SBARRA, FRANCESCO. 1611-1668.


Il pomo d'oro. Festa teatrale Rappresentata in Vienna per l'augustissime nozze delle sacre cesaree e Reali Maesta di Leopoldo e Margherita. Vienna: Matteo Cosmerovio, 1667. 8vo (158 x 96 mm). Folding extra title page and 23 folded etched plates by Matthaus Kusel after Ludovico Burnacini. Contemproary red paper wrappers, original first and last blank leaves mounted as paste-downs, custom red-brown cloth box. One plate loose, one with frayed fore-edge, tears in spine and back cover. Provenance: Paul and Marianne Gourary (their sale, Christie's N.Y., June 12, 2009, lot 512).FIRST EDITION, describing an extravagant production of the opera Il Pomo d'Oro [The Golden Apple] to celebrate the marriage of Emperor Leopold I to Margarita Teresa of Spain, daughter of Philip IV, in 1666. Sbarro's libretto, developed from a classical Greek story, begins with a beauty contest and ends with the Trojan War. The music was by Pietro Antonio Cesti. It was staged at the theater in the Cortina of Hofburg, the first production to take place there. Kusel's etchings appear here in their first state, illustrating all of the sets for the production. VERY RARE IN THIS EDITION AND STATE. Berlin Katalog 4126; Ruggieri 967; Vinet 669.