Földvári Books

Association Copy, with Manuscript Scores and Drawings

Handel, Georg Friedrich [George Frideric]; Corfe, Joseph; Gear, Joseph

[The Beauties of Handel.] Dedicated by permission to His Majesty. The Beauties of Handel, in two Volumes, Consisting of upwards of One hundred of his most favourite Songs, Duetts & Trios, Selected from the Various Works of this great Master, arranged with a separate Accompaniment for the Piano Forte, and figured from the M.S. Scores of the Author, by Jos. Corfe. Gentleman of his Majesty’s Chapels Royal & Organist of the Cathedral Salisbury. Vol. 1.

London: Printed and Sold for the Author, by Preston. 97. Strand, & to had of all the Music Sellers in the United Kingdom. [N.d. but 1803 or 1804. First edition. Engraved sheet music. Association copy: “From Mr Joseph Corfe to Jos.h Gear. Salisbury 1805.” presumably in Joseph Gear’s hand on the advertisement page in black ink. Illustrated with three mounted ink drawings also by Gear. In contemporary half leather, with gilt-stamped red maroquin ownership label mounted on the front cover. Panels covered with marbled paper. Spine and leathers with black embossed rules and ornaments. (4), 134 p., and two leaves of manuscript scores and two plates with three mounted illustrations. Cover slightly rubbed. Spine renewed, new endpapers. Gear’s ownership stamp on title page. Lacking engraved portrait frontispiece. Two illustrations yellowed and slightly broken because of acidic reaction. Light foxing throughout. Title and advertisement page restored. Page 119–120 with a damaged corner with no effect on the sheet music. Volume one only of two. Overall in very good condition.

Association copy of Joseph Corfe’s selection of Handel’s works, supplemented with two leaves of manuscript score and three original ink drawings by Joseph Gear, to whom Corfe gave this volume.

Joseph Gear (1768–1853) was a painter, engraver, and a double bassist at the Drury Lane Theatre in London, and after his immigration to the United States in 1824, at the Tremont Street theatre in Boston. He illustrated the present compilation of Handel’s works with the three artworks, related to the compositions: The Sacrifice of Jephthah’s Daughter after John Opie’s 1790 painting, The Grand Triumphal of Alexander, and the copy of a detail of the frontispiece for Handel’s 1738 edition of Alexander’s Feast. All drawings are mounted on cardboard plates, with title and source by Gear’s hand in pencil. There are two leaves of manuscript scores in the book. The first is a recitative from the third part of The Sacred Oratorio of Redemption, edited from Handel's oratorios by Samuel Arnold, which was performed at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane in 1786. The second score, dedicated to Gear by an unknown hand, is a cello section for Mathan’s air from Handel’s Athalia (HWV 52).

Joseph Corfe (1740–1820) was an English singer, and composer, the organist of Salisbury Cathedral and a Gentleman of the Royal Chapel. Corfe was a respected singing teacher and a prolific author. His published works include A Treatise on Singing, Sacred Music, The Beauties of Handel, Beauties of Purcell, Thorough Bass Simplified, and Church Music. As a composer, he wrote church music, glees, and anthems. Corfe sang at the Handel Commemoration in 1784.

[Ref.: RISM H 1088; Humphries, Charles; Smith, William C.: Music publishing in the British Isles, from the beginning until the middle of the nineteenth century; a dictionary of engravers, printers, publishers, and music sellers, with a historical introduction, by Charles Humphries and William C. Smith. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1970. p. 113.; The Sacred Oratorio of Redemption, Selected and Abridged from the Works of Handel, As now performed at the Theatre Royal in Drury-Lane, under the direction of S. Arnold, Muf. Doctor. London, printed 1786. 15 p.]

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Price: €3,500.00