MARTINI, G.: Storia della musica ... 3 vol. Bologna, L. dalla Volpe 1757-81 Quarto. XII, 507 pp, 3 engraved plates, 6 folding plates; XII, XX, 375 pp, 2 geographic folding plates, 2 folding plates; pp III-XX, 459 pp, 3 plates, numerous engraved vignettes in text. Some pages a little bit foxed. Half leather bindings in the style of the time.

Very nice copy of this splendidly decorated and rare work (since 1995, only 1 copy tracable in bookauction records (JAP). The three-volume work is still a relevant source for the history of music and represents a milestone in this regard (Enciclopedia della Musica IV, p. 137). It is based on careful source studies of, among other things, neume fragments taken from ancient book bindings, and treats in detail the music of antiquity, especially of the Greeks. Among other things, the canto fermo and canto figurato are intensively analyzed. The composer and music scholar, who worked in Bologna, enjoyed the highest reputation at his time throughout Europe, taught Mozart and J. Chr. Bach, among others, and was in close contact with personalities such as Burney, Marpurg, Quantz, Rameau, Tartini, etc., which is evident from his approximately 6000 letters (The new Crove 15,922). The two maps, usually missing, are present in facsimile in this copy. - RISM II, 553; Hirsch I, Anh.409; Fétis VI, 4/5; Eitner VI, 356; Wolffheim II, 247; Gregory-Sonneck 170.