L’épreuve villageoise started out as Théodore et Paulin before Grétry convinced Desforges to rewrite the libretto. The original three-act opera was reduced to two acts, and the improbabilities of the original plot were reworked. Théodore et Paulin received one performance at Versailles on 5 March 1784, but it was never published. L’épreuve villageoise appeared at the Comédie-Italienne on 24 June 1784. This revision remained one of the most popular of Grétry’s opéra-comiques, receiving performances throughout the nineteenth century.

The story of Atys was first known operatically through Lully’s opera that premiered in 1676 at the court of St Germain-en-Laye. Marmontel adapted Quinault’s libretto and modified it by removing the prologue and divertissements. He also altered the plot; in lieu of Ovid’s metamorphic ending (to which Quinault had adhered), Atys commits suicide.

The contrast between Piccinni and Gluck can perhaps best be illustrated with Iphigénie en Tauride, as Piccinni’s opera appeared just two years after Gluck’s work on the same subject. In fact, supporters of Piccinni (“Piccinnistes”) hoped that the Italian composer would demonstrate the superiority of his style with Iphigénie, and scholars have used these settings to illustrate the difference between the two composers.

Panurge, like Colinette à la cour, features recitative, rather than spoken dialogue. In his memoirs, Grétry recognized Panurge for being the first comic opera to enjoy a successful run at the Opéra, and he saw it as a turning point for this theater, which traditionally presented serious plots (Grétry, Memoires; ou, Essais sur la musique, 377). The overture to Panurge was featured on concerts in the nineteenth century, and although the opera eventually disappeared from the repertoire, its long stint was noted as late as 1866, by which time it was no longer being performed (Crozet, Revue de la musique dramatique en France, 275-76).

Paisiello’s Il barbiere di Siviglia was based on the first play, Le barbier de Séville, ou La precaution inutile (1772), of Beaumarchais’s famous trilogy. The controversial commentary on aristocracy caused the play to be banned from the stage for three years. The ban was lifted in 1775 and the work premiered that same year; Beaumarchais finally saw the work performed in 1780 when he was employed by Catherine II in St. Petersburg. Although Rossini’s later opera (of 1816) is more familiar today, Paisiello’s rendition was extremely popular throughout Europe during its time. The work was first performed in St. Petersburg in September of 1782.

This is the second of a five-volume anthology featuring 160 arias and songs from various oratorios by G. F. Handel. The vocal score contains musical selections arranged for 1-2 voices with unrealized figured bass intended for harpsichord (continuo), oboe, or flute accompaniment. The English text is printed between the treble and bass, or alto staves. A publisher's note in the t.p. announced the availability of instrumental parts are available separately for concerts. The table of content that follows after the t.p. indicates the titles of the oratorio from which the arias and songs were taken. The songs are numbered continuously from 81-160 paginated from 172-332.

This is the third volume of a five-volume anthology featuring arias and songs from various oratorios by G. F. Handel. The vocal score contains musical selections arranged for 1-2 voices with unrealized figured bass intended for harpsichord (continuo), oboe, or flute accompaniment. The English text is printed between the treble and bass, or alto staves. A publisher's note on the t.p. announced the availability of instrumental parts sold separately. The table of content indicates the oratorio from which the arias and songs were taken. The songs are numbered continuously from 161-240 paginated from 334-498.

This is a copy of Giovanni Battista Casti's libretto for the comic opera "Prima la musica e poi le parole". On the back of the t.p. appears a list of characters and names Antonio Salieri as the composer of the music. The one-act opera was commissioned by Emperor Joseph II. Members of the Burgtheater's Italian troupe premiered it at the Schönbrunn Palace on February 7, 1786. The library's copy is bound with the libretto of Zaccaria Valaresso's "Rutzvanscad, il giovine."

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).

Lucile Grétry’s opera Le mariage d’Antonio premiered in Paris when she was a mere fourteen years old. As the second daughter of André-Ernest-Modeste Grétry, she was afforded lessons at a young age in counterpoint and declamation. Her father supplied the orchestral parts for her comédie mêlée d’ariettes after Lucile had composed the vocal, bass, and harp parts. Although Le mariage d’Antonio was a modest success, Lucile’s second endeavor, a divertissement mêlée d’ariettes entitled Toinette et Louis (1787), did not receive the same positive attention. The young composer died from tuberculosis before she could establish herself further at the Comédie-Italienne.

As with many French operas, Rousseau’s Le devin du village was first staged for the court, appearing at Fountainebleau on 18 October 1752. The work was then performed at the Paris Opéra on 1 March 1753. The historical importance of this short intermè is closely tied to its role in the famous Querelle de bouffons, a debate about the merits of French serious opera in comparison to Italian comic opera (especially Pergolesi’s La serva padrona).

