but ca. 1785]. Folio, [iv], 111, [1]; with one large folding engraved plate; entirely engraved throughout; quality of impressions varies throughout, with some engravings a little faint, and some staining visible around plate marks; without front free endpaper or half-title; occasional light staining and soiling, mainly marginal, a little more prominent in a couple of places; in contemporary green vellum, title in ms on upper cover, head and tail of spine bumped and lightly worn, joints lightly rubbed, covers somewhat soiled and darkened, extremities lightly bumped and worn; signed by the publisher Blondeau at the tail of title-page. First edition, variant issue, of an attractively printed introduction to harmony and composition, entirely engraved throughout, and intended for the use of students at the École Royale de Musique, founded in 1783, and which was subsequently to become the famous Paris Conservatoire. ‘The lessons, arranged in terms of fundamental bass theory, each introduce a different harmony from Rameau’s chord catalog, first treating so-called ‘harmonies naturelles,’... followed by a discussion of ‘harmonies artificielles’ or ‘composées’ that is, dissonant harmonies derived through various ‘artificial’ or compositional procedures for prepared chordal dissonances. Among his natural harmonies, Rodolphe, following Rameau, includes major and minor triads, the dominant seventh chord, major and minor seventh chords, the sous-dominante, as well as half-diminished and fully diminished seventh chords... Rodolphe presents each lesson in two parts: an initial dialogue describing the construction of the specific chord under consideration and its inversions... followed by a figured bass exercise demonstrationg the harmony’s standard use in one or two familiar cadential patterns’ (Masci, Charles-Simon Catel’s Treatise on Harmony and the disciplining of harmony at the early Paris Conservatory, p. 22-23).
Though described on the title-page as ‘Oeuvre 2me’, the present work is complete in itself, as noted in RISM Écrits. Rodolphe had previously published Solfège ou nouvelle méthode de musique divisée en deux parties in 1784, and the present work appears to be a separately published companion volume - in effect this being his second ‘opus’. An amendment has been made to the imprint, with a new engraved label by Blondeau posted over the original imprint ‘Gravée par F. P. Le Roy, Graveur de l’Ecole Royale de Musique; A Paris Chez le Même, Marchand de Musique Place du Palais Royal, aux Neuf-Souers, Maison du Cassé de la Régence et aux adresse Ordinaires’. Indeed the present copy has been signed by Blondeau. A second edition, with a re-engraved title-page and an imprint of ‘Chez M. Nadermann’ was published in ca. 1799. Both works were to prove immensely popular and influential at the time.
Jean Joseph Rodolphe (1730-1812) had a distinguished career as a violinist, horn player and composer during the second half of the 18th century. After studying in Paris, his early years were spent performing in Italy and Stuttgart, where he was a student Italian composer Niccolò Jommeli. Upon returning to Paris he had a successful career as a virtuoso horn player, and is known to have befriended the young Mozart during the latter’s visit to Paris in 1778. From 1784 until the Revolution, Rodolphe taught composition at the École Royale de Chant, and was later Professor of Solfège at the Paris Conservatoire (1798–1802). ‘Rodolphe was apparently an exceptionally fine horn player. It is likely that he independently developed a technique for hand-stopping, and was probably the first to introduce this innovation to Parisian audiences. By demonstrating the horn’s virtuoso and expressive resources, including a tone so sweet it was said to resemble that of a flute, he persuaded Jommelli and other composers to treat it as a solo instrument’ (New Grove online).