Critical Edition by Fulvia Morabito – Massimiliano Sala, Bologna, Ut Orpheus Edizioni, 2022, pp. 36 (LOC 4), ISMN: 979-0-2153-2797-9.
The 21 Variations for fortepiano based on the theme of a Minuet by Pietro Antonio Locatelli were composed by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach in Frankfurt in 1735.
The Minuet in question first appeared as the third movement of the tenth Sonata of Op. 2, XII Sonate à Flauto Traversiere Solo è Basso, published in Amsterdam in 1732, at the composer’s expense.
The success of the Twelve Sonatas Op. 2 was considerable. The extensive manuscript tradition seldom hands down Op. 2 in its entirety, including instead a selection of sonatas or even a single sonata; even more often, it reproduces only the Minuet of the Tenth Sonata, either entirely or partially, or is limited to the theme in entirely original reworkings. Versions of this type circulated particularly in Holland, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, France and Austria.
And further confirmation of the notoriety achieved comes from the 21 Variations on the Minuet theme elaborated by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach only two years after the release of Op. 2 and the subject of the present edition.
The piece composed by Bach is handed down by two sources, one printed and one manuscript.
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Fulvia Morabito is currently President of the Centro Studi Opera Omnia Luigi Boccherini and President of the scientific committee of the Italian National Edition of Luigi Boccherini’s Complete Works (Ut Orpheus Edizioni). Graduated in musicology from the University of Pavia, she received a M.Mus in piano from the Conservatory Luigi Boccherini, Lucca). In 1994 she joined the editorial staff of the Stichting-Fondazione Pietro Antonio Locatelli (Amsterdam-Cremona) as editor of the Locatelli Opera Omnia. She is a member of the Advisory Board of the Francesco Geminiani’s Opera Omnia (Ut Orpheus Edizioni) and General Editor of the series Monumenta Musica Europea and Studies on Italian Music History (Brepols Publishers). She is also a founder of Ad Parnassum. A Journal of Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Instrumental Music and an editor of the series Ad Parnassum Studies (Ut Orpheus Edizioni). She published 2 monographs on P.A. Locatelli (2009 and 2018) and another on La Romanza vocale da camera in Italia (1997), critical editions, edited volumes, articles, and dictionaries entries.
Massimiliano Sala is currently Vice President of the Centro Studi Opera Omnia Luigi Boccherini and President of the Italian Institute of Applied Musicology. Graduated in musicology from the University of Pavia (Italy), he received a M.Mus in piano from the Conservatory of Cesena. He is President of the Italian National Edition of Pietro Antonio Locatelli’s Complete Works, and member of the Board of the Italian National Edition of Muzio Clementi’s Complete Works (Secretary Treasurer) and the Italian National Edition of Luigi Boccherini’s Complete Works. He is also a founder of Ad Parnassum. A Journal on Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Instrumental Music, General Editor of the series ‘Contemporary Composers’, ‘Music, Science and Technology’ (Brepols Publishers) and Quaderni Clementiani (Ut Orpheus Edizioni), and member of the editorial committee of the series Boccherini Studies (Ut Orpheus Edizioni), His publications include books, critical editions, journal articles and book chapters on eighteenth- to twentieth-centuries music, dictionary entries for Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart 2 and Oxford Bibliographies Online (OUP).
