Six Suits of Lessons for the Harpsichord Compos'd by Mr. Smith Author of the Opera call'd The Fairies. Opera Terza
- London: Printed for I. Walsh in Catharine Street in the Strand, 1755
London: Printed for I. Walsh in Catharine Street in the Strand, 1755. Oblong folio. Disbound. Contemporary half mid-tan calf with marbled boards, title in contemporary brown ink to upper. 1f. (recto title, verso blank), 41, [i] (blank) pp. Engraved throughout.
With "Anna Sophia Egerton" in contemporary manuscript to front pastedown.
Binding worn, rubbed, and bumped; upper detached. Title detached; occasional minor soiling to margins and scattered foxing and stains. First Edition, first issue. Smith & Humphries 1377. BUC p. 959. RISM S3679 (giving precedence to the second issue).
Smith, an English composer of German birth, was the son of Johann Christoph Schmidt (John Christopher Smith Sr., d. 1763), Handel's first copyist in London; the younger Smith became Handel's secretary, musical assistant, and amanuensis in Handel's later years when blindness hampered the great composer's writing and conducting activities.
"Smith, according to Burney, was a 'studious and cultivated man, and much esteemed by many of the first people in the kingdom.' " Barbara Small in Grove Music Online
Smith's harpsichord suites, replete with fashionable galant melodies, ornaments, and syncopation, as well as athletic effects like hand-crossing and rapid exchanges of the hands, were clearly influenced by Handel, Rameau, and Domenico Scarlatti. He succeeds at creating imaginative and original keyboard works, with his influences serving as a jumping off point.
A handsomely printed edition of Smith's lively and creative contribution to galant keyboard literature.
With "Anna Sophia Egerton" in contemporary manuscript to front pastedown.
Binding worn, rubbed, and bumped; upper detached. Title detached; occasional minor soiling to margins and scattered foxing and stains. First Edition, first issue. Smith & Humphries 1377. BUC p. 959. RISM S3679 (giving precedence to the second issue).
Smith, an English composer of German birth, was the son of Johann Christoph Schmidt (John Christopher Smith Sr., d. 1763), Handel's first copyist in London; the younger Smith became Handel's secretary, musical assistant, and amanuensis in Handel's later years when blindness hampered the great composer's writing and conducting activities.
"Smith, according to Burney, was a 'studious and cultivated man, and much esteemed by many of the first people in the kingdom.' " Barbara Small in Grove Music Online
Smith's harpsichord suites, replete with fashionable galant melodies, ornaments, and syncopation, as well as athletic effects like hand-crossing and rapid exchanges of the hands, were clearly influenced by Handel, Rameau, and Domenico Scarlatti. He succeeds at creating imaginative and original keyboard works, with his influences serving as a jumping off point.
A handsomely printed edition of Smith's lively and creative contribution to galant keyboard literature.
Details
Title
Six Suits of Lessons for the Harpsichord Compos'd by Mr. Smith Author of the Opera call'd The Fairies. Opera Terza
Author
SMITH, John Christopher 1712-1795
Condition
Unknown
Publisher
Printed for I. Walsh in Catharine Street in the Strand: London
Date
1755