DESTOUCHES (André Cardinal). Callirhoé, tragédie en musique. - Lot 4

DESTOUCHES (André Cardinal). Callirhoé, tragédie en musique. ÀParis, chez Christophe Ballard, 1713. In-4oblong, (4 of which the second is blank)-lxii-(2)-262-(2)pp. in granite-brown calf, ribbed spine with garnet-toned title-piece, triple cold fillet framing the boards, gilt roulette decorating the necks and chasses, speckled edges, binding a little rubbed with worn headpieces and corners (period binding). First edition, signed by the composer and the printer-librarian. Printed notated music. Opera premiered on December 27, 1712 at the Académie royale de musique, based on a libretto by Pierre-Charles Roy, after a narrative taken from Pausanias' Achaïques, already treated by Giovanni-Battista Guarini in the opening of his pastoral Il Pastor fido (1589) and in 1704 by Antoine de LaFosse in his tragedy Corésus et Callirhoé. The story of the violent and desperate love of Callirhoé and the high priest Coresos, ending in a double suicide, lent itself particularly well to the expression of feelings in a musical work, and Destouches' opera, highly successful in this respect, met with lasting success: it was revived three times in the 17th century, in 1731, 1743 and 1773. Provenance: "Lagarde" (handwritten bookplate on title); Pierre-Ignace Ringuier then Albert Croquez-Ringuier (same armorial bookplate vignette for both).