Beschreibung:

MENDELSSOHN BARTHOLDY, FELIX Three first editions of the Piano Quartets opp.1 to 3, his first published works, one a gift from the composer, 1823-1825 1) Quatuor pour le Piano Forté avec Accompagnement de Violon, Alto et Violoncelle...OEuvre 1, Berlin: A.M. Schlesinger, [1823], the 4 parts for piano (23 pp), violin, viola and cello (each 5pp.), 4to (c.30.5 x 25cm), plate no.1222, priced at 1 Rth 20g., contemporary boards, ownership inscription to title ("Ernst Rudorff. / M.H. Nachlass."), manuscript label to cover 2) Second Quatuor pour le Piano-Forté...Oeuv:2. Berlin: A.M. Schlesinger, [1824], the 4 parts for piano (28 pp), violin, viola and cello (7, 8 & 9 pp.), 4to (c.31.5 x 25cm), plate no.1283, priced at 2 Rth 4., contemporary boards, ownership inscription to title ("Ernst Rudorff 1894. / Nachlass von Marie Hoffmeister geb. Lichtenstein”), 2 passages written on slips of paper pasted into the viola part (performing aids), manuscript label to cover 3) Drittes Quartett für Fortepiano, Violine, Viola u. Violoncell, komponirt und Sr. Excl. dem Herrn Staatsminister, Geheimrath von Goethe ehrfurchtsvoll gewidmet...3tes Werk, Berlin, Fr, Laue , [1825]; the four parts for piano (39pp), violin, viola and cello (11, 10 & 9 pp.), 4to (c.35 x 27cm), plate no.4, unpriced on title, unpressed and uncut, original stitching, inscribed by Rudorff in ink on the title: “Geschenkt von Mendelssohn an meine Mutter, E.R.“, faint pencil inscription above (“[von] Mendelssohn geschenkt”) 3 items, ALL FIRST EDITIONS, engraved throughout, publishers' stamps to titles RARE: these are the first editions of Mendelssohn's first three published works, issued at the ages of fourteen, fifteen and sixteen. Friedrich Laue’s first edition of the Third Piano Quartet op.3 is rare: we have traced only one copy, in the British Library. KVK and WorldCat record a copy at the Staatsbibliothek, Berlin (currently inaccessible), but it is apparently priced on title unlike here. No copy in Hoboken or at auction. The present copy was given by Mendelssohn to his beloved Betty Pistor (1808-1887), to whom he later dedicated his String Quartet in E-flat op.12. The Third Quartet was dedicated to Goethe (the twelve-year-old musical prodigy had been introduced to him by his teacher C.F. Zelter in 1821). Another issue of op.1 with a different title and price dates from c.1830, after the publication of the second and third piano quartets opp.2 & 3. LITERATURE: MVW Q11, Q13 & Q17; Hoboken 107, 109 (not op.3) PROVENANCE: Betty Pistor and Marie Lichtenstein