PBA Galleries

[4], iv, 287 pp. Engraved title page; two folding plates at rear. (Folio) 13x10, later half vellum and marbled boards. Second Edition.

"From 1791 to 1821 [Cartier] was assistant leader of the Paris Opéra orchestra. In addition, he was a member of the court orchestra from 1804 to 1830, serving under both Napoleon and the Bourbon regime...This imposing volume ["L'art du Violon"] contained a comprehensive selection of sonatas and single movements composed by Italian, French and German masters of the 17th and 18th centuries. Cartier included both manuscripts and early editions, and he salvaged a number of masterpieces from oblivion. For example, the volume contained the first publication of Tartini's Devil's Trill Sonata (after a manuscript copy owned by Baillot) and of Bach's Fugue in C major for violin solo (after a copy owned by Gaviniès). Equally important was a reprint of seven sonatas by Nardini, after an edition of 1760 (now lost), and the first complete republication of Tartini's L'arte del arco, consisting of 50 variations on a gavotte by Corelli. In collecting and publishing all this material, Cartier secured for himself an important place in the history of the violin." (Boris Schwarz & Michelle Garnier-Butel, Grove Online).