Rare books from J & J Lubrano Music Antiquarians LLC

Wien: Tobias Haslinger's Witwe u. Sohn. [PN T. H. 9651], 1844. Oblong folio. Unbound as issued. 1f. (title), 3-11 pp. Engraved. With small vignette to title. Spine reinforced. Slightly foxed and dampstained. First Edition. Weinmann p. 29.

Wien: Pietro Mechetti qm Carlo [PN P.M. No. 2772], 1836. Oblong folio. Disbound. 1f. (title), 3-11 pp. Engraved. Decorative title with dedicatee's coat of arms. Trimmed; slightly dampstained. First Edition. Weinmann Mechetti catalog p. 70.

3 pp. of a bifolium. Octavo. Dated Bath Hotel, June 10, 1863. On letterhead with Pišek's small oval embossed monogram to upper left corner. In German (with translation). Pišek has had to cancel several concert engagements due to a family wedding, and send regrets that he will not be able to participate in Benedict's anniversary concert in London. He plans to return in April of 1864 for the season "in order to make up for what I could not fulfill this time." He wishes Benedict "all the best and great success" with his concert, and says "I would like to ask you to compose another scene for me when you feel like it, and to send it to me in Germany, so that next year I can perform it for the English concert goers." Slightly worn and browned; creased at folds with some short splits; small stain not affecting legibility; several small tears. A Bohemian baritone, "Pišek's voice was rich and expressive over a range of two octaves, and his use of the mezza voce and falsetto was particularly admired.… Read More

In a music studio, seated at an Ehrbar piano. With an autograph note signed to verso dated Vienna, September 24, 1936, addressed to the Colombian musicologist Otto de Greiff. With Bittner's return address stamp in purple ink to upper left corner, "Julius Bittner, Wien IX, Dietrichsteingasse 10." Very slightly worn. In very good condition overall. "Although Bittner's output embraces orchestral and chamber music, a large-scale Mass and several lieder and choruses, he devoted most of his creative energies towards writing for the stage. His passion for opera was fuelled by attending a performance of Lohengrin at the age of 12, and, following the precedent set by Wagner, he wrote the librettos for 15 of his own operas. Although his early attempts at the genre were not performed publicly, his friendship with the conductor Bruno Walter proved decisive in establishing his reputation, primarily with the opera Der Musikant produced in Vienna in 1910. His most successful work was Das höllisch Gold (1916) in… Read More

Venezia: Pasquali, 1755. Small quarto. Quarter vellum with dark orange decorative title label gilt to spine. 4ff., 1,016 columns (= 508 pp.), including the supplement (columns 837-946), additions and corrections (947-950), and an index of authors (951-1016). With a fine woodcut device to title and occasional woodcut head- and tailpieces. A very good, wide-margined, uncut copy, with only occasional minor foxing and staining. Second edition, substantially revised and expanded. Cortot, p. 4. Hirsch I, Anh. 2. Wolffheim II, 908. Gregory-Bartlett I, 12. RISM BVI, p. 81. "A compendious and surprisingly accurate list of dramatic works of all kinds, including opera librettos, published in Italy; it also lists many unpublished works." Thomas Walker in Grove Music Online Allacci's bibliography of plays, operas, and ballets was first published in 1666 and revised by Giovanni Cendoni, Apostolo Zeno, and others for this updated edition of 1755.

Berlin: Adolph Fürstner [PN A.5654F.], 1935. Folio. Original publisher's full gray cloth. [i] (title), [ii] (blank), [iii] ("Dramatis Personae"), [iv] (blank), [5]-250 pp. Text in German. With illustration by Lovis Corinth to page [5]. Binding very slightly worn and rubbed. Trenner 223. Mueller von Asow p. 409. First performed on January 25, 1909 at the Königlichen Opernhaus in Dresden under Ernst von Schuch. "[Elektra] ... marked the beginning of [Strauss's] artistic association with Hugo von Hofmannsthal, whom he had first met in Berlin in 1899. Having seen Reinhardt's riveting production of Hofmannsthal's Elektra in the autumn of 1905, Strauss was convinced the play would make a compelling opera. Not entirely sure he should compose consecutive tragedies, he nonetheless gave in to Hofmannsthal's pleading and vigorously began composing Elektra in the summer of 1906. As he had with Oscar Wilde's Salome, he set the play to music, which was finished in 1908 and given its première in 1909 as… Read More

Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel [PN 3610], 1824. Oblong folio. Contemporary paper boards. 1f. (title), 88 pp. Lithographed. With label of the late 19th century lending library of Fritz Möller of Hamburg, Germany to upper board and advertising to front pastedown. Binding worn and rubbed; partially detached; spine chipped; joints split; endpapers lacking. Moderately foxed throughout; title browned. Köchel 8, p. 720. Hirsch IV, 1227. RISM M5105. La Clemenza di Tito, an opera seria in two acts to a libretto by Pietro Metastasio adapted by Caterino Mazzolà, was first performed in Prague at the National Theatre on September 6, 1791, approximately 3 months before Mozart died on December 5, 1791. He had arrived in Prague on August 28 and, despite his illness, finished work on the opera on the eve of the performance. "Although mostly composed after Die Zauberflöte, La clemenza di Tito was performed first... The reception was modest until a triumphant last night was reported to Mozart (who had left… Read More

Berlin: Adolph Fürstner [PN A.5654F.], 1908. Folio. Original publisher's full gray cloth. [i] (title), [ii] (blank), [iii] ("Dramatis Personae"), [iv] (blank), [5]-250 pp. Text in German. With illustration by Lovis Corinth to page [5]. Binding worn, rubbed and shaken. First Edition, early issue (without the additional plate numbers to foot of page [3] and also without the statement "Auffügrungsrecht vorbehalten" to foot of page [5]). Trenner 223. Mueller von Asow p. 409. First performed on January 25, 1909 at the Königlichen Opernhaus in Dresden under Ernst von Schuch. "[Elektra]... marked the beginning of [Strauss's] artistic association with Hugo von Hofmannsthal, whom he had first met in Berlin in 1899. Having seen Reinhardt's riveting production of Hofmannsthal's Elektra in the autumn of 1905, Strauss was convinced the play would make a compelling opera. Not entirely sure he should compose consecutive tragedies, he nonetheless gave in to Hofmannsthal's pleading and vigorously began… Read More

Le Kain is depicted in the role of Orosmane in Voltaire's "Zaire." 420 x 282 mm. No place, no date, but Paris, ca. 1775. Slightly browned and foxed. Proof before text. Hall III p. 32. Le Kain was a noted French actor who performed with the Comédie Française.

Milano: Giovanni Ricordi [PNs 16221-16241], 1844. Oblong folio. Mid-tan leather-backed marbled boards, spine with decorative gilt rules. 1f. (title within decorative blue border), [i] (table of contents with plate numbers), [i] (named cast list), 3-229, [i] (blank) pp. Title, table of contents, and cast list typeset, music engraved. Each number with its own plate number, price, and secondary pagination. Cast list includes the names of the singers for the opera's premiere. Page 56 blank (and unpaginated). Binding quite rubbed and worn; slightly shaken. Title slightly foxed; occasional light soiling and wear to blank margins; worming, primarily to blank margins; some tears; small tear to lower blank margin of pp. 217-218 repaired; tape repair to blank verso of final leaf, not seriously affecting music to recto. Quite a nice copy overall. First complete edition, first issue. Scarce. Hopkinson 41A(a). Chusid p. 63. Catalogo Ricordi online. Ernani, to a libretto by Francesco Maria Piave after Victor… Read More

Paris: Léon Escudier [PNs L.E. 1500.; L.E. 1500. (1-4, 6-9, 11, 14); L.E. 1501. (1-3); L.E. 1504 (4).], 1855. Folio. Quarter contemporary dark green textured cloth with dark green pebbled paper boards, blind rules to spine, titling gilt. 1f. (recto title engraved by A. Vialon with the names of four of Verdi's operas printed within decorative borders, verso blank), [1] (named cast list and table of contents), 2-415, [i] (blank) pp. Engraved. Named cast includes Cruvelli, Sannier, Gueymard, Bonnehée, Obin, Boulo, Loenig, Marié, Coulon, and Guignot. Publisher's handstamp to lower margin of title. Binding somewhat worn and rubbed; endpapers browned. Occasional light foxing, soiling, and bleeding; several corners slightly creased; small tear to lower margin of pp. 55-56 with archival tape repair, not affecting music; several pages with minor annotations in pencil. A very attractive copy overall. First Edition of the first version of the opera. Hopkinson 56A(a). Chusid p. 170. Les Vêpres… Read More

