Le Reine Indigo; Opéra-bouffe en 3 actes et 4 tableaux. paroles de M.M.A. Jaime et V. Wilder. Musique de Johann Strauss de Vienne. Grand succès de Théâtre de la Renaissance by STRAUSS, Johann (Son) 1825-1899 - 1875

Wien: Tobias Haslinger [PN] T.H. 7061, 1837. Oblong folio. Unbound as issued. 10 pp. Engraved. With decorative vignette to title. Slightly soiled. First Edition. Weinmann p. 18. Schonherr & Reinöhl pp. 140-142.

5 pp. Folio (355 x 280 mm.). Notated in pencil with additional markings in coloured ink. Signed and dated 2007. Tsontakis studied with Hugo Weisgall, Felix Greissle, and Roger Sessions. His honours include the Charles Ives Living Award, the Grawemeyer, two Kennedy Center Friedheim Awards (1989, 1992), a lifetime achievement award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters (1995), a Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, (1996) and numerous commissions. "[His] early works are written in a dissonant chromatic idiom not unlike that of Sessions. His musical language soon shifted, however, towards a classically-influenced style characterized by large-scale harmonic prolongations and what he calls 'the timeless gesture', a reference to the past through evocation rather than quotation. With the String Quartet no. 3 'Carragio' (1986) he arrived at an idiosyncratic tonal language propelled by a non-minimalist, Beethovenian use of repetition. Another primary feature of his work, particularly notable in the… Read More

Venezia: Pasquali, 1755. Small quarto. Quarter vellum with dark orange decorative title label gilt to spine. 4ff., 1,016 columns (= 508 pp.), including the supplement (columns 837-946), additions and corrections (947-950), and an index of authors (951-1016). With a fine woodcut device to title and occasional woodcut head- and tailpieces. A very good, wide-margined, uncut copy, with only occasional minor foxing and staining. Second edition, substantially revised and expanded. Cortot, p. 4. Hirsch I, Anh. 2. Wolffheim II, 908. Gregory-Bartlett I, 12. RISM BVI, p. 81. "A compendious and surprisingly accurate list of dramatic works of all kinds, including opera librettos, published in Italy; it also lists many unpublished works." Thomas Walker in Grove Music Online Allacci's bibliography of plays, operas, and ballets was first published in 1666 and revised by Giovanni Cendoni, Apostolo Zeno, and others for this updated edition of 1755.

Berlin: Adolph Fürstner [PN A.5654F.], 1935. Folio. Original publisher's full gray cloth. [i] (title), [ii] (blank), [iii] ("Dramatis Personae"), [iv] (blank), [5]-250 pp. Text in German. With illustration by Lovis Corinth to page [5]. Binding very slightly worn and rubbed. Trenner 223. Mueller von Asow p. 409. First performed on January 25, 1909 at the Königlichen Opernhaus in Dresden under Ernst von Schuch. "[Elektra] ... marked the beginning of [Strauss's] artistic association with Hugo von Hofmannsthal, whom he had first met in Berlin in 1899. Having seen Reinhardt's riveting production of Hofmannsthal's Elektra in the autumn of 1905, Strauss was convinced the play would make a compelling opera. Not entirely sure he should compose consecutive tragedies, he nonetheless gave in to Hofmannsthal's pleading and vigorously began composing Elektra in the summer of 1906. As he had with Oscar Wilde's Salome, he set the play to music, which was finished in 1908 and given its première in 1909 as… Read More

1 page. Octavo (ca. 168 x 122 mm). Dated Thursday evening. On mourning stationery. In French (with translation). "I have to attend [?Louis] Laloy's premiere; naturally that is tomorrow, on Friday ... Would you change the enclosed tickets for Saturday? Thanks again ..." Slightly worn and browned; creased at folds and upper outer corner of final blank folio; small rust stain from paper clip to inner margin of final folio, not affecting text. "One of the most important musicians of his time, [Debussy's] harmonic innovations had a profound influence on generations of composers. He made a decisive move away from Wagnerism in his only complete opera Pelléas et Mélisande, and in his works for piano and for orchestra he created new genres and revealed a range of timbre and colour which indicated a highly original musical aesthetic." François Lesure and Roy Howat in Grove Music Online. "Laloy [1874-1944] was a noted defender of contemporary French music and was a close friend of, and mediator between,… Read More

Wien: Tobias Haslinger's Witwe u. Sohn. [PN T. H. 9651], 1844. Oblong folio. Unbound as issued. 1f. (title), 3-11 pp. Engraved. With small vignette to title. Spine reinforced. Slightly foxed and dampstained. First Edition. Weinmann p. 29.

Wien: Pietro Mechetti qm Carlo [PN P.M. No. 2772], 1836. Oblong folio. Disbound. 1f. (title), 3-11 pp. Engraved. Decorative title with dedicatee's coat of arms. Trimmed; slightly dampstained. First Edition. Weinmann Mechetti catalog p. 70.

5 pp. Folio (355 x 280 mm.). Notated in pencil with additional markings in coloured ink. Signed and dated 2007. Tsontakis studied with Hugo Weisgall, Felix Greissle, and Roger Sessions. His honours include the Charles Ives Living Award, the Grawemeyer, two Kennedy Center Friedheim Awards (1989, 1992), a lifetime achievement award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters (1995), a Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, (1996) and numerous commissions. "[His] early works are written in a dissonant chromatic idiom not unlike that of Sessions. His musical language soon shifted, however, towards a classically-influenced style characterized by large-scale harmonic prolongations and what he calls 'the timeless gesture', a reference to the past through evocation rather than quotation. With the String Quartet no. 3 'Carragio' (1986) he arrived at an idiosyncratic tonal language propelled by a non-minimalist, Beethovenian use of repetition. Another primary feature of his work, particularly notable in the… Read More

2 pp. Quarto. Foss identifies this work as having been composed in 1941 with a performance time of 3 minutes, with copyright held by Ruth Yorek and performance rights being controlled by the composer. The "singers required" are noted as "any number of school children voices and a teacher..." and the instrumentation as "piano 4 hands or piano 2 hands, drum ad. lib. (played by a child)." The program is identified as "a bunch of children making a lot of noise. The teacher convinces them after some struggle to turn their noise into music, into singing." "For all their diverse styles, Foss's works spring from a distinct personality: enthusiastic, curious and receptive to every kind of musical idea. Not coincidentally, these are the same attitudes he instilled in audiences with his performances of the classical repertory and new music. In short, he was one of his era's most communicative and representative composer-performers." Gilbert Chase and David Wright in Grove Music Online. An interesting… Read More

Oblong quarto (278 x 208 mm). Unbound, folded. 29 pp. + 2 pp. of additional manuscript apparently not included in the final version. Notated in pencil on 16-stave paper. Signed and dated New York, Jan-April 1997. Supreme Virtue was commissioned by the Dale Warland Singers with the support of the Jerome Foundation and the Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University. The Dale Warland Singers premiered the work in Minneapolis in June 2000. The text consists of an English translation by Stephen Mitchell of verses from the "Tao te Ching." It was first recorded by the Seattle-based chamber choir Esoterics on the Terpsichore label in the winter of 2008. "For a few years I was the tenor section leader of a choir in Washington, and in singing with and composing for them I'd become more and more interested in the quasi-instrumental vocal gesture. Stephen Mitchell's pellucid translation of this verse of the Tao te ching - a series of moral challenges all beginning with the words "Can you?" - spurred me to… Read More