Danse Cosaque, with Twelve Variations for the Piano Forte. Composed & Dedicated to Miss Louisa C. S. Hamilton

[London]: Printed for the Author, 1813. Small oblong folio.  260 x 355 mm., [10 ¼ x 14 inches].  11 pp.  Text entirely engraved by Thomas Skillern Jun.  Stitched as issued. First leaf and margins soiled by dust; edges curled at corners and spine.  Unsophisticated copy in original condition.
First edition.  Italian composer Giacomo Gotifredo Ferrari (1763-1842) moved to London in 1792 “where he met Hayden and Clementi and quickly became a leading singing teacher, with the Princess of Wales among his pupils.  On 14 of May 1799 his one-act opera I due svizzeri was successfully performed; this was followed by Il Rinaldo (truncated) d’Asti (1801), L’Eroina di Raab (1814) a vehicle for [Angelica] Catalani, and Lo Sbaglio Forunato (1817)” (New Grove).
Danse Cosaque was written and performed during a period when the Russian people were fighting Napoleon in Russia.  The British public was especially focused on the bravery of the Russian people as they repulsed the advances of the French army.  The Time of London and other newspapers throughout England published stories of Russian resistance and reported on the feats of bravery that were told to editors by Russian emigres who came to England.  In addition to this lively rendition of Russian thematic dance music, Ferrari comped opera’s ballets, piano concertos and sonatas, and books on the Italian opera and music theory and practice.  He published an autobiography titled Aneddotti piacevoli e interessanti occorsi nella vita di Giacomo Gotifredo Ferrari da Rovereto, published in London in 1830.
Rare:  OCLC list copies at the British Library and the Newberry Library only.
Alfred Loewenberg, Grove Music Online, (2001).  Philip Longworth, The Cossacks, p. 241.  . (Inventory #: 1355)