211 Johann Nepomuk HUMMEL (1778-1837). Méthode Complète théo - Lot 211

211 Johann Nepomuk HUMMEL (1778-1837). Méthode Complète théorique et pratique pour le Piano-forte. Paris, A. Farrenc [pl. A.F. 227, circa 1828]. Large folio volume, red chagrin, spine, boards, edges and returns richly decorated with gilt friezes, frames, lyres and fleurons, green silk endpapers, all gilt edges. all edges gilt. Frontispiece, title, notice and preface, 468 pp. Uncommon first edition in French, presented in a fine, rich binding signed "Martin Bauer, Weimar". Frontispiece features a lithograph portrait of the composer in profile, printed on chine and mounted. Opposite, an astonishing title page printed in black and gilded on glossy paper. A pupil of Mozart, the nine-year-old pianofortist first performed under the direction of the 30-year-old master in Dresden in 1787! His experience as an instrumentalist and composer, after taking lessons from Albrechtsberger, Haydn and Salieri, enabled him to write his own works. Salieri, enabled him to write this Méthode ("whose fertile views will be remembered" according to Honegger), published almost simultaneously in Vienna and Paris. Scattered brown spots, light spotting, nevertheless a superb copy.