Music Manuscript from the 18th Century music manuscript Start Price USD 6,000.00 Current Price USD 6,000.00 Time Left - Bid Count 0 Buy It Now Price - Reserve Price - Start Time Friday, October 10, 2008 End Time Sunday, November 09, 2008 Location Princeton, NJ See more about 'Music Manuscript from the 18th Century' Description For sale is a 228-page musical score from the eighteenth century (1783-1785).  The work is a beautiful missa solemnis by famed Mannheim Composer and Mozart colleague Franz Xaver Richter (1709-1789).  The mass is for soloists, choir, and small orchestra. Richter is known for his hand in the creation and defining of the Mannheim School of Composition.  Richter wrote this particular work while he was Capellmeister at the Strasbourg Cathedral, his final place of employment- and a ppost most envied by fellow composer W. A. Mozart, as can be seen in Mozart's letters to his father during his concert tour of France.  The score includes a hand-watercolored engraved print of Richter conducting, done by French artist Christoph Guerin. It is etched and signed 1785. Also, there is a watercolor titlepage that has been pasted over the orginal title page. The original title page bears Richter's signature in the bottom right hand corner.  The score is beautifully bound ( probably in the 19th century) and bears no signs of aging. It is in perfect condition. Because of its binding and condition, it is believed that this score might have been used as a presentation score or as a gift. On of Richter's closest friends was an Abbot in the neighboring village of St Die.  His name, Abbe Larminach, is on the watercolor titlepage, indicating ownership. The manuscript was more likely than not part of a private collection of Richter's music held by the abbot. Curiously, St Die is also where a Vespucci map with the first indication of our country's name resides. The Monastary was a wealth of resource materials untl the first and second world wars, when most scores, chant books and maps were destoyed. This score, however, was spared. How, we don't know.     Since Richter was born in 1709, 2009 will be a celebration year for him as it is his 300th anniversary. Concerts, recordings, and publications of Richter's music is forthcoming. This particular score was used in preparation for the latest publication of this Richter mass which can be found at www.carusverlag.com. This particualr piece received it's world premier in NYC on October 16th 2008 by the Choir of Men and Boys at St Thomas Church, Fifth Avenue. See the New York Times review: But the evening’s great curiosity — if hardly the highlight, in a program that included Mozart’s Requiem and “Ave Verum Corpus” — was a Mass in A (“Missa Hyemalis,” or “Winter Mass”) by Franz Xaver Richter. Richter was a leading light in the 18th-century Mannheim School, which formatively influenced the Viennese Classical style. Mozart knew him from an extended visit to Strasbourg, where Richter directed music at the cathedral, and evidently respected him enough to name a son after him. Richter wrote 34 Masses, and this was the American premiere of the “Missa Hyemalis,” according to Michael J. Diorio, who prepared the edition heard here and furnished program notes. It is an attractive and inventive work, its felicities starting with surprising little twiddles from the woodwinds and horns in the Kyrie. Serious buyers/ collectors only, please. The sale is final. No returns. Place a Bid!