There are two versions of the Gigue Drexel 5856 contains the second version 'Vo' far guerra, e vincer voglio' from RinaldoĬaption title, page 8 Of the five versions Handel wrote of HWV 435, Drexel 5856 corresponds to the fifth version In his review of a 1986 edition of Handel's harpsichord suites, Terence Best criticized the editor for not including 'important' sources, mentioning Drexel 5856 as one of those sources. Ĭhristopher Hogwood consulted the manuscript when working on his book Handel : Water Music and Music for the Royal Fireworks. The thematic catalog attests that Drexel 5856 was used in editing the critical editions of those works included in the manuscript.

It is included in a list of significant sources of Handel's keyboard works in the Händel-Werke-Verzeichnis, the thematic catalog of Handel's works. of Drexel 5856, the final page of the aria Vo' fa guerra from the opera RinaldoĪlthough no scholars have written about the manuscript as a whole, the editors of the Hallische Händel-Ausgabe were well-aware of Drexel 5856. Today, Drexel 5856 is part of the Drexel Collection in the Music Division, now located at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. When the Lenox Library merged with the Astor Library to become the New York Public Library, the Drexel Collection became the basis for one of its founding units, the Music Division. Upon Drexel's death, he bequeathed his music library to The Lenox Library. Drexel, who had already amassed a large music library. The manuscript was one of about 600 lots purchased by Philadelphia-born financier Joseph W. Rimbault's findings are occasionally faulty see Drexel 4180-4185 for examples of his conclusions that are consider doubtful.)Īfter Rimbault's death in 1876, the manuscript was listed as lot 1366 in the 1877 auction catalog of his estate (the number 1366 can be seen in the upper left corner of the initial leaf). He based this idea on having seen a book 'Books in ye closet at Gunnersbury.' (No contemporary musicologists repeat this assertion.

Rimbault stated that he believed the manuscript to have been copied for Princess Amelia of Great Britain. This much of the provenance is known from Wesley's inscription on the volume's initial leaf:īelow Wesley's writing is an inscription from the subsequent owner Edward Francis Rimbault, who wrote: He presented it as a gift to Charles Wesley, possibly in 1813. The earliest known owner of Drexel 5856 was the composer John Stafford Smith, who also was as an antiquarian and collector of manuscripts. Flyleaf of Drexel 5856, a music manuscript copied by John Christopher Smith, containing music by George Frideric Handel

1986 drexel furniture catalog