A Selection of Performing Arts Rare Books
The following is a selection of rare books on music (16th - 19th centuries) held by the University of Maryland Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library. (This list does not include musical scores; however a bibliography of rare scores and libretti relating to George Frideric Handel is available.) Rare materials and special collections must be used under the supervision of a staff member and are generally available in the Irving and Margery Morgan Lowens Special Collections Room, 10:00 am to 5:00 pm, Monday through Friday.
1540
AGENDA / Das ist / Kyrchenordnung / wie / sich die Pfarrherrn und Seelforger in / jren
Ampten und diensten halten sollen / fur die Diener der Kurchen in / Hertzog Heinrichen / zu
Sachsen, V. G. H. / Furstenthumb / gestel- / let. / Gedruckt zu Leipzig / durch / Nicolaum
Wolrab. / M. D. XL.
A Lutheran liturgical book published a mere twenty years after the Protestant Reformation. The work includes music for the entire church year. This particular book is notable for the profusion of marginalia in various hands, and even includes notes on the proper procedures for baptizing a hermaphrodite.
Call number: MUSIC RARESTK BX8067.A2 1540
1652
ANTIQVAE / MVSICAE / AVCTORES / SEPTEM. / GRAECE ET LATINE. /
MARCVS MEIBOMIVS / Restituit ac Notis explicavit. / AMSTELODAMI, / Apud Ludovicum
Elzevirum, / [1652]
A two volume set by the historian Marcus Meibom containing Latin translations of Greek musical treatises by Aristoxenos, Euclid, Nichomachos, Philosophus, Aristides, Quintillian, and others. It includes some wonderful fold-out plates using duo color printing.
Call number: MUSIC RARESTK ML167.M45 1652 vols. 1-2
1711
LA / MUSIQUE / DU / DIABLE / OU / Le Mercure Galant devalise / A PARIS, / Chez
Robert le Turc, rue d'Enfer. / M. DCC. XI.
Mlle Desmatins (fl. 1682-1708) was a French soprano who performed roles in operas by Lully, Collasse, Destouches, and Campra. This is a satirical story of her adventures in Hell.
Call number: MUSIC RARESTK ML420.D47M87 1711
1721
A / TREATISE / OF / MUSIC / Speculative, Practical, and Historical. / By
ALEXANDER MALCOLM. /..../ EDINBURGH, / Printed for the AUTHOR.
MDCCXXI
Malcolm (1685-1763) was a Scottish mathematician, music theorist, clergyman, and educator who emigrated to America around 1734 (he lived in Anapolis and Queen Anne County, Maryland). His Treatise was a synthesis of the theories of Descartes, Kircher, and Mersenne (among others), and was considered an extremely important document by many, including the English music historian Hawkins.
Call number: MUSIC RARESTK MT6.M227 1721
1721
COLLECTION / COMPLETE / DES OEUVRES / DE / J.J. ROUSSEAU,
/ Citoyen de Geneve. / TOME SEIZIEME. / Contenant diverses pieces sur / la Musique /
A GENEVE. / M. DCC. LXXXII.
A volume of a Swiss edition of Rousseau's complete writings. This volume contains musical treatises including Projet concernant de nouveaux signes pour la musique, Dissertation sur la musique moderne, Essai sur l'origine des langues, ou il est parle de la melodie & de l'imitation musicale, Lettre a Monsieur L'Abbe Raynal au sujet d'un nouveau mode de musique..., Examen de deux principe avances par M. Rameau..., Lettre a M. Burney sur la musique, and Extrait d'une reponse du petit faiseur a son prete-nom sur un morceau de l'Orphee de M. le Chevalier Gluck.
Call number: MUSIC RARESTK [currently uncataloged]
1741
TRAITE / HISTORIQUE ET PRATIQUE / SUR LE CHANT / ECCLESIASTIQUE, /
AVEC LE DIRECTOIRE / qui en contient les pricipes & les refles, / suivant l'usage present du
Diocese de Paris, / & autres. / Precede d'une NOUVELLE METHODE, pour / l'enfeigner, &
l'apprendre facilement. / Par M. l'Abbe LEBEUF, Chanoine & Sous-Chantre / de l'Eglise
Cahedrale d'Auxerre. / A PARIS, / Chez CL. J.B. HERISSANT... / ET / JEAN TH.
HERISSANT.... / M. DCC. XLI. / Avec Apporbation & Privilege du Roy.
1764
EXPOSITION / DE LA THEORIE / ET DE LA PRATIQUE / DE / LA MUSIQUE,
/ Suivant les nouvelles decouvertes, / Par M. DE BETHIZY. / SECONDE
EDITION, / Corrigee & augmentee par l'Auteur. / A PARIS, / Chez F. G.
DESCHAMPS, Librarie, / rue S. Jacques, aux Affocies. / M. DCC. LXIV. / Avec
Approbation , & Privilege du Roi.
Bethizy (1709-1781) was a French theorist and composer. The Exposition is his best known work. According to the New Grove it attempts to simplify Rameau's theories for students and performers, but was heavily criticized by Mattheson.
1768
DICTIONNAIRE / DE / MUSIQUE / Par J. J. ROUSSEAU. / ... / A PARIS, / Chez la
VEUVE DUCHESNE, Libraire , / rus S. Jacques , au Temple du Gout. / M. DCC.
LXVIII.
In addition to being one of the most significant philosophers of the 18th-century, Rousseau was also a composer and musical scholar. His Dictionary of Music is one of the best and most complete music reference sources of the late 18th-century.
