Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710-1736)
Early manuscript copy of the Stabat mater dolorosa, P.77, n.p. [Italy, ?Naples], n.d. [second half 18th century]
An 18th-century manuscript of the Stabat mater, Pergolesi’s most celebrated work, composed the year of his death. Formerly in the Talleyrand music collection.

Notated by a single scribe in brown ink on one or two five-stave systems per page. 68 leaves, 220 x 305mm, paper ruled with 10 staves per page, elaborate calligraphic title page (‘Stabat mater dolorosa, a due voci di soprano e contralto. Del Sig: Giov: Batta Pergolesi’). 18th-century Italian mottled sheep gilt binding, stamped with title.

Provenance:
(1) Formerly in the Talleyrand music collection, originally assembled under Louise Fidèle Durand de St. Eugène-Montigny (1751- d. after 1776), singer, harpist and wife of Louis Marie de Talleyrand-Périgord (1738-1799), French ambassador the King of Sicily at Naples from 1785 to 1799. The collection was continued by her son –

(2) Augustin Louis de Talleyrand-Périgord (1770-1832).

(3) Bernard Quaritch, London, cat. 1390 (2009), no 57; acquired December 2009.

(4) Schøyen Collection, MS 5434/2.

Dating from the composer's final year, the Stabat mater is Pergolesi's most famous work. First published in London in 1749, became the most frequently printed single work in the 18th century. It was also circulated in many adaptations, including one by Bach (as Tilge, Höchster, meine Sünden). The present manuscript was probably copied and bound in Naples, where Pergolesi spent his short life and where Marie-Louise-Fidèle Baronne de Talleyrand-Périgord was later resident.