Printed and Bound for the Roman Oratorians
[CONGREGAZIONE DELL’ORATORIO DI ROMA.]
Sammelband of fourteen libretti. Rome, 1765–1768.
Fourteen works in one vol., 8vo; occasional slight toning and foxing; overall very good copies in contemporary Roman green sheep, covers richly tooled in gilt with floral and foliate rolls and stamps, spine gilt in compartments, edges gilt, sprinkled paper pastedowns; a few small wormholes to spine, some wear to corners, slight rubbing; 1 p.of manuscript additions and 1-p. index bound in at end; small nineteenth-century label with inked numbers at head of first title.
A sammelband of rare devotional libretti printed for the use of the Oratorians of Rome, many composed by Pietro Metastasio, in a handsome contemporary Roman binding matching a companion volume in the Henry Davis Gift in the British Library.
The first five libretti were composed to celebrate Christmas, including pastoral and dramatic pieces. The remainder take as their subjects: the infant Moses; the Adoration of the Magi; the death of Abel; the liberation of the city of Bethulia; king Jehoash of Judah; Joseph; Isaac; the Passion of Christ; and St Helena, reputed discoverer of Christ’s cross. Eight of the pieces were composed by Pietro Metastasio (1698–1782), a dramatist of enormous talent and the most celebrated librettist in eighteenth-century Europe; several were set to music by Giovanni Battista Casali (1715–1792) ‘one of the best-known Italian composers of sacred music of his time’ (Grove). Two short arie have been added in manuscript to the final item, attributed to the composer Niccolò Jommelli (1714–1774).
The binding matches British Library Davis 830 (Foot, The Henry Davis Gift III (2010), no. 383). This also contains fourteen componimenti sacri printed for the Roman congregation, with a manuscript table of contents; the two volumes were clearly once part of a set.
Of the fourteen libretti found here, only two are traceable in US libraries. All but one were printed for the Roman Oratorians by Marco Pagliarini of the Pallade press, or by Giovanni Zempel, who employs the Oratorian emblem on his title-pages.
Full details are available on request.