J.8
Compleate tutor for the harpsichord.
1815 Catalogue, page 133, no. 6, as above, but adding
4to.
[PRELLEUR,
Peter.]
The Compleat Tutor for the Harpsichord or Spinnet wherein is Shewn the Italian manner of Fingering with Suits of Lessons for
Beginners & those who are already Proficients on that Instrument & the Organ: with Rules for tuneing the Harpsichord or Spinnet.
Printed for & sold by
Peter Thompson Musical Instrument Maker at y
e Violin, Houtboy, & German Flute, y
e West end of S
t. Pauls Church Y
d.
London. Where Books of Instructions for any Single Instrument may be had. Price
1
s & 6
d.
n.d.
MT252 .A2 C76
8vo. Text and music engraved throughout, 18 leaves only (should be 19, lacks the last leaf), frontispiece of a performer at
the harpsichord by A. Roberts, engraved title as above, verso blank, folded leaf, showing The Harpsichord Illustrated and Improved, 3 leaves of text illustrated
with musical notation, 14 leaves with musical notation on both sides of the leaf.
This edition not in Grove, and not in Fétis.
Half roan, not initialled by Jefferson but with his original shelfmark on a slip pasted down on the recto of the frontispiece.
With the Library of Congress 1822 bookplate.
Jefferson’s interest in the harpsichord, shown in his letters to Charles Burney, q.v., and to Francis Hopkinson, the inventor
of a method of quilling, was technical only or on behalf of his wife, or of his daughter, for he himself did not play the
instrument. This he explained in a letter to Hopkinson dated from Paris, July 6, 1785: “
My last to you was of the 13. of January. about ten days after that date I received yours of Nov. 18. and about three weeks
ago that of Mar. 20. came to hand. soon after the receipt of the first I published your proposition for improving the quilling
of the harpsichord. I inclose you a copy of the advertisement. one application only was made, and that was unsuccesful. I
do not despair yet of availing you of it as soon as I can get acquainted with some of the principal musicians. but that probably
will not be till the beginning of winter as all the beau monde leave Paris in the summer, during which the musical entertainments
of a private nature are suspended. I communicated to Doct
r Franklin your idea of Mesmerising the harpsichord. he has not tried it, probably because his affairs have been long packed
& packing. as I do not play on that instrument I cannot try it myself . . .
”
Peter Prelleur, fl. 1728-1750, a musician of French descent but resident in England, played the harpsichord at Goodman’s Fields Theatre,
for which he composed the music and dances. In 1730 he published
The Modern Musick Master, or the Universal Musician
, divided into separate parts of which the sixth was
The Harpsichord illustrated and improv’d . . . in which is included large collection of airs and lessons . . . Several of the parts were issued separately, and part 6, with the title changed to
The Compleat Tutor for the Harpsichord was reprinted for Peter Thompson in more than one edition, all without date. In the separate editions the musical examples
are changed from those in
The Modern Musick Master. In this first separate edition the examples include The Charms of Lovely Peggy, Wouldst thou all the Joys receive, The Highland
Laddie, Jockey and Jenney, a number of Minuets including the Minuet in Samson, March in Judas Macchabaeus, Tom loves Mary,
Jigg by Corelli, Handell’s Water Piece, and many others.
The Compleat tutor to the German Flute
, another part of Prelleur’s
Modern Musick Master is entered by Jefferson in his dated manuscript catalogue, but was not included in the sale to Congress.
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