Call number: MUSIC RARESTK [currently uncataloged]
[The Performing Arts Library also owns a later two-volume edition of Rousseau's dictionary (1775) Call number: RARESTK ML108.A2R7 1775 vols. 1-2.]
1779
ELEMENS / DE / MUSIQUE / THEORIQUE ET PRATIQUE, / SUIVANT /
LES PRINCIPES DE M. RAMEAU, / ECLAIRCIS, DEVELOPPES ET SIMPLIFIES, /
Par M. D'ALEMBERT..../ NOUVELLE EDITION, / Revue, corrigee &
cosiderablement augmentee. / A LYON, / Chez JEAN-MARIE BRUYSET, Pere & Fils.
/ M. DCC. LXXIX. / AVEC APPROBATION ET PRIVILEGE DU ROI.
D'Alembert (1717-1783) was a French philosopher and mathematician. His Elemens de musique, first published in 1752 is his most important musical publication and was widely used for 50 years.
1779
A / treatise / of / music : / containing the principles of composition. / Wherein the several parts thereof are fully explained, / and made useful both to the professors and students of that science / by Mr. Rameau ; / translated into English from the original in the French language.
A translation of the third part of Jean Philippe Rameau's (1683-1764) pioneering theoretical treatise, "Traité d’harmonie." This work is sometimes referred to as "Rameau on Music."
Call number: MT50. A2 R173 1779
1785
AN / ACCOUNT / OF THE / MUSICAL PERFORMANCES / IN /
WESTMINSTER-ABBEY, / AND THE / PANTHEON, / May 26th, 27th, 29th; and June the 3d,
and 5th, 1784, /
IN / COMMEMORATION / OF / HANDEL. / By CHARLES BURNEY, Mus.D. F.R.S. /.../
LONDON, / Printed for the Benefit of the MUSICAL FUND ; and Sold by T. PAYNE and / Son,
at the Meufe-Gate ; and G. ROBINSON, Pater-noster-Row. / MDCCLXXXV.
[1785]
An opulent memorial book commemorating the 100 anniversary of Handel's birth. Charles Burney, one of the most significant historians and chroniclers of musical activities in the 18th-century, provides a biographical and critical sketch of Handel's life and work, as well as a discussion of the performances. It also includes many illustrations and plates.Call number: MUSIC RARESTK ML410.H13B9 1785
1785
CLEF / POUR SERVIR A L'EXPLICATION/ DU PLANISPHERE, / OU /
BOUSSOLE HARMONIQUE; / CALCULE / PAR / ZOZIME BOUTROY, / De l'Academie
Royale de Musique, / D'APRES les ouvrages des plus SAVANS Theoriciens & des plus
CELEBRES Compositeurs. / A PARIS, / Chez L'AUTEUR, rue Greneta..../ M. DCC. LXXXV.
/ Avec Approbation, & Privilege du Roi.
1790-92
Historisch-Biographisches / Lexikon / der / Tonkunstler, / welches / Nachtrichten / von
dem / Leben und Werken / musikalischer Schriftsteller, / beruhmter Componisten / Sanger,
Meister auf Instrumenten, / Dilettanten, / Orgel- und Instrumentenmacher, / enthalt; /
zusammengetragen / von / Ernst Ludwig Gerber, / .... / Leipzig, / .... / 1790-1792.
An enlargement of J.G. Walther's Musikalisches Lexicon(Leipzig, 1732) by one of the greatest collectors of music of the 18th century.
1799
ANECTODES / OF / GEORGE FREDERICK HANDEL, / AND / JOHN CHRISTOPHER SMITH. / WITH /
SELECT PIECES OF MUSIC, / COMPOSED / BY J.C. SMITH / WITH / SELECT PIECES OF MUSIC, /
COMPOSESD / BY J.C. SMITH, / NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED. / LONDON: / PRINTED BY
W. BULMER AND CO./... / 1799.
1810
Biographische Nachrichten / von / Joseph Haydn. / Nach mundlichen Erzahlungen
desselben / entworfen und herausgegeben / von / Albert Christoph Dies / Landschaftmahler /
Wien, 1810 / Camesinaische Buchhandlung.
The earliest biographical study of Haydn published less than a year after his death in 1809.
Call number: MUSIC RARESTK ML410.H4D44 1810
1811
THE / USE AND DESIGN OF / SACRED MUSIC, / WITH THE PROPER
METHOD OF EFFECTING THAT / DESIGN, ARGUED FROM THE NATURE AND /
ESSENTIAL INPORTANCE OF / RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS, / IN A / DISCOURSE, /
PREACHED MARCH 19, 1811, / AS A / MUSICAL LECTURE / IN / GREENFIELD, / BY
SAMUEL WILLARD, / MINESTER OF DEERFIELD. / Published at the request of the
hearers. / Greenfield, / PRINTED BY ANSEL PHELPS, / 1811.
An American sermon on church music published as a twenty-eight page pamphlet.
Call number: MUSIC RARESTK ML3869.W55 1811
N.d.
Harmony, / or / Chord formation, relation and progression, / being / introductory to the art of / Musical Composition. / To which is prefixed a brief view of / Musical Noation. / By / Lowell Mason, Doctor of Music by the University of New York. / and / William Mason, Pianist and
Professor of Music. / Publisher's imprint. [Manuscript]
An unpublished manuscript of a harmony text by the American composer and music educator Lowell Mason (1792-1872) and his son the musician William Mason. Call number: SCPA Lowell Mason Collection Series III, Box 3