Benois, Alexandre 1870-1960. Watercolour and pencil on laid paper with partial watermark "MBM." 320 x 240 mm. Signed by the artist with initials and dated 1932 in pencil at lower left. With pencilled notes in Benois's hand. Very slightly soiled; 35 mm. tear to blank right margin repaired; remnants of mounting paper to upper corners of verso. Possibly a preparatory drawing for the Tsaritsa's costume. Rimsky-Korsakov's last opera, Coq d'Or (The Golden Cockerel) was first performed in Moscow at the Solodovnikov Theatre (Sergey Ivanovich Zimin's private opera company), on September 24/October 7, 1909. It is in a prologue, three acts, and an epilogue by Nikolay Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov to a libretto by Vladimir Nikolayevich Bel'sky after the eponymous imitation folk tale in verse by Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin, based in turn on 'The House of the Weathercock' and 'Legend of the Arabian Astrologer' from The Alhambra by Washington Irving. "The Golden Cockerel is the only one of Rimsky- Korsakov's… Read More

Large oblong folio. Spiral bound. 53 pp. Notated in pencil on 18-stave manuscript paper with numerous revisions, additions, and annotations in lead and blue pencil. Commissioned jointly by the New York Philharmonic and Kölnmusik and the Orchestre National de Lyon, Through the Ancient Valley was first performed on 14 March 2001 by the New York Philharmonic with Kurt Masur conducting and Yo-Yo Ma as soloist; Mr. Ma was also soloist in the first performances in France and Germany. "Both [of Danielpour's] cello concerti... embrace dualities. In Through the Ancient Valley (2000), several of these are specific to the work and are suggested by the title. There was a literal valley through which ancient travelers passed from East to West. This trade route, in use for about 1,500 years beginning in the second century B.C., is part of ancient history, thus one dichotomy that Danielpour examines is that of ancient versus modern eras. In addition, the valley represents the physical distance between East and… Read More

Executed in ink, pencil, gouache, and silver paint on wove paper. Unsigned, but with monogrammatic handstamp to lower left corner. With annotations in ink in Russian relative to various parts of the costume. 13.125" x 8.75" (332 x 222 mm.). Slightly worn and soiled; some edge tears and repairs; upper right corner with erasure resulting in minor paper loss. Korovine designed costumes for productions of Russian operas including Borodin's Prince Igor, Mussorgsky's Khovanshchina, and Rimsky-Korsakov's Sadko and Le Coq d'Or. "Konstantine Korovine is one of the most famous of Russia's twentieth-century stage designers ... [He] made his debut as a theatrical painter in 1885 when he executed the sets and costumes for the production of Snegurochka at Savva Mamontov's Private Opera (after Vasnetsov's designs) and, thereafter, he emerged rapidly as an independent stage designer - decorating, according to one souce, 80 operas, 37 ballets and 17 dramas during his lifetime. Korovine brought to the Russian stage… Read More

2 pp. of a bifolium. Octavo. Dated "31 Juillet," no year. To an unidentified male correspondent. On lined paper. In French (with translation). Berlioz apologizes for not being able to edit his article on Bortnyansky, with which he hopes his correspondent will be satisfied. "The fragment of musical criticism which I wanted to add to the item on Bortnianski is in the hands of Mr. M. Levy's printer who is at present bringing out a book which contains this article. It is impossible for me - since the printer is not in Paris - to rework my manuscript. Therefore be good enough to be satisfied with the Russian article; it is accurate, on the whole, and it would be difficult for me to redo a study on Bortnianski and Emperor of Russia's singers that is already done." The composer/critic goes on say that he would be happy for extracts of the article to appear in L'Illustration and, in a postscript, asks his correspondent to send him a copy of the periodical in which his article appears. Slightly worn;… Read More