Rare books, manuscripts and ephemera from five centuries

Italian papers for a Swabian wedding 

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[WEDDING POETRY]. BEY DER HOHEN VERMÄHLUNG DES HOCHGEBOHRNEN GRAFEN, Herrn Heinrich des 42ten jüngern Reußen, Grafen und Herrn zu Plauen, mit der Durchlauchtigen Prinzessin, Frauen Carolinen Henrietten, Prinzessin zu Hohenlohe, Gräfin von Gleichen … welche den 10ten Juny 1779 zu Kirchberg vollzogen wurde, suchte seine tiefe Ehrfurcht und Freude in nachstehender Kantate an den Tag zu legen das dasige Musik-Collegium.  Schwäb. Hall, gedruckt mit Messererischen Schriften [1779].

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[with]: DAS VON DER FREUDE ÜBERSTRAHLTE KIRCHBERG wurde bey der glücklichen Vermählung des Hochgebohrnen Reichsgrafen und Herrn Herrn Heinrich des XLIIten Grafen Reussen und Herrn zu Plauen Erbgrafen in Schlaitz &c. mit der Durchlauchtigsten Prinzessin Caroline Henriette Prinzessin zu Hohenlohe Kirchberg, Gräfin zu Gleichen … welche den 10ten Juny 1779 in Kirchberg feyerlich und vergnügt vollzogen worden, zu Bezeigung der ehrfurchtsvollen Theilnehmung vorgestellt von der Hochfürstl. Hohenlohe Kirchbergischen welt- und geistlichen Obern Dienerschaft in der Stadt und auf dem Lande. Hall in Schwaben: gedruckt bey Johann Christophe Messerer, [1779]. £1,100

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FIRST EDITIONS. I. Large 8vo, pp. [4]; printed within decorative border, with woodcut head- and tailpieces; clean and crisp, in contemporary Italian decorative wrappers; II. Large 8vo, pp. [7], [1] blank; decorative border to p. [2], woodcut head and tailpieces; ink blot to foot of second leaf, but otherwise clean and crisp throughout; in contemporary Italian decorative wrappers. 

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Lovely copies, both in Italian block-printed paper wrappers, of these two poems printed for the marriage of Heinrich XLII (1672-1818) and Caroline Henriette of Hohenloe-Kirchberg (1761-1849), which took place at Kirchberg in Thuringia on June 10th, 1779. 

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Both take the form of brief cantatas, with the first consisting of a short air followed by a longer recitative and a duet, and concluding with a further recitative and a chorus (”Fromme Wünsche bringen wir für die Neuvermählten”); this was, according to the title-page, to be performed at the Musik-Collegium in Kirchberg, although neither the librettist nor the composer is named. The second, similarly anonymous, is divided into sections on joy, married love, and hope, interspersed with interventions from ‘Der Kirchbergische Genius’, and concluding with alternating duets and chorus sections, the latter to be performed by children of both sexes. Both are printed in Schwäbisch Hall.

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The alert may be surprised at Heinrich’s regnal number; the house of Reuss, of which he was a member, had a convention that, rather than giving sons different names, they would all be called Heinrich and numbered, whether or not they had any expectation of becoming the head of the house. 

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Neither work recorded by OCLC or VD18. 

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[ref: 2334 ]