Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687)
Contemporary manuscript of the opera Armide, LWV 71, n.p. [France], n.d. [17th century]
A contemporary manuscript copy of Lully’s masterpiece, Armide, composed for Louis XIV.

Full score of the complete opera in a prologue and five acts, written by two copyists in dark brown ink on three or four systems of three staves per page. 128 pages, 400 x 270mm, primarily in gatherings of four, 12-stave hand-ruled paper, watermark: grapes, the first leaf and final two leaves in the hand of the second copyist, titled on p.1 (‘ARMIDE/ Tragedie/ Mise en Musique/ par/ M. de Lully/ surintendant/ de la Musique/ du Roy’), text in French throughout. Binding of re-used 17^th-century vellum over boards, inscription dated 1677 on upper cover.

Provenance:
(1) Sotheby’s, 9 June 2010, lot 51.

(2) Schøyen Collection, MS 5446.

The popularity of Jean-Baptiste Lully’s music across the 17th and 18th centuries led to prolific trafficking in printed and manuscript copies of his work, yet few contemporary manuscripts containing the full score of Armide survive outside of France. No Lully autograph music survives: the primary source for Armide is the first edition, published in 1686.