Pigmalion (open access)

Pigmalion

This is the 1773 edition of the libretto to the comic opera and vaudeville, "Pigmalion" by Charles-François Panard and Thomas Laffichard. The opera premiered at the Paris Opéra Comique in 1735 . The plot is an adaptation of Ovid's story of Pygmalion, a sculptor who fell in love with a statue that he carved. Operatic and ballet representation of the subject of Pigmalion (or Pygmalion) became famous after Antoine Houdar de la Motte's entrée "La sculpture" for the ballet "Le triomphe des arts," which staged in 1700 at Académie Royale de Musique with music by Michel de la Barre. Page 16 of this edition was incorrectly numbered as number 10.
Date: 1773
Creator: Panard, Charles-François, d. 1765.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Storia Della Musica: Volume 2 (open access)

Storia Della Musica: Volume 2

Copy of the second of three volumes of "Storia della musica" (Music History) containing nine chapters and three dissertations that talk about music in relation to ancient Greece, such as Greek mythological figures and festivals, Greek theories of music, and unique features of ancient Greek music.
Date: 1770
Creator: Martini, Giovanni Battista, 1706-1784
System: The UNT Digital Library
Momie (open access)

Momie

This is a ca. 1778 libretto for the burlesque opera in three acts "Momie" by a Jean Étiennethat Despréaux. The opera is a parody based on Leblanc du Roullet's libretto of "Iphigénie en Aulide," an opera by Christoph Willibald Gluck. The libretto includes the titles of the tunes at the opening of each scene. Page 6 of the library's copy is incorrectly numbered as page 9.
Date: 1778?
Creator: Despréaux, Jean Étienne, 1748-1820.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Plain and easy introduction to practical music (open access)

Plain and easy introduction to practical music

In 1597, while Morley was negotiating for the patent, he wrote his musical treatise, A Plaine and Easie Introduction to Practicall Musicke. Although his preface contains the statement that he had “nothing better to do,” Morley probably knew publishing a treatise on the science of music would boost public interest in purchasing musical works. In addition, by publishing such a work, the English audience would view Morley as an authority in music (and he would become more likely to obtain the patent) (Smith, “Print Culture and the Elizabethan Composer,” 163). The work is practical, and is organized into three sections: teaching to sing simple song, teaching to sing two parts over a plainsong or ground, and teaching counterpoint.
Date: 1771
Creator: Morley, Thomas, 1557-1603?
System: The UNT Digital Library