Twenty minuets for the harpsichord

Description

Vingt Menuets pour le Clavecin
Minuets for keyboard, and keyboard and violin(s) (playable also by string trio – two violins and cello)

ed. von / ed. by Marie Caruso

This edition of Vingt Menuets Pour le Clavecin by Maria Rosa Coccia (1759–1833), never before published, is based on a manuscript dating from 1783 found in the Neapolitan convent archive of San Gregorio Armeno. Six of the minuets are for clavecin, fifteen of the pieces have additional parts marked for violini.
The minuets are written in the galant style characteristic of the period and follow the form of the Menuet Ordinaire. A question that comes to mind in performing these pieces relates to which instruments to use. One could assume that the pieces marked violini were intended for 1st and 2nd violins, although there is no bracket indication. If the second violin was not available, the clavecin could play that part. The bottom line represents the continuo. Most keyboardists were trained to play continuo without a written figured bass. Alternatively, the three lines could be played by a string trio, two violins and cello. Other instruments could also be substituted.