Amadis. [LWV 63]. [Copyist manuscript reduced score] . Ca. 1690-1710

Oblong quarto (184 x 239 mm). Full contemporary dark brown calf with raised bands on spine in compartments gilt, marbled endpapers. 170 pp. on 89 numbered leaves. Notated in black ink on 8-stave rastrum-ruled paper. Watermark of a bunch of grapes and letters within an oval.

Ownership inscription to verso of free front endpaper "A. de Grateloup" and following leaf "Mr. LeRoy D'arLilly."

Binding worn, rubbed, and bumped, with minor loss to corners and head and tail of spine; upper joint partially split at foot; upper hinge cracked; endpapers quite worn and slightly creased. Occasional wear and soiling; minor tears and creases. With (truncated) some mispagination (ff. 1-7, 26-32, 9-24, 33-84, a second leaf 84, 86-89); lacking ff. 8 and 25; a portion of the second act starting at the conclusion of Act 2, Scene 2 bound in toward the end of the incomplete prologue (ff. 26-32). Schneider p. 409 (other manuscript copies). First printed edition 1684 (RISM L2944).

Amadis was first performed in Paris on 18 January 1684. The work is set to a libretto by Quinault based on Nicolas Herberay des Essarts's adaptation of Amadis de Gaula, a work by Spanish renaissance author Garci Rodriguez de Montalvo, who himself adapted Amadis from an anonymous 14th century model.

"The opera was to be produced first at Versailles (Louis XIV himself had suggested the subject of the opera), but owing to the death of the Queen, Amadis was first publicly performed at Paris, and at Versailles only one year later, viz. 5 March 1685." Loewenberg 74. Stieger Titelkatalog I p. 48. Amadis was the first tragedie en musique to be based on medieval romance rather than ancient mythology. The score contains a profusion of melody with brief airs dominating much of the dialogue. Some, such as the monologue airs 'Bois epais' and 'Amour que veux-tu de moi?' - the latter sung by 'every cook in France', according to Le Cerf de la Vieville... became well known. In general, the music represents Lully's most mature style." The New Grove Dictionary of Opera Vol. 1 p. 104.

"Lully’s last three tragédies were based on tales of chivalry rather than ancient mythology; Amadis was the earliest, and the subject chosen by Louis XIV. The title is sometimes given as Amadis de Gaule to avoid confusion with Destouches’ Amadis de Grèce. The première was in Paris instead of at court because the queen had died in July 1683; a court production without scenery or machines took place at Versailles in March 1685. The principal singers at the première included Moreau (Oriane), Le Rochois (Arcabonne), Dumesnil (Amadis) and Dun (Florestan); the principal male dancers were Beauchamp, Pécour and Lestang, and the principal female dancers La Fontaine, Carré and Pesan. There were eight Paris revivals between 1687 and 1771; for the 1759 production François Rebel composed new dances and made other revisions. Between 1687 and 1729 Amadis was produced in Amsterdam, Marseilles, Rouen, Brussels, The Hague, Lunéville, Lyons and Dijon. In the 1930s Henry Prunières, realizing that he would not live to finish the complete edition of Lully’s works, abandoned his chronological approach to the operas and edited Amadis. The score is celebrated mainly for its wealth of melody and includes Lully’s best known air, ‘Bois épais’." Lois Rosow in Grove Music Online

This reduced score omits choruses and includes only the treble line for the dances. The absence of a bass line for the dances raises the intriguing possibility that the manuscript's owner may have been able to produce an appropriate bass line from memory or, indeed, extemporize it for each reading.

An interesting manuscript source, documenting a style of reduced score most likely intended for domestic use. (Inventory #: 39597)