G. Bononcini. First edition of his opera "Griselda", 1722

Bononcini, Giovanni

Griselda an Opera as it was Perform'd at the Kings Theatre for the Royal Accademy [score], London:John Walsh and John and Joseph Hare, [1722]

FIRST EDITION, 2 leaves, 76 pages, folio (c.34 x 22.8cm), engraved throughout, table of songs and catalogue, old manuscript label to upper cover ("273 V [?]"), Dolmetsch Library stamp and pencil shelfmark ("II C 46") to verso of title, contemporary marbled boards, small stain to upper right-hand corners,binding detached and worn, modern repair joining covers with brown paper

RARE. We have not traced a copy at auction during the last 40 years.

Griselda, which was first performed at the King's Theatre, London, on 22 February 1722, was one of only two London operas for which Bononcini published the overture and all the arias (for the other, Astarto, see previous lot). Lowell Lindgren has noted that Burney owned a [manuscript] score of the opera, 'but neither it nor any other score including recitatives is extant'. 

In 1967 a recording of highlights from the opera, notable for its Handelian tunefulness (especially that of Ernesto's famous aria "Per la gloria d’adorarvi,"), was released by Decca, with Jeanne and Marguerite Dolmetsch on recorders (and Richard Bonynge conducting), the score used having being prepared from the first edition of the opera.

LITERATURE:

RISM B 3591 and BB 3591; Smith and Humphries, no.211; The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, ii, p.548