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411 - [LULLY (Jean-Baptiste)]. Atys. Alto part and 2nd Violin part…
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Estimate €400 - €700
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Description
[LULLY (Jean-Baptiste)]. Atys. Alto part and 2nd Violin part. [Manuscript.] n.p., [1676]. Oblong quarto (209 x 285 mm), comprising [18] leaves of arias notated in brown ink, marbled sheepskin, decorated ribbed spine, gilt title on the front cover (contemporary binding). Caps torn off, corners worn. Handwritten copy for high countertenor and second treble violins of this musical tragedy, comprising a prologue and five acts, premiered in the Salle des Ballets at the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye on 10 January 1676. “This is a tragedy in five acts with libretto by Quinault and music by Lully; it was first performed on 10 January 1676; printed, then engraved as a folio score. Time, the Hours, Flora, Melpomene, a Zephyr, &c. form the Prologue. The handsome shepherd Atys is famous in mythology for his love of Cybele. For the choreography of this opera’s ballets, Dolivet, a great pantomime artist, joined forces with Beauchamps, with whom he had already choreographed the ballets for Theseus [...] It has been said that *Atys* was the King’s opera, *Armide* the ladies’ opera, *Phaeton* the people’s opera, and *Isis* the musicians’ opera.” de Léris, *Dictionnaire des Théâtres*. “Marin Marais is first mentioned as a violist in the ‘small choir’ of the Royal Academy’s orchestra, alongside the lutenist Pierre Chabanceau de La Barre and the harpsichordist Jean-Henry d’Anglebert.” The work was regularly revived at the Palais Royal and at Versailles, not to mention in the provinces. Seals of the Marseille Academy of Music (late 17th century). A rare record of the first opera academy outside Paris, founded in 1685 by the composer Pierre Gaultier (1642–1696). Trained in Paris under the harpsichordist Jacques Champion de Chambonnières and influenced by Jean-Baptiste Lully, Gaultier (or Gautier) of Marseille introduced opera to Provence and, in 1685, staged the first opera produced outside Paris in Marseille with Lully’s authorisation, before taking the production on tour to several towns in the Midi. Although his operas *Le Jugement du Soleil* and *Le Triomphe de la Paix* have been lost, his *Symphonies* for flutes and violins, published by Ballard in 1707, still bear witness to his musical output. “In Marseille, the director of the Royal Academy at the time was Nicolas Besson, a musician who had bought the licence, along with the sets, machinery, costumes and props, from Pierre Gauthier—who was imprisoned for debt in Avignon—for 8,200 livres. *Atys* was performed in January 1689, but Besson had to sell the licence on after a few weeks.” (cf. operabaroque.fr).
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About the sale Bibliophilia (sale without a live event)
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Auction time 09/09/2026 at 1:00 PM
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