Ricci, Francesco Pasquale

Ricci, Francesco Pasquale – The Periodical Overture in 8 parts No. 24 (New print)

Published by Robert Bremner at the Harp and Hautboy, opposite Somerset-House, in the Strand

Issued:  ca. 1768; price 2 shillings

Source: Courtesy of the British Library Archives: h.3210.(30.)

Instrumentation: 2 violins, viola, basso, 2 oboes, 2 horns [originally in B♭]

Editors: Barnaby Priest & Alyson McLamore

COMMENTARY

It is sometimes difficult to fathom the logic behind the publishing strategies of printer Robert Bremner (c.1713–1789). After featuring five different composers in the first “opera” of his Periodical Overtures—Johann Christian Bach, Francesco Pasquale Ricci, Johann Stamitz, Anton Fils (Filtz), and Pietro Maria Crispi—he immediately issued four more works by Stamitz in the second opera, suggesting that the initial sales of that composer had been particularly strong. Bremner also printed a second symphony by Fils in Opus 2 and returned to Bach in the middle of Opus 3. Crispi, however, was never featured again in the series—but Ricci (1732–1817) returned as the concluding composer in “Opera Quarto.” By this point, it had been five years since Ricci had previously figured in the series—the longest gap between issues by a single composer that Bremner had yet presented (although longer gaps were to come for some subsequent individuals). The return to Ricci for Periodical Overture No. 24 may have been motivated by a desire to showcase a familiar name at the conclusion of the only “all-Italian” set within the entire run of Periodical Overtures, especially since the earlier symphony by Ricci had exhibited some staying power. …

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