Ne irascaris, Domine - The Viola da Gamba Society

the Zamponi sonata in B-Bc, MS Litt. XY 24910, as discussed. 26 Part-book two
in GB-DRc, MS D.2 bears an inscription on the front fly-leaf which reads ‘for
the honora bl Sir John St Barbe Bart neare Rumsey in Hampshire’. The
collection was probably copied in the 1670s for John St. Barbe (1655-1723),
who had been taught by Christopher Simpson since at least 1665. Between
1674 and 1678, St. Barbe embarked on a Grand Tour that took him to France,
Italy and perhaps Germany. 27
The subsequent history of B-Bc, MS Litt. XY 24910 fails to throw additional
light on the question of its origin. On 12 August 1814 the fifth day of the sale
of Charles Burney’s ‘valuable and very fine collection of music’ got underway.
Among the items up for sale, lot 632 was described as ‘Sonatas, Trios for Two
Violins and Bass, by Loiselet, Zamponi, Corelli, Finger, Bassani &c – and
Fancies, Airs &c. by C. Sympson, Poole, Butler, Loosemore, Ambrogia, &c MS.
3 books’. 28 This description must surely refer to B-Bc, MS Litt. XY 24910, and
it shows that the set was already missing a volume. The annotations on the
margin of the British Library copy of this sale catalogue record that the
Hereford Prebendary and music collector Samuel Picart (1776-1836) obtained
the lot. 29
Picart paid four shillings in total for lot 632 and lot 633, a comparable
collection described as ‘D[itt]o. for d[itt]o. [i.e., Sonatas, Trios for Two Violins
and Bass], by M. Locke, Kircher, Poole, Wren, H. and D. Purcell, J. Jenkins,
Becker, Nicola, W. Lawes, &c. MS. 3 books’. This must refer to the
aforementioned US-NHb, Osborn 515, which was already incomplete.
Reverend Picart’s ‘very valuable musical library’ was auctioned by Puttick and
Simpson of 191 Piccadilly on 10 March 1848. 30 Lot 209, described in the
catalogue as ‘Sonatas &c. of 3 parts, by Loiellet [sic], Zamponi, Corelli,
Bassani, Poole, Butler, La Valée [sic], C. Ambrogia, 3 vols. curious MSS’ was sold
for 2s. 6d. to a certain ‘Wilkes’, perhaps the Secretary of the Royal Academy of
Music George Wilkes, who also acquired US-NHb, Osborn 515 as lot 208. 31
Burney probably acquired B-Bc, MS Litt. XY 24910 in England, but he is also
known to have visited Paris with his daughters in 1764, and he organised
European journeys (to France and Italy in 1771, and to Germany, Austria and
the Low Countries in 1772), with the specific purpose of acquiring a grand
music library. If Burney sourced this item while touring Continental Europe, it
would seem to lend weight to the hypothesis that the collection originated
while scribe A was abroad. If on the other hand Burney obtained the volumes
26 For a discussion and inventory of this source, see IMCM, ii, 54-59. See also R.
Thompson, ‘Some Late Sources of Music by John Jenkins’, in Ashbee and Holman
(eds.), John Jenkins and his Time, 271-307, especially 299-307.
27 M. Urquhart, Sir John St Barbe Bt. of Brodlands (Southampton, 1983). For his activities
as a music manuscript owner, see Ashbee, Thompson and Wainwright, Index of Manuscripts,
ii, 6-7.
28 A. Hyatt King (ed.), Catalogue of the Music Library of Charles Burney, Sold in London, 8
August 1814 (Amsterdam, 1973), 25.
29 An obituary appeared in Sylvanus Urban, The Gentleman’s Magazine, 160 (London,
1836), 209.
30 GB-Lbl, S.C. Puttick and Simpson, 10 March 1848.
31 del Amo, ‘Anthony Poole’, especially 224-36 and 248-51.
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