Loeb Music Library

We would like to remind those who will be alone on Valentine’s Day that the Music Library will be open from 9 am to 10 pm, and our audiovisual stacks offer a wide array of reminders that the course of true love does not run particularly smoothly. For the Taylor Swiftian who just knows that if you’re nice and helpful enough, your beloved is bound to leave hir current stormy relationship and start dating you, La Gioconda offers a warning (also a reminder that Les Miserables is far from the only bizarre Victor Hugo plot rendered into popular musical entertainment.)  Take it from Lucia di Lammermoor‘s Arturo: if she doesn’t want to be with you, she really doesn’t want to be with you!

Found your perfect mate? Sure nothing can go wrong? Otello and his bride might have something to say about that. Elsa from Lohengrin would probably advise you to be happy with what you have and not ask too many questions, while Judith from Bluebeard’s Castle might modify that recommendation and suggest you ask the questions before you and your intended are isolated together in a gloomy stronghold. Does s/he have controlling, overbearing relatives? Does s/he have a problem with drinking, drugs, gambling or infidelity?  Does s/he just have problems, full stop?  And if you doubt the need for a pre-nup, consider the fate of Elisabetta in Don Carlo: don’t let your prospective father-in-law substitute himself for your bridegroom at the last minute.

If you and your Ms. or Mr. Right are thinking of having kids, Peter and Gertrud from Hänsel und Gretel would urge you to find competent and reliable child care.  Asking Kostelnička Buryjovka or Azucena from Il Trovatore, for example, would be a bad idea. Make sure your babysitter clearly understands and follows all instructions.  Bandits, pirates, enemy soldiers and other wanderers are everywhere, just waiting to seize your precious little bundle and raise him or her as one of their own.  (And if you must split up, you’ll probably want a better custody plan than the one in Medea.)

If, on the other hand, your beloved just wants somebody who isn’t you (and you don’t feel comfortable stabbing, betraying or poisoning them) why not be like two of the greatest characters in all opera and graciously let them go?  The beautiful music you get to sing, and the respect from other characters in the opera, might make the whole thing worth it!  Happy Valentine’s Day!

Sarah Barton

Yes, even New England has heat waves. The mercury here in Cambridge has dropped to more typical (and bearable) summer temperatures, but I still can’t resist defying the season by showcasing these two recently-digitized scores of Luigi Cherubini’s opera Eliza, ou, Le voyage aux glaciers du Mont St. Bernard.

Composed in 1793, Eliza received its first performance – after revisions by government censors – at the Théâtre Feydeau in Paris on December 13, 1794. The theatre’s productions were known for their scenery and stage effects, such as the castle destroyed in the third act of Cherubini’s hit Lodoïska. While the opera’s Alpine setting has obvious potential for spectacle, Eliza‘s plot is distinguished by librettist Jacques Antoine Révéroni Saint-Cyr’s use of the landscape itself, rather than the human dangers posed by violent conflict, as the final peril triumphantly overcome by the lovers Eliza and Florindo (with the assistance, naturally, of the friars of the hospice of Saint Bernard).¹

The avalanche descends: Luigi Cherubini, Eliza, p. 107-108. Merritt Room Mus 637.1.618.5 (click images to enlarge)

• [Eliza]. Eliza, ou, Le voyage aux glaciers du Mont St. Bernard: opera en deux actes / par Saint Cyr; mis en musique par Cherubini et representé au Théatre de la rue Faydeau le 13. décembre 1794. A Paris: A l’Imprimerie du Conservatoire, Faux-bourg [sic] Poissonnière, au coin de la rue Bergere, [1795?].
  RISM A/I, CC 2028 I,201
  Merritt Mus 637.1.618

  A full score with French words, including the dialogue.

• [Eliza. Vocal score. German & French]. Elise oder Die Reise auf den S. Bernardsberg. ein Singspiel in drey Akten in Musik gesezt [sic] / von Cherubini; im Klavierauszuge von G.B. Bierey. Leipzig: Breitkopf und Härtel, [1795?].
  Merritt Mus 637.1.618.5

  A vocal score with German and French words.

As always, find these and other scores in our collection of Digital Scores and Libretti.

-Kerry Masteller

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1. On Cherubini’s musical representation of the Alps, see Michael Fend, “Literary Motifs, Musical Form and the Quest for the ‘Sublime’: Cherubini’s ‘Eliza ou le Voyage aux glaciers du Mont St Bernard’,” Cambridge Opera Journal, vol. 5, no. 1 (Mar., 1993): 17-38. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/823748.

For transcriptions of Cherubini’s correspondence regarding the composition of Eliza, see Stephen Charles Willis, “Luigi Cherubini: a study of his life and dramatic music, 1795-1815″ (Ph.D. diss., Columbia University, 1975), http://hollis.harvard.edu/?itemid=|library/m/aleph|008015816 (HOLLIS record).

When we began digitizing scores from our collections over a decade ago, one area of focus was works from the operatic repertoire existing in multiple versions. If opera is a genre ripe for reinterpretations – as novels, plays, libretti, and scores themselves are recycled and revisioned – both of this week’s scores are products of the resulting palimpsest of musical influences.

First, a vocal score of Busoni’s two-act number opera, Turandot:

[Turandot. Vocal score]. Turandot : eine chinesische Fabel nach Gozzi in zwei Akten / Worte und Musik von Ferruccio Busoni; Klavierauszug mit Text von Philipp Jarnach. Leipzig: Brietkopf & Härtel, [c1918]. Mus 633.5.605.

Although it premiered in 1917 as a double-bill with Arlecchino (link to digitized vocal score), Turandot has its origin in incidental music composed over a decade earlier for Carlo Gozzi’s 1762 play of the same title. Writing in a 1911 issue of Blätter des Deutschen theaters devoted to the play, Busoni describes his composition: “I have employed exclusively original oriental motives and forms and believe I have avoided the conventional theatre exoticism.”¹ These themes were themselves taken from examples of Chinese, Middle Eastern, and Indian music published in August Wilhelm Ambros’ Geschichte der Musik, as well as the English song “Greensleeves”.²

Our second work is a full score of Franz Schreker’s Das Spielwerk:

[Spielwerk]. Das Spielwerk: Mysterium in einem Aufzug / von Franz Schrecker. Wien: Universal-Edition, c1921. Mus 800.42.615

The simultaneous Frankfurt and Vienna premieres of Das Spielwerk und die Prinzessin (link to digitized vocal score) in 1913 had not been a success, thanks in part to a hostile reception by the Viennese critic Julius Korngold. Schreker condensed and extensively reworked the opera in 1915 and 1916; his revisions include replacing the original overture with the prelude to the second act, and changing the ending from the fiery disaster of the first version to a lullaby sung by Leise to her deceased son. The new, one-act Das Spielwerk premiered in Munich in 1920, conducted by Bruno Walter.

-Kerry Masteller

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1. Busoni, Ferruccio, “The Turandot Music,” in The Essence of Music and Other Papers, trans. Rosamond Ley (New York: Dover, 1965), 61, http://hollis.harvard.edu/?itemid=|library/m/aleph|007922884 (HOLLIS record).

Original text: “Ich habe ausschließlich originale orientalische Motive und Wendungen verwandt und glaube den konventionellen Theater-Exotismus umgangen zu haben.” Busoni, Ferruccio, “Zur ‘Turandot’-Musik,” Blätter des Deutschen theaters (Berlin), Jahrg.1 Nr. 6 (27 October 1911): 83-84, http://hdl.handle.net/2027/njp.32101018921104?urlappend=%3Bseq=99 (full text).

2. For an analysis of the sources used in the Turandot Suite, see Antony Beaumont, Busoni the Composer (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, c1985), 76-86, http://hollis.harvard.edu/?itemid=|library/m/aleph|000220150 (HOLLIS record).

See also August Wilhelm Ambros, Geschicte der Musik: mit zahlreichen notenbeispielen und musikbeilagen, Vol. 1, Die Musik des griechischen Alterthums und des Orients (Leipzig: F.E.C. Leuckart, 1887-1911), http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.FIG.GITEM:HW2LWX (full text).

Recently added to our collection of Digital Scores and Libretti is this first edition of André Campra’s Hésione:

Hesione: tragédie mise en musique par Monsieur Campra: representée par l’Academie Royale de Musique le vingt-uniéme jour de Decembre 1700. Paris: Ballard, 1700.
Merritt Room Mus 635.582.625

Le Cerf de la Viéville ranked Campra first among the post-Lully composers of French opera and held up his Tancrède (1702) as deserving of particularly high praise. Campra was second only to Lully in the number of tragédies en musique he composed, with ten such works in his oeuvre. His first tragédie en musique, Hesione, was performed at the Opéra on 21 December 1700. The libretto was by Antoine Danchet.

Viéville cited Hesione as being “full of new and brilliant things” and that it offers proof that “since the death of Lulli there has still been something beautiful in France.”¹ Though his tragédies retained the general outlines of the genre as established by Lully, he departed from Lullian convention by employing more contrapuntal textures and vocal coloraturas. To the critics most faithful to Lully this was sign of the encroachment of Italian music in France. Campra acknowledged his tendencies when he set out his personal musical credo in the preface to his first book of cantatas (1708): “to the best of my abilities I have endeavoured to temper the delicacy of French music with the liveliness of Italian music.”²

(With thanks to Dr. Sarah Adams, Acting Richard F. French Librarian, for text slightly modified from her exhibition of French Baroque opera, in which this score appeared.)

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1. “Hésione…qui est plein de choses neuves & brillantes[.] Il me suffit de cela pour montrer à Mr. l’Abbé que, depuis la mort de Lulli, on a encore fait quelque chose de beau en France.” Comparaison de la musique italienne et de la musique françoise, 2nd ed. (Bruxelles: F. Foppens, 1705-1706), 1:98.

2. “J’ay taché autant que j’ay pû de méler avec la delicatesse de la Musique Françoise, la vivacité de la Musique Italienne…”. Cantates françoises, melées de symphonies… Livre premier (Paris: C. Ballard, 1708).

We’ve recently added to our collection of Digital Scores and Libretti a trio of volumes by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: a collection of easy keyboard sonatas for popular consumption; settings of sacred songs by the Hamburg paster Christoph Christian Sturm; and chorales from the Schleswig-Holstein hymnal.

[Sonatas, keyboard instrument. Selections]
Sechs leichte Clavier Sonaten / von Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. Leipzig : Bey Bernhard Christoph Breitkopf und Sohn., 1766.
1st ed.
H. 162, 180–82, 163, 183; Wq. 53
Merritt Room Mus 627.2.426.6

[Geistliche Gesänge, H. 749]
Herrn Christoph Christian Sturms … Geistliche Gesänge : mit Melodien zum Singen bey dem Claviere. [Erste]-Zweyte Sammlung / vom Herrn Kapellmeister Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Musikdirektor in Hamburg. Hamburg : Jahnn Heinrich Herold, 1780-1781.
Wq. 197; RISM A/I, B 0133; B0134.
Merritt Room Mus 627.2.582.3

[Litaneyen aus dem Schleswig-Holsteinischen Gesangbuche]
Zwey Litaneyen aus dem Schleswig-Holsteinischen Gesangbuche mit ihrer bekannten Melodie, für acht Singstimmen in zwey Chören und dem dazugehörigen Fundament in Partitur gesetzt, und zum Nutzen und Vergnügen Lehrbegieriger in der Harmonie bearbeitet / von Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach ; herausgegeben von Niels Schiørring. Kopenhagen : In Commission bey Chr. Gottl. Prost ; Gedruckt bey Aug. Fr. Stein, 1786.
1st ed.
H. 780, 871; Wq. 204; RISM A/I, B 117
Merritt Room Mus 627.2.542

Coming soon, much more French opera…and just a little bit of German song.

-Kerry Masteller

Happy New Year! In this group of digital scores, you’ll find operas from the first half of the 19th century, by Cherubini, Meyerbeer, and Spontini (as well as one early Donizetti libretto). Get these, and nearly 600 other scores, in our collection of Digital Scores and Libretti.

Luigi Cherubini, 1760-1842.
[Deux journées]
Les deux journées: opéra en trois actes / par le c.en Bouilly …; mis en musique par le c.en Chérubini. Paris: Gaveaux, rue St. Marc N. 10, [181-?].
Merritt Room Mus 637.1.675.2

A full score of Cherubini’s popular rescue opera (see our earlier post for a digitized copy of the vocal score).

Guillaume Gaveaux (Gaveaux ainé) was one of a family of music publishers and merchants active in Paris between 1794 and 1832; the full imprint in this copy is covered by a label reading “Chez Mme. Duhan & Cie. … Boulvard Poissoniere No. 10.” One of a number of women in the Parisian music business, Jeanne-Elisabeth Duhan was also associated with manufacture and sale of early lithographed music printed by Louise-Gabrielle Vernay’s Imprimerie Lithographique.¹

Gaspare Spontini, 1774-1851.

[Vestale. Vocal score]
La vestale : tragédie lyrique en trois actes / de mr. de Jouy; mise en musique par Gaspard Spontini; réduite pour piano. Paris: Melles. Erard, [1822?].
Mus 813.2.608

A vocal score, with some instrumental cues, of Spontini’s first grand opera and greatest success, premiered – with the Empress Josephine’s patronage – at the Théâtre de l’Académie Royale de Musique on December 15, 1807.

Soon after, Jouy wrote a parody of his own work for the Théatre du Vaudeville. Read the libretto, and his account of its creation, in his collected works: La Marchande de Modes: parodie de La Vestale (full text online).

[Fernand Cortez. Vocal score]
Fernand Cortez: opéra / par G. Spontini; arrangé pour le piano. Paris: Imbault; Melles. Érard, [1809?].
Mus 813.2.623

A vocal score of the first version of Spontini’s second grand opera, premiered November 28, 1809. Napoleon had commissioned the libretto, loosely based on Cortez’s 1520 invasion of Mexico, as a propaganda piece in support of his Spanish campaigns during the Pennisular War. While the first version was withdrawn after 13 performances, a second opened in 1817 with a revised libretto to suit the political climate of the Bourbon Restoration – and with greater success.

Giacomo Meyerbeer, 1791-1864.
[Emma di Resburgo. Vocal score. German & Italian]
Emma von Roxburgh: grosse Oper in zwei Aufzügen / componirt von J. Meyerbeer; vollständiger Klavier-Auszug mit deutschem und italienischem text von J.P. Schmidt. Berlin: in der Schlesingerschen Buch- und Musikhandlung; Schlesinger, [1820?].
Mus 743.3.676

Meyerbeer’s first Venetian commission (premiered at San Benedetto, June 26, 1819), and his first international success. A German-language production opened in Berlin in February of 1820.²

Gaetano Donizetti, 1797-1848.
[Elisir d’amore. Libretto]
L’elisir d’amore: melodramma giocoso in due atti: da rappresentarsi nel Teatro Carlo Felice, l’autunno dell’anno 1833. Genova: Stamperia Arcivesovile, [1833].
Merritt Room ML51.D683 E42 1833

A libretto from one of the earliest performances of L’elisir d’amore, performed at Genoa’s Teatro Carlo Felice. Donizetti’s popular melodrama had opened the year before at Milan’s Teatro alla Canobbiana and was quickly produced at opera houses throughout Europe.

