1700 · [?]Florence
by BONONCINI, Giovanni 1670-1747
[?]Florence, 1700. OLIVICCIANI, Vincenzo [Vincenzino] 1647-1726. Oblong quarto (227 x 261 mm). Modern quarter dark brown calf with marbled boards, earlier dark red leather title label gilt to upper. 11, [i] (blank) pp. Notated in black ink on 8-stave rastrum-ruled paper. Watermark of a fleur-de-lis within two circles and the letter V; countermark of a four-legged animal.
With attractive small painting to upper left quadrant of first page depicting a hunter with his hounds attacking a wild boar.
Provenance
Noted British musician and collector William Hayman Cummings (1831-1915), with his distinctive bookplate to verso of free front endpaper. The "Famous Musical Library" of W. H. Cummings was sold by Sotheby's in London in 1917. This manuscript is not specifically described in the catalogue, although lot 322 contained a volume of "Cantate e Duetti" by Bononcini. Recto of free front endpaper with titling in later manuscript and manuscript annotation "Works Excessively rare," together with small extract from 19th century description stating "Vincenzino, original score of ... works are very scarce."
Front free endpaper detached. Moderately foxed. RISM Manuscripts Online records 5 manuscripts of the present work including at The Bodleian Library, Oxford; The Royal Academy of Music, London; and the Newberry Library, Chicago.
Composed in five movements, alternating recitatives and arias. The same text was set by Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor (1640-1705). RISM ID: 455031367.
A highly respected and sought-after singer, Vincenzo [Vincenzino] Olivicianni (1647-1726) began his career in the employ of the Medici, followed by decades of service to the Habsburgs. He studied with Giacomo Carissimi (1605-1674) and was championed by Antonio Cesti (1623-1669), making his opera debut in Florence in 1661 in Cesti's Orontea and appearing in the premiere of his Il Pomo D'Oro, a seminal work in the history of opera. Vincenzino also sang in Bononcini's La Presa di Tebe (Vienna, 1708).
The titling of the manuscript implies that Vincenzino performed this work. There is, however, the possibility that, given Vincenzino's association with Bononcini in later life, Bononcini's infamous plagiarism of another composer's work (Antonio Lotti), and the cantata text's alternate setting by Leopold I, Vincenzino's employer, the present cantata may, in fact, be a rare work of the celebrated castrato instead, hiding in plain sight for over 300 years.
An attractive and imaginative work, possibly composed by one of the 17th century's star castrati.
Well worthy of further research. (Inventory #: 40331)
With attractive small painting to upper left quadrant of first page depicting a hunter with his hounds attacking a wild boar.
Provenance
Noted British musician and collector William Hayman Cummings (1831-1915), with his distinctive bookplate to verso of free front endpaper. The "Famous Musical Library" of W. H. Cummings was sold by Sotheby's in London in 1917. This manuscript is not specifically described in the catalogue, although lot 322 contained a volume of "Cantate e Duetti" by Bononcini. Recto of free front endpaper with titling in later manuscript and manuscript annotation "Works Excessively rare," together with small extract from 19th century description stating "Vincenzino, original score of ... works are very scarce."
Front free endpaper detached. Moderately foxed. RISM Manuscripts Online records 5 manuscripts of the present work including at The Bodleian Library, Oxford; The Royal Academy of Music, London; and the Newberry Library, Chicago.
Composed in five movements, alternating recitatives and arias. The same text was set by Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor (1640-1705). RISM ID: 455031367.
A highly respected and sought-after singer, Vincenzo [Vincenzino] Olivicianni (1647-1726) began his career in the employ of the Medici, followed by decades of service to the Habsburgs. He studied with Giacomo Carissimi (1605-1674) and was championed by Antonio Cesti (1623-1669), making his opera debut in Florence in 1661 in Cesti's Orontea and appearing in the premiere of his Il Pomo D'Oro, a seminal work in the history of opera. Vincenzino also sang in Bononcini's La Presa di Tebe (Vienna, 1708).
The titling of the manuscript implies that Vincenzino performed this work. There is, however, the possibility that, given Vincenzino's association with Bononcini in later life, Bononcini's infamous plagiarism of another composer's work (Antonio Lotti), and the cantata text's alternate setting by Leopold I, Vincenzino's employer, the present cantata may, in fact, be a rare work of the celebrated castrato instead, hiding in plain sight for over 300 years.
An attractive and imaginative work, possibly composed by one of the 17th century's star castrati.
Well worthy of further research. (Inventory #: 40331)
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