Description
Provenance: Queen Maria Bárbara; Carlo Broschi alias Farinelli; possibly sold by Farinelli’s nephew Matteo Pisani in 1786 to the composer Vincenzo Manfredini; possibly sold by Manfredini to Giambattista Dall’Olio; acquired at some point by the antiquarian bookshop Romagnoli-Dall’Acqua in Bologna; finally acquired in 1899 by the Biblioteca Palatina of Parma (Sezione musicale).
Description: Fifteen volumes of keyboard music by Domenico Scarlatti dated 1752-1757 containing in total 463 sonatas. Cover size 270x380mm; page size 260x370mm. The volumes were restored around 1970 by Legatoria Allegri (Parma) and the Istituto di Patologia del Libro (Rome).
As noted in Sheveloff 1970, ‘these volumes are written with a bit more care [than Venice], apparently less haste, and a greater concern for detail’. Indeed, many of the Parma readings appear to be superior to those found in Venice, as is discussed at length by Sheveloff. Parma contains two sonatas unique to this collection: K204a and K204b, both of which are present in Parma 4.
Rastrum: The rastrum used varies slightly between volumes: stave size: 13-16mm; distance between staves: 14-17mm; total stave span: 215-221mm.
Watermarks: The most prominent watermark is that of a large lily in a crowned shield with the number 4 underneath. The stem of the 4 additionally ends in a plus. In some volumes (notably volume 12) appears also a similar watermark with the letters VDL underneath, which stands for ‘Van der Ley’, a Dutch family of papermakers.
Titles: All sonatas in the Parma collection are simply titled by their order of appearance (e.g. ‘1’ or ‘1a’ etc.).
Copyist: A single professional hand is responsible for all fifteen volumes of the Parma collection. This hand is referred to as ‘main scribe’ by Sheveloff. Several attempts at the identification of this hand have been made over the years. No truly conclusive evidence for any of the proposed identifications (Lorenzo de Almón y Pereira, José Alaguero, or José Domingo Santis[s]o) has been provided to date.
Comments: It is clear from the presence of several annotations that the Parma volumes were used by its (later) owners. In K190, for instance, we find what appears to be modern fingering in pencil. In K468, the closing bars show signs of alteration not present in Venice (both copies are in the same hand).
Several clues as to the performance of the sonatas are also provided by the copyist: in K517, the copyist alerts us to the fact that the following sonata (K516) is to be played first. In K347 we find a manicule at the end of the sonata with the annotation telling us that the next sonata is to be played ‘attacca’.
Date: The volumes are dated 1752-1757 by the copyist both on the title pages as well as in the indices.
