Johann Mattheson (1681-1764): The Melodious Talking Fingers (Die Wohlklingende Fingersprache / Les Doits Parlans), sheet music edited by Colin Booth and Matthew Brown. This set of 12 fugues and seven other pieces for keyboard was published in Hamburg in 1735 and dedicated to G. F. Handel, Mattheson's friend and colleague at the Hamburg opera. Seventeen pages of frontmatter in English and in German include notes on the composer, sources, performance, and editions. Editor Colin Booth performs the works and has recorded two CD releases of Mattheson's keyboard music. In 2008, he issued a complete recording of Mattheson's Suites of 1714, Harmony’s Monument, in a two-CD set which remains available. Booth plays two harpsichords which he built as copies of two specific early instruments. In 2021, he released a CD of The Melodious Talking Fingers on yet another harpsichord he built. 70 pages, 8-1/4" x 11-5/8", beautifully set, even reproducing some engravings from the 1735 edition.
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