Description
Provenance: Unknown (Paris, after 1756?). This manuscript collection was formerly referenced as F-Va 1 F 207 by Gustafson Fuller 1990, and was first mentioned in secondary sources by Dufourcq 1957. Dufourcq had suggested, as possible provenance, the circle of Madame Victoire (1733-1799), one of the daughters of Louis XV. Madame Victoire was a highly accomplished musician. She and her siblings, together with their mother Queen Marie Leszczyńska, were reputed to have a refined taste in music and stood at the heart of the musical life of their era. See also these programme notes for a concert by Marie Vallin which discuss the manuscript in more detail (French only).
Currently, the Archives des Yvelines and the former Seine-et-Oise are housed on the premises in the Archives Départementales des Yvelines in Montigny-le-Bretonneux just west of Paris.
Description: A manuscript collection of harpsichord pieces. 84 pages, folio format, 380x255mm, vellum binding (385x275mm). The first ten pieces are all by Duphly (here referred to as Monsieur Du Phli). From piece 12-22 we find a total of seven sonatas in the Kirkpatrick catalogue and two which are known from other French sources (KS23 and KS5). The rest of the collection contains pieces by various composers including Jean Barrière, Jean-Philippe Rameau, Domenico Alberti, and François Couperin.
Gustafson and Fuller note that the fact ‘that many pieces begin on a recto and continue on the verso suggests a more archival than practical sensibility on the part of the scribes. Most of the anonymous movements are in the sonata style of Scarlatti and his Italian contemporaries, but no. 24 is clearly French. The one sonata actually attributed to Scarlatti in this manuscript (no. 18 [KS23]) is not in the accepted canon of his works’.
Watermarks: Gustafson and Fuller reported two undated watermarks but did not describe their appearance.
Titles: ‘Piece De Clavecin Del Signor Scarlati / Tres Gay’ (KS23). The other sonatas are either untitled or only a tempo marking is given.
Copyists: According to Gustafson and Fuller, the manuscript ‘was written primarily by two hands, intermixed’. They identified a total five copyists:
- Hand A (nos. 1-10, 17, 25-26, 28-36)
- Hand B (nos. 11-16, 18-19, 27-27b)
- Hand C (no. 20)
- Hand D (nos. 21-23)
- Hand E (no. 24)
Comments: Both K1 and K22 are incomplete in this source, apparently as a result of missing leaves. It is clear that whoever paginated this manuscript was unaware of this fact.
The Scarlatti selection in this manuscript, as well as our variant analysis, both suggest that the Boivin collection (or a copy thereof) might have been the model for some of this manuscript. The exception is KS23, which as far as we know survives in just one other extant French manuscript (Paris 11722).
Date: According to Gustafson Fuller 1990, the inclusion of certain Duphly pieces dates this manuscript to after 1756.
