This is a ca. 1750 copy of "Le piacevoli poesie di Giuseppe Baretti" (The Pleasing Poetry of Giuseppe Baretti). Although Baretti is primarily remembered for his frequent travels throughout Italy, England, France, and Portugal, which he recounted in his "Lettere familiari ai suoi tre fratelli," he was also a scholar, linguist, poet, translator, and journalist. He wrote "Le piacevoli poesie di Giuseppe Baretti" in 1750. The poetry imitated the style of Fancesco Berni, a 16th-century Italian poet who wrote parodies and burlesque letters-much of it obscene in nature. The introduction of this work was written by the Venetian Count Gasparo Gozzi, himself a poet, prose writer, journalist, critic, and also the brother of Baretti's friend, Carlo Gozzi. The library's copy of "Le piacevoli poesie" is bound with the following librettos: "Ifigenia in Aulide" by Vittorio Amedeo Cigna-Santi; “Catone in Utica,” by Pietro Metastasio; "Sofonisba" by Mattia Verazi; and "Arianne e Teseo" by Pietro Pariati.

This is a copy of a ca. 1768 edition of Isaac Bickerstaff libretto for the two-act English comic opera "The Paddlock" by Charles Dibdin. The plot is an adaptation of Miguel de Cervantes's "El celoso extremeño" (translated as, The Jealous Estremaduran). The t.p. features a vignette signed by IJ Taylor [possibly by the London engraver Isaac Taylor (1730-1807)] with four infants. The one at the center is holding several keys and is playing horse riding with a walking stick that has a padlock attached to it. In the story, Don Diego, a rich old man, hopes to marry the young Leonora and locks her inside his house using a large padlock on the front door. After bribing the servants, the younger suitor, Leander, climbs over the garden wall to court Leonora. Don Diego returns unexpectedly and catches the lovers, but allows the young couple to wed acknowledging that he is too old for Leonora.

Libretto of the 1691 "Coronis," a French lyrical genre called pastorale-heroïque, representing the love of nobles or gods often disguised as shepherds (or shepherdesses) in Arcadian settings. Daniel-Paul Chappuzeau de Baugé wrote the libretto and Teobaldo de Gatti composed its music.

This is a ca. 1762 copy of the libretto of "Ifigenia in Aulide," by Vittorio Amedeo Cigna-Santi, the principal librettist at the Teatro Regio in Turin. Cigna-Santi's libretto is an adaptation of Euripide's story of Ifigenia, the daughter of the king of Argos, Agamemnon. The goddess Diana decreed that Ifigenia had to be sacrificed in order to guarantee fair winds for the king's fleet on their journey to Troy. Achilles, rushed to save Ifigenia, his wedding bride, but Diana, moved by Ifigenia's obedience, spared her life before the priest killed her. Ferdinando Giuseppe Bertoni set this libretto to music for the 1762 carnival season in Turin. According to scholar George Hollis, the surviving arias of Ifigenia in Aulide are technically demanding and contain florid and lengthy passages in the tradition of opera seria. The library's copy of "Ifigenia in Aulide"is bound with the following librettos: "Catone in Utica," by Pietro Metastasio; "Sofonisba" by Mattia Verazi; "Arianne e Teseo" by Pietro Pariati; and "Le piacevoli poesie" by Gasparo Gozzi.

Manual describing musical composition for beginners. The manual is divided in 9 chapters and includes 479 musical examples engraved in 59 pages at the end of the book, as well as four plates with figures (plate no. II appears at the beginning of the book. The musical examples cover the following subjects: scales, intervals (diatonic and chromatic) and their inversion, counterpoint rules, harmonic progressions, use of non-harmonic tones (suspensions, passing notes, appoggiaturas, and upper-lower neighbor. It also includes several examples taken from Handel's "Dettingen Te Deum," "Messiah," and from Haydn's oratorio "Creation," among others.

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.

