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Oblong folio. Full ivory linen with black title label gilt to spine, dark red endpapers. 1f. (recto series title, verso blank), 1f. (blank), 1f. (facsimile of original engraved title, verso blank), 2ff. (dedications), 1f. ("Al Benigno Lettore!" and "An den geneigsen Leser"), 105, [i] (blank) pp. Monuments of Music and Music Literature in Facsimile. First Series - Music VIII. Muffat, a German composer and organist, "was the leading keyboard composer in Vienna in the early 18th century. . Unlike his versatile father [Georg Muffat], Muffat chose to restrict himself almost exclusively to one field, that of keyboard music. He came at the end of a long line of Baroque organists and keyboard composers working in Vienna and was the only contemporary of Bach there to make a substantial contribution to the keyboard repertory in both quantity and quality. Much of his music remained unpublished and is still not generally known: it covers a wider range of forms than the two published collections alone would suggest. Although he lived until 1770, he belongs musically to the late Baroque period rather than to the age of Haydn; his keyboard works never desert traditional Baroque structures (toccata, complete fugue, dance suite, ciaccona)." Susan Wollenberg in Grove Music Online "Of Handel's German contemporaries, besides Bach, both Johann Mattheson (1681-1764) and Gottlieb Muffat (1690-1770) . wrote suites for the harpsichord. . Muffat's Componimenti . have considerably more character [than Mattheson's suites]. Handel thought sufficiently well of them to borrow extensively from them. . Muffat's suites combine a German richness and solidity of texture with a melodiousness that sometimes suggests Italian influence. They all include a substantial number of movements, some of which have fanciful titles such as "'La Hardiesse' and 'La Coquette'. . There is a considerable variety of style in Muffat's work. Sometimes we seem almost to be in the world of Haydn. . At other times, particularly in the sarabandes, there is a wealth of intimate detail which recalls the keyboard music of Bach. . The courantes are mostly of the Italian type, with many rapid passages. On the other hand several of the opening movements of the first suite have stately introductions in the style of the French overture. The six suites are followed by a chaconne in G major with variations, similar to Handel's two and certainly superior to his second and longer example. Muffat wa, like Handel, thoroughly cosmopolitan. His fugues are not as compelling as those in Handel's suites, but in general the texture is more substantial and more varied." Abraham, ed.: New Oxford History of Music Volume VI, pp. 620-623. The highly attractive original engraved title is a fine example of the influence of the French Rococo on graphic artists of Augsburg, an important center for graphic art at the time. The original edition is one of the most significant and beautifully engraved harpsichord publications of the 18th century.
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