Dell’origine e delle regole della musica, colla storia del suo progresso, decadenza, e rinovazione […] [- Riposta al giudizio delle Efemeridi letterarie di Roma del dì 19. di Marzo 1774].

4to: [12]-466-[2], 42 pp. (some minor marg. spotting).

Contemp. vellum (sl. soiled), flat spine with gilt label (sm. def. at lower head of joint), red marbl. edges. Good copy.

First edition of a revolutionary work on musical theory anticipating some of the concepts of Richard Wagner. Ill. with a fine dedication portrait of Maria Antonia Walburga of Bavaria, widowed Electoral Princess of Saxony, engr. by Giovanni Brunetti after Francesco Aranaudis Catalano and 22 engr. fold. plates with musical notation; also vign. on title, initials, 10 allegorical and mythological engr. headpieces, tailpcs, and 1 printed fold. table. Eximeno y Pujades (1727-1808), a Spanish Jesuit who settled in Rome after the expulsion of his order from Spain, was the first scientific exponent of the theory that the aim of music is to express emotion. His book provoked a storm of criticism from noted writers like Padre Martini, but greatly influenced music aesthetics. Eximeno was also one of the first to uphold the theory of nationalism in music, arguing that the music of a country should be based on its national song. Bound with the often missing "Riposta al giudizio delle Efemeridi [...]".
Ref. RISM B/VI/1:299. - DBS III:492-3:8. - Hirsch I:162.