This is a digital reproduction of the 1688 libretto of the opera "Zephire et Flore" by Michel Du Boullay. The music of the opera is attributed to Louis and Jean-Louis Lully, sons of Jean-Baptiste Lully. It was performed for the first time on March 22, 1688 at the Palais Royale in Paris.

This is a ca. 1857 copy of the libretto of Jeannot et Colin, an opera by Charles Etienne with music by Nicolo Isouard. The opera premiered in Paris at the theater of the Opéra-Comique on 17 October 1814. The expressive melodies of the opera as well as its performers ensured its success. The opera was staged again on 14 October 1857. The first page of the library's copy contain the names of the performers that participated in both productions.

Libretto of the opera "Enée et Lavinie" by Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle. Pascal Collasse composed the music of the opera which premiered on November 7, 1690. The plot, which Bovier de Fontenelle adapted from Virgil's "Aeneid, Book vii," revolves around the marriage of Enée (i.e., Aeneas) to the Latin bride Lavinia.

Libretto of the opera "Thetis et Pelée" by Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle. In the plot, the Nereid Thetis is wooed by Jupiter and Neptune, as well as by a mortal, Pelée (Peleus). When a storm caused by Neptune disrupts a celebration Jupiter gave in honor of Thetis, an oracle is consulted, which foretells that Thetis's husband will one day be less powerful than his son. Neptune and Jupiter withdraw their claims, and Thetis marries Pelée. Pascal Collasse composed the music of the opera which premiered at the Paris Opéra on January 11, 1689. This copy includes an engraved frontispiece titled, "Thetis et Pelée" by Juan Dolivar (undersigned as J. Dolivart).

This is a 1689 copy of Girolamo Gigli's three-act libretto for the opera "La Fede ne' tradimenti," set to music by Giuseppe Fabbrini for the 1689 Carnival season at the Collegio Tolomei in Siena, Italy.

This is a ca. 1685 copy of the three-act libretto of "La Geneviefa" by Girolamo Gigli. The work was dedicated to Prince Francesco Maria of Toscana. The Sienese composer Giuseppe Fabbrini set the libretto to music for an opera staged at the theater of the Collegio Tolomei in Siena. Although the music of the opera is lost, the remark, "Il Sign. Giuseppe Fabrini, che ha data l'anima al verso con l'armonia della musica ..." in the preface of the libretto confirms Fabbrini's setting it to music. Concerning Fabbrini's operas, the Grove Music states that, "His operas to librettos by Gigli were all written for the college theatre which opened in 1685." The opera "La Genefieva" premiered that same year in February.

According to Grove Music, Gigli's 'Amore fra gli impossibili' is an eccentric work where "the pastoral setting is disturbed by mythological references and the addition of the characters Don Chisciotte and Coriandolo, in an ironic and grotesque atmosphere."

This is a copy of the fourth volume of "Dictionary of Music and Musicians," edited by Sir George Grove. This volume, published in 1890, is an encyclopedic work that contains the biographies of well-known composers as well as articles contributed by various authors on music topics, concepts and definitions starting alphabetically from: "S" (continuation of the article about the Medieval rota, "Sume is icumen in" that appears on vol. 3) to "Z" (starting with the singer, Zur Mühlen, Raimund von).

This is a copy of the first volume of "Dictionary of Music and Musicians," edited by Sir George Grove. This volume, published in 1879, is an encyclopedic work that contains the biographies of well-known composers as well as articles contributed by various authors on music topics, concepts and definitions starting alphabetically from: "A" (i.e., the sixth note in the scale of C major) to "I" (impromptu). The names of contributing authors appear in a list on pp.[vii]-viii), signed "Bedford Street, Covent Garden, April 1, 1879." The titles of volumes I and II, indicate that the dictionary was issued in three volumes. However, the titles of the third and fourth volumes changed that statement to indicate that the publication of the dictionary was in four volumes.

