É.-N. Méhul. First edition of the parts of "Euphrosine", marked up for performance, with manuscript additions, 1791?

Méhul, Étienne-Nicolas

Parties Séparées D'Euphrosine ou le Tiran Corrigé Comédie en Trois Actes [parts], Paris: Cousineau père et fils, [1791?]

First edition of the parts, MARKED UP FOR PERFORMANCE, with deletions etc. in red crayon, comprising parts for violin I, violin II, viola, violoncello, clarinet I, clarinet II, oboe II, bassoons and trumpet II, 29, 31, 24, 22, 11, 5, 5, 11 and 6 pages, folio (34.5 x 25.5cm), plate number 240, priced at 15 francs, engraved music, the violin I part signed on the title by the publisher, the double bass part supplied in manuscript (dated: 'Le 17 Nivose de l'an 7 [6 January 1798]'), some parts numbered on the wrappers in manuscript ("N^o 61"), manuscript replacements for some numbers, some parts with printed labels ("...Ex musario Dⁿⁱ Sebastiani Demar / musices autoris"), two manuscript flute parts for a concerto in C sharp minor bound in with the clarinet II part, five parts with wrappers bearing earlier titles ("...J: Haydn Oboe S:^do...13 parties..."), carta rustica wrappers, nine of fifteen printed parts only, some fire damage to the part for bassoons, staining consistent with use

Méhul's Euphrosine, first performed at the Comédie-Italienne, Paris, on 4 September 1790, in its original five-act form, marked the composer's successful operatic début. A three-act version was performed as early as the end of October 1790, and with this number of acts the opera was published the following year. Sebastien Démar (1763-1832) was a composer of the Mannheim school and a pupil of Haydn established at Orléans. RISM records two issues of the parts, which often survive incomplete, one with plate number 240 (as here) and one without.

LITERATURE

RISM M 1813