Featured Is this old musical score interesting?

There are 9 sides of musical notation, apparently handwritten, found in the ephemera auction lot bought last year. I'll post more photos if anyone thinks it has quality.

 

It is in 3/4 time. Person who wrote it used the old s that looks like f. Not sure when this fell out of use. It looks very brisk!

 

I had that thought too, although it does have a line for voice, which seems odd for dance music.

 

The vocalist is instructed that passage starts off 'Andante espressivo' (think using that f character for 'ss'), neither brisk nor dancy. String quartet; chamber music?

 

Definitely looks like M Volti. Considered it could be a general instruction about tempo, molto v___, but nothing works out. Volti is a form of the verb voltare (to turn) not an adjective. Volto, volte & volta also not productive. 'Very changeable' IM Translator tells me would be molto mutevole. If it is the name of the composer & Grove did not pick it up, not at all well known.

 

The style of the piece appears Classical...similar to Mozart. Could be a string symphony, along the lines of what Mendelssohn wrote in his childhood. Judging from the placement of the words, ? Volti probably refers to the need to turn the page quickly. I’d love to see more!

 

Oh good, someone who actually knows something about music! Thanks for joining in Brenda Anna.

 

The instrumentation looks a lot like a string quartet with added vocal line; first and second violins, viola, and a bass line which would usually be cello but may be indicated here as Basso (or Bafio?). The voice or Voce line is repeating the first violin part.
Basso could also refer to "basso continuo" which in baroque music would have been played by a cello or other bass instrument plus a keyboard playing the bass line with improvised harmony.
The melody seems a bit familiar, but I can't place it offhand. Possibly an arrangement of a Mozart piece?

 

I feel so dumb when I read these replies .. so informative, I'm just 'meat and potatos' in comparison .. but what a great gift to impart such knowledge .. and the opportunity to store it all in ones brain, Thank You .. Joy.

 

I will post the other pages tomorrow. The ephemera lot this came from did have original poems so this may also be original

 

Joy, I too feel in awe at the knowledge on these boards. Although we buy and sell antiques, it is learning that motivates us and what better place to learn than Antiquers!

 

That's exactly what I think also. I have a few small areas of knowledge, but I just love to learn and research things. There are so many fascinating stories behind the threads here.

 

Ok, here are the 9 pages of the score:


1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

 

Interesting. So the vocal part does have words written in eventually; it is likely that the repetition of the first violin part, in the first pages of the vocal part, is to help the vocalist follow the music in order to know where to come in.
In printed scores, that would be conveyed by having the notes written in smaller font; which is not easily reflected in a handwritten score.
You can see this on page 6, though, where after the first measure the vocalist pauses, and reads the first violin notes until it is time to come in again.
The melody still seems somewhat familiar, and I'd guess that this might be an arrangement of a Mozart or Telemann quartet, or some similar baroque piece; possibly the writer composed the words; or it could be an arrangement of a common folk song, or operatic aria, I suppose.
There is a method to make melodies searchable; it involves what is called "ABC notation" and is way too technical to go into here. I'm not really up to speed on ABC notation, and probably can't do that search very easily.
If someone can translate the words (from Italian?) that might give some clues also.