This is a copy of the second volume of "Dictionary of Music and Musicians," edited by Sir George Grove. This volume, published in 1880, is an encyclopedic work that contains the biographies of well-known composers as well as articles contributed by various authors on music topics, concepts and definitions starting alphabetically from: "I" (improperia) to "P" (plain song). The names of contributing authors appear in a list on pp.[v]-vii, signed "Bedford Street, Covent Garden, October 1, 1880." The titles of volumes I and II, indicate that the dictionary was issued in three volumes. However, the titles of the third and fourth volumes changed that statement to indicate that the publication of the dictionary was in four volumes.

This is a copy of the third volume of "Dictionary of Music and Musicians," edited by Sir George Grove. This volume, published in 1883, is an encyclopedic work that contains the biographies of well-known composers as well as articles contributed by various authors on music topics, concepts and definitions starting alphabetically from: "P" (Planché, James Robinson) to "S" (the title of the Medieval rota, "Sume is icumen in"). The names of contributing authors appear in a list on pp.[v]-vii, signed "29 Bedford Street, Covent Garden, July, 1883." The titles of volumes I and II, indicate that the dictionary was issued in three volumes. However, the titles of the third and fourth volumes changed that statement to indicate that the publication of the dictionary was in four volumes.

Libretto of the 1691 opera "Astrée" by Jean de la Fontaine. Pascal Collasse composed the music of the opera which premiered under the title "Astrée et Céladon" on November 25, 1692.

This is a 1766 copy of the libretto of the one-act comic opera "Le cadi dupé" (The duped judge), by Pierre René Lemonnier to music by Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny. The first performance of the opera took place at the Paris Foire St-Germain on 4 February 1761. Christoph Willibald Gluck's music replaced that of Monsigny's for the 8 December 1761 performance at the Burgtheater in Vienna.

Copy of the first of three volumes of "Storia della musica" (Music History) containing eleven chapters and three dissertations. The text describes various topics related to music history including music classification, early music in biblical descriptions, music theories, singing and harmonies, church music, and musical notations.

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.

This is a copy of the third of three volumes of "Storia della musica" (Music History), including numerous figures, musical examples demonstrating theoretical concepts of Greek music, and footnotes. It divided as follows: ch.1 - Greek music (pp. 1-24); ch.2 - Poetics, music and drama (pp. 25-90); ch.3 Dramatic poetry (pp. 91-148); ch.4 - Medieval and new dramatic poetry (pp.149-169); ch.5 - Music in Greek tragedy and drama (pp. 170-197); ch. 6 - Illustrious Greek music teachers (pp.198-268); ch.7 Greek philosophers on music (pp.269-369); ch.8 - Greek music theory practice (pp.370-440); Dissertation on the prodigious effect produced by antique Greek music (pp.[419]-440); Index of people mentioned in the volume (pp.441-445); Index of authors with short biography, in alphabetical order (pp445-458); Errata (p. 459).

This is a ca. 1763 copy of the libretto of "Catone in Utica," by Metastasio. Gian Francesco de Majo set this libretto to music for the 1763 carnival season in Turin. In this story, Caesar and Fulvio meet Cato, Utica's ruler, and offer him a peace truce, but Emilia, Pompey's widow, suspects treachery and plots to murder Caesar. Cato rejects a Senate's order for a reconciliation with Caesar and demands that Caesar surrender his dictatorial powers. Marzia, Cato's daughter, promised in marriage to Arbace, is in love with Caesar and pleas to her father to deter him from waging war. Arbace, who feels that his love for Marcia was betrayed, is lured by Emilia into an assassination attempt on Caesar. Fulvio is led to believe that Emilia will attempt on Caesar's life as he leaves by the gate of the city and advises him to take a secret path only to discover that Emilia used him to deliver Caesar into the hands of her followers. As Fulvio announces the victory of Caesar's armies in Utica, Cato stabs himself and before dying grants forgiveness to Marcia on condition that she swear loyalty to Arbaces and hatred towards Caesar. The library's copy …

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.