Dissertation sur les differentes Methodes d'Accompagnement pour le Clavecin ou pour l'orgue; avec le plan d'une Nouvelle Methode etablie sur une Mechanique des Doigts, que fournit la Succession fondamentalle de l'harmonie, et a l'aide de laquelle on peut Devenir Sçavant Compositeur, et habile Accompagnateur, meme Sçavoir lire la Musique. Par Monsieur Rameau. Contemporary manuscript copy

RAMEAU, Jean-Philippe 1683-1764

Publication Date: 1770

About this Item

Folio (31 x 21 cm). Contemporary stiff marbled wrappers. 1f. (recto title, verso blank), 73, [i] (blank) pp., 1f. (recto contents, verso blank). With 1f. of contemporary manuscript on different paper inserted between pp. 40 and 41 with instructions "Pour trouver la Basse fondamentale quand la Basse Continue est chiffre." Watermark of a bunch of grapes, letters "IP" above "[?]Cazele." Very carefully executed in a neat contemporary hand. With several corrections. Wrappers slightly worn and soiled. Uniform light browning; occasional foxing and minor stains; small hole to upper outer margin of three leaves, just slightly affecting marginal notes to one page. Conforms to the first edition of 1732, but without the Privilege following the title or the Approbation on the final leaf. The Dissertation was first mentioned in the preface to Rameau's Pieces de clavessin (1724) and first published in Paris by Boivin and Le Clerc in 1732 and later by Bailleux in ca. 1766, both in editions of 64 pp. The work represents an expansion of the author's 1724 remarks, and offers important considerable commentary on contemporary performance practice, e.g.: "The executant, he says, when he first seats himself should have his elbows higher than the keyboard, and his hands should drop on to it by the mere natural movement of the wrist joints. provided the thumb and fifth finger can touch the edges of the keys, the elbows can never be too high. Once the thumb and fifth finger are on the keys his elbows must drop easily against his sides in their natural position and should normally remain there. The wrist should always remain supple, the fingers should fall on the keys, not strike them, and their motion should flow from one to the other. The weight of the hand should never rest on the fingers; the passage of the thumb under the fingers is prescribed - 'cette manière est excellente.' As one acquires assurance the height of the seat should be lowered till the elbows are a little below the level of the keyboard; thus will the hands remain as it were glued to the keyboard and acquire a desirable legato." Girdlestone p. 28. Both the first and second published editions of this work are quite rare, with no copies recorded at auction on either RBH or ABSA. Seller Inventory # 39861

Bibliographic Details

Title: Dissertation sur les differentes Methodes ...

Publication Date: 1770

Binding: Soft cover

Edition: 1st Edition