book itself, as well as the publishing techniques.

There are some great bits of humour, and very sharp observations.

I also love the way he deals with sight-singing in one sentence. "When you sing (this), imagine the notes between them. And so leaving out the middle notes and keeping the tune of the last note in your mind, you shall have the true tune, thus."