New York Cary

Description

Provenance: Mallorca; previous owner: Antonio Noguera (1858-1904), whose seal appears on several pages of the manuscript. Purchased on the Cary Fund in 2011.

Description: Oblong manuscript. 21.5x30cm; spine: 4.1cm. Nineteenth-century binding, dark green covers; satin endpapers; 171 leaves of music (2 folded). 10 staves per page. The collection was first described in detail in Prozhoguin 2013Prozhoguin, Serguei N. 2013. ‘Domenico Scarlatti’s Works and Four Previously Unknown Keyboard Pieces Attributed to Him from the Morgan Library Manuscript Cary 703: Present Codicological and Textual Keys for Its Evaluation’. Unpublished private correspondence. .

Cary 703 contains 104 keyboard pieces by Domenico Scarlatti, 33 by or attributed to Antonio Soler, a fugue by or attributed to Alessandro Scarlatti, 5 fragments of Scarlatti sonatas, one unidentified fragment for cello, an anonymous fandango for 2 violins and six unidentified pieces for keyboard.

The volume seems to consist of at least eight sections and four inserts, featuring different types of paper and modern pagination that retains some indications of the original. For example, section 2 (fols. 23-41) shows original pagination at the top right, starting with 8 through to 37 corresponding to the modern 23r to 37v. In this section, the two halves of the sonatas start on the verso of the folio, consequently, the bottom of the folios are left blank frequently. Section 7 (fols. 117-152) contains 36 sonatas numbered, with sonatas starting consistently on the verso of the folio. Inserts III and IV contain fragments of sonatas K511, K448, and K478, complete versions of which appear in section 7.

Rastrum:

• Insert 1: stave span: 1.5cm; distance between staves: 1.5cm.
• Section 1: stave span: 1cm; distance between staves: 0.8cm.
• Section 2: stave span: 1cm; distance between staves: 1cm; total span: 18.9cm.
• Sections 4, 5 and 6: stave span: 0.9cm; distance between staves: 1.2cm; total span: 18.9cm.
• Section 7: stave span: 0.9cm; distance between staves: 1 cm; total span: 18.6cm.

Watermarks: Empty circle (or sphere) surmounted by a single-line stem trefoil (fol. 17; see Prozhoguin 2013Prozhoguin, Serguei N. 2013. ‘Domenico Scarlatti’s Works and Four Previously Unknown Keyboard Pieces Attributed to Him from the Morgan Library Manuscript Cary 703: Present Codicological and Textual Keys for Its Evaluation’. Unpublished private correspondence. ). Another watermark, reportedly discovered by L. A. González Marín, is mentioned but not described by Fran Barulich; perhaps the same watermark (‘G_B’, 1750s?) is described in more detail by Yáñez Navarro 2015Yáñez Navarro, Celestino. 2015. ‘Nuevas aportaciones para el estudio de las sonatas de Domenico Scarlatti: los manuscritos del Archivo de Música de las catedrales de Zaragoza’. PhD dissertation, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. , pp. 137-138, who locates it to section 7.

Titles: ‘Sonatas del S.^r / D.ⁿ Domingo escar- / lati y obras de frai / Antonio Soler’; section 7: ‘Sonatas / Per Gravi Cembalo / Di el Sennor Dⁿ Domenico Scarlati / Maiestro di la Regina di Spanna / finitas Anno De 1756‘. An inscription on fol. 128v reads ‘Del Rey D[on] Fernand[o] el VI’.

Copyists: At least five (non-professional?) hands can be distinguished.

Comments: The volume originates from Spain and contains music copied at apparently different periods of time. Sonata KS48 only appears here and in the Lisbon manuscript. Sections 6 (fols. 90-116) and 8 (fols. 153-170) are devoted to sonatas composed by or attributed to Antonio Soler.

The different compasses used in the Scarlatti sonatas are as follows:

Date: Because of its compound nature, it is not possible to suggest a single date for the entire volume, which could range from 1756 (fol. 117r) to c1800.

Contents: