The George Frederick Handel manuscript of chamber cantata for two sopranos and basso ‘Se tu non lasci Amore’. It is estimated at €250,000 for the auction at Stargardt in Berlin.
This is the complete manuscript of Handel's chamber cantata for two sopranos and basso Se tu non lasci Amore, composed in Naples, signed and dated li 12 di Iuglio. / 1708. / Napoli.
The 29 pages once belonged to the composer's long-time friend Bernard Granville (1709-75), who noted on page 16, it "is the only Copy Extant, as Mr Handel told Him when he Gave it to Him as an addition to His Collection of Musick".
An added attraction of the lot is an autograph letter from George III dated February 1785, in which the monarch thanks Mary Delany, Granville's sister, for the loan of the manuscript. The estimate is €250,000.