Second violin parts for Sei quartetti per due violini, alto e violoncello obbligati, Dedicati a veri dilettanti e conscitori di musica, opera I ; Sei divertimenti per due violini, alto e violoncello, opera XI, libro quarto di quartetti ; Six quatuors à deux violons, viole et basse obligés, oeuvre XXXII / Boccherini. Trois quatuors nouveaux pour deux violons, alto, et basse, op. 37 ; Trois quatuors pour deux violons, alto, et basse / Mozart. Bound subsequent to publication.

First violin parts for Sei quartetti per due violini, alto e violoncello obbligati, Dedicati a veri dilettanti e conscitori di musica, opera I ; Sei divertimenti per due violini, alto e violoncello, opera XI, libro quarto di quartetti ; Six quatuors à deux violons, viole et basse obligés, oeuvre XXXII / Boccherini. Trois quatuors nouveaux pour deux violons, alto, et basse, op. 37 ; Trois quatuors pour deux violons, alto, et basse / Mozart. Bound subsequent to publication.

Viola parts for Sei quartetti per due violini, alto e violoncello obbligati, Dedicati a veri dilettanti e conscitori di musica, opera I ; Sei divertimenti per due violini, alto e violoncello, opera XI, libro quarto di quartetti ; Six quatuors à deux violons, viole et basse obligés, oeuvre XXXII / Boccherini. Trois quatuors nouveaux pour deux violons, alto, et basse, op. 37 ; Trois quatuors pour deux violons, alto, et basse / Mozart. Bound subsequent to publication.

Basso parts for Sei quartetti per due violini, alto e violoncello obbligati, Dedicati a veri dilettanti e conscitori di musica, opera I ; Sei divertimenti per due violini, alto e violoncello, opera XI, libro quarto di quartetti ; Six quatuors à deux violons, viole et basse obligés, oeuvre XXXII / Boccherini. Trois quatuors nouveaux pour deux violons, alto, et basse, op. 37 ; Trois quatuors pour deux violons, alto, et basse / Mozart. Bound subsequent to publication.

A music theory book, giving basic instructions for singing scales, intervals and chants.

During his early career, Champein was known for church music composed while he worked as music master at the collegiate church in Pignon (in the southern Provence region of France). He moved to Paris and established himself as an operatic composer; La mélomanie (1781) is one of his most famous operas, and it remained in the repertoire at the Opéra-Comique until 1829. La mélomanie actually mocks the debate between French and Italian styles of music, with Fugantini as an Italian who is rejected by the French Elise. References to harmony (a French feature) and melody (emphasized by advocates of Italian music) abound in the opera.

The story of Atys was first known operatically through Lully’s opera that premiered in 1676 at the court of St Germain-en-Laye. Marmontel adapted Quinault’s libretto and modified it by removing the prologue and divertissements. He also altered the plot; in lieu of Ovid’s metamorphic ending (to which Quinault had adhered), Atys commits suicide.

Armide was premiered at the Paris Opéra on September 23, 1777, recalling the earlier success of Lully’s opera of the same name, which premiered nearly a century earlier on February 15, 1686. After collaborating on several reform operas with Calzabigi, Gluck revived the older dramatic tradition of Quinault (Lully's librettist) by setting the older text in the modern musical style. The seventeenth-century five act model requires more continuous music, with few distinct arias, as well as divertissements and spectacular effects. Gluck also respects the tragic conclusion endemic to the model, avoiding the modern practice of the lieto fine ("happy ending") in which misfortunes are reversed at the last possible moment.

Like Renaud, Sacchini’s second French opera, Dardanus, faced problems due in large part to the composer’s Italian heritage. The opera is based on Rameau’s Dardanus, which had been a topic of earlier dispute between the Lullistes and the Ramistes. After an initially disappointing reception, Dardanus was reduced from four acts to three. In its first form, the opera received only six performances, but the three-act version was performed more than thirty times during the eighteenth century. Dardanus went on to enjoy several productions in the first decade of the nineteenth century.

Antonio Salieri began work on Les Danaïdes upon the recommendation of Gluck, whose health prevented him from fulfilling a commission for the work. Although Salieri was living in Vienna, the tragedie-lyrique was written for the Opéra in Paris, with a libretto by François Louis Gand Leblanc Roullet and Ludwig Theodor Tschudi based on Calzabigi’s Italian libretto.

Armide was premiered at the Paris Opéra on September 23, 1777, recalling the earlier success of Lully’s opera of the same name, which premiered nearly a century earlier on February 15, 1686. After collaborating on several reform operas with Calzabigi, Gluck revived the older dramatic tradition of Quinault (Lully's librettist) by setting the older text in the modern musical style. The seventeenth-century five act model requires more continuous music, with few distinct arias, as well as divertissements and spectacular effects. Gluck also respects the tragic conclusion endemic to the model, avoiding the modern practice of the lieto fine ("happy ending") in which misfortunes are reversed at the last possible moment.

1789 edition of Musikalischer Almanach für Deutschland.

1782 edition of Musikalischer Almanach für Deutschland.