The Score of the Four Operas, Containing 48 Sonatas [Opera I-IV] ... For two Violins and a Bass. N.B. The First and Third Opera being Compos'd for a Violoncello and Thorough Bass, of which the Variation being but little, they are put on the same Stave for the greater Facility in reading. These Compositions as they are now Printed in Score, are of great advantage to all Students, and Practitioners in Musick, they also make compleat Lessons for the Harpsicord. The whole Revis'd and Carefully Corrected by Dr. Pepusch. Vol. I ... No. 550. [Full score]

London: Printed for & Sold by I: Walsh, Musick Printer, & Instrument maker to his Majesty, at the Harp & Hoboy, in Catherine Street, in the Strand. Where may be had a new Edition of Twelve Concertos in Score by the same Author. Vol. 2d, 1735. Folio. Contemporary mid-tan calf-backed marbled boards with spine in compartments. 1f. (recto title, verso blank), 44, 34, 54, 43, [i] (blank) pp. Engraved throughout.

With half-length frontispiece portrait engraving of by Vdr. Gucht after H. Howard of the composer holding a sheet of music.

"J. W. Branston" in contemporary manuscript to upper outer corner of front free endpaper with annotation to front pastedown in the same hand; later bookplate of "Edgard F. H. J. Masse."

Binding worn, rubbed, and bumped;' Minor internal wear and browning; portrait detached, with edges slightly creased and chipped. Second edition of the full score, Vol. II of which contained the score of the Concerti Grossi, Op. 6.

Marx p. 92, no. 7; 116, no. 30; 137, no. 26; and 158, no. 26. Smith & Humphries 402. BUC p. 216. RISM C3798.

"Corelli exercised an unparalleled influence during his lifetime and for a long time afterwards. ... To Corelli belong equally the distinctions of being the first composer to derive his fame exclusively from instrumental composition, the first to owe his reputation in large part to the activity of music publishers, and the first to produce 'classic' instrumental works which were admired and studied long after their idiom became outmoded." Grove Music Online

Johann Christoph Pepusch (1667-1752), the editor of the present edition, was a German composer, theorist, and antiquarian who pursued his career in London; he, like many other German, French, and English composers of his time, drew heavily on the Italian style and music theory in his approach to composition.

The title page asserts that these sonatas "also make compleat Lessons for the Harpsicord," raising intriguing questions about 18th century performance practice and the adaptability of chamber compositions for solo instruments.

An attractively printed edition.