Beschreibung:

[MUSIC]. DUSSEK, Jan Ladislav (1760-1812). 1793. A New Year’s Gift. God save the King, with variations for the piano forte . Edinburgh and London: Corri and Co., [1793]. [With:] CASSON, J [?John] (active 1790s). God save the King, with favourite variations or harpsichord and piano forte . London: for the author, [1793]. [With:] ARNE, Thomas Augustine (1710-1778), and J. CASSON. Rule Britannia, a favourite song… with variations, for the piano forte or harpsichord, by J. Casson . London: sold by Cahusac & Sons, [1793]. A collection of rare patriotic British musical publications of 1793, whole or deliberately partial, assembled at the time, very likely for private use. Rule, Britannia had achieved instant popularity on being first heard in 1745. By virtue of its equating British naval power with civil and political liberty, it acquired renewed resonance in 1793 (and would continue to resonate, through repetition and variations, through to World War II). God save the King was first published in (almost) the present tune in Thesaurus Musicus of 1744, and also became instantly popular. In 1793 the execution of the French monarch marked the beginning of Britain’s engagement in the war against Revolutionary France, due to escalate and end only with Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo. This strictly contemporary collection of accompanied hymns celebrating King and Country, purposefully selected in that fateful year, testifies to the popularity of patriotic private music-making at a time when philo-monarchic sentiments went hand in hand with a sense of impending national threat. Dussek : RISM D4360 (National Library of Scotland, Glasgow); L. Palazzolo C87. Casson : RISM C1447 (BL, Bodleian, Glasgow). Arne-Casson : RISM C1448 (3 copies: BL, Bodleian, Henry Watson . Folio (327 x 233mm). Dussek: 2 sheets, complete (very light toning). Casson: single sheet (of 3 - this variation complete- repaired in the gutter margin, a little thumbed, very light foxing). Arne-Casson: 2 sheets (of 3 - first two variations complete - upper margin of first leaf a little stained, a few spots).