H. Purcell. The Vocal and Instrumental Musick of the Prophetess, or the History of Dioclesian, 1691

Purcell, Henry

[The Vocal and Instrumental Musick of the Prophetess, or the History of Dioclesian, London: Heptinstall, 1691]

FIRST EDITION, 173 pages, folio (35.2 x 22.7cm), type-set music, some irregular paginations, contemporary ownership inscriptions to pastedowns and title ("...Mr John Demontiratt his Book 1703...Anne Rushout...Duboscq"), some modern pencil annotations, Dolmetsch Library stamp and pencil shelfmark ("II E 21"), contemporary sheep, rebacked,without preliminaries (title and A2/3 supplied in photocopy) and advertisement leaf, p.12 cropped at foot, last leaf laid down, tear to pp.73/74 repaired with translucent adhesive tape, first leaf strengthened at hinge with translucent adhesive tape, small marginal tear to pp.149/150, a few other old repairs, some damp-staining to edges, browning

THIS IS THE MOST SUBSTANTIAL EDITION OF PURCELL'S MUSIC PUBLISHED DURING HIS LIFETIME. 

Although there are copies in many British and American research libraries, it is scarce in Europe and we have traced only a single copy at auction since 1983.

Purcell's semi-opera Dioclesian was given at The Queen's Theatre, Dorset Garden, in late May or June 1690. There is no surviving autograph and the only early manuscript copy we have traced (c.1701) is in the library of Westminster Abbey. The present score is the primary source for the music and, at 173 pages, is by far the largest contemporary edition of Purcell's music. The most substantial item is the concluding Masque in Act 5 (pp.96 to the end), "a self-contained through-composed pastoral", comprising five scenes, which Curtis Price judges "one of Purcell's greatest works". At Dolmetsch's first London concert, on 26 June 1889, at the Steinway Hall, a suite comprising the overture and ballet music from Dioclesian was performed with a conventional string orchestra of around thirty of his own pupils. 

LITERATURE:

Zimmerman D.627; Day & Murrie 111; RISM P 5927 (none in German, Swiss, Italian or Spanish libraries); Hirsch, ii 754; Wing P 4223; not in Hoboken; P. Holman, Life After Death: The Viola Da Gamba in Britain from Purcell to Dolmetsch (2010), p.300