-Kerry Masteller

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1. On 18th and 19th century music publishing in Paris, see Anik Devriès and François Lesure, Dictionnaire des èditeurs de musique français (Genève: Éditions Minkoff, 1979-1988); Cecil Hopkinson, A Dictionary of Parisian Music Publishers, 1700-1950 (London: 1954). On the Imprimerie lithographique, see Michael Twyman, Early lithographed music: a study based on the H. Baron Collection (London: Farrand, 1996): 247-254.

2. On production histories, see Alfred Loewenberg, Annals of Opera: 1597-1940, 3rd rev. ed. (Totowa, N.J.: Rowman and Littlefield, 1978).

This group of first and early Schubert editions begins with twelve songs first published as supplements to the Wiener Zeitschrift für Kunst, Literatur, Theater und Mode (Harvard’s set lacks only Im Frühling, D. 882, published September 16, 1828):

• Erstausgaben aus der Wiener Zeitschrift, [1820-1832]. [Wien]: A. Strauss, 1820-1832.
  Merritt Mus 800.1.703 PHI

The other songs in this batch are settings of Schiller, Goethe, Rückert, and others, including settings of songs from Sir Walter Scott’s epic poem The Lady of the Lake and his novels A Legend of Montrose and The Pirate.

• Sieben Gesänge aus Walter Scott’s Fräulein vom See: Op. 52 in Musik gesetzt mit Begleitung des Pianoforte und der Hochgebornen Frau, Frau Sophie Gräfin v. Weissenwolf, geborne Gräfin v. Breunner hochachtungsvoll, gewidmet von Franz Schubert. Wien: Bey Math. Artaria, [1826].
  First edition
  Merritt Mus 800.1.711.15 PHI
• Greisen-Gesang: aus den östlichen Rosen von F. Rückert; und Dythyrambe von F. v. Schiller; in Musik gesetzt für eine Bassstimme mit Begleitung des Pianoforte von Franz Schubert; 60tes Werk. Wien: bey Cappi und Czerny, [1826].
  First edition
  Merritt Mus 800.1.722.10 PHI
• Lied der Anne Lyle: aus Walter Scott’s Montrose; Gesang der Norna: aus Walter Scott’s Pirat: für eine Singstimme mit Begleitung des Pianoforte: op. 85 in Musik gesetzt von Franz Schubert. Wien: A. Diabelli, [1828].
  First edition
  Merritt Mus 800.1.731.10 PHI
• Die Sterne von Leitner. Jägers Liebeslied von Schober. Wanderers Nachtlied von Göthe. Fischerweise von Schlechta; in Musik gesetzt für eine Singstimme mit Begleit. des Pianoforte von Franz Schubert; op. 96. Wien: A. Diabelli und Comp., [1837].
  Neue Ausgabe. [2nd ed.]
  Merritt Mus 800.1.740.12 PHI
• Die Erwartung Gedicht von Fr. von Schiller; in Musik gesetzt mit Begleitung des Pianoforte … von Franz Schubert; op. 116. Wien: M.J. Leidesdorf, [1829].
  First edition
  Merritt Mus 800.1.736.20 PHI
• Sechs Gedichte, 118tes Werk Musik gesetzt für eine Singstimme mit Begleitung des Pianoforte von Franz Schubert. Wien: J. Czerny, [1829].
  Merritt Mus 800.1.714.10 PHI

Find these works, and others, in our collection of Digital Scores and Libretti.

-Kerry Masteller

After, I confess, a somewhat longer pause than anticipated, we return with the first of a series of posts on recently-digitized items from the collection. As always, these and many other scores are available in our collection of Digital Scores and Libretti.

To begin, I’ve selected a set of compositions by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: published editions, as well as copyist’s manuscripts, likely made from first or early editions. They’re assembled in a volume of music that may have been prepared for Count Anton Georg Apponyi, a member of the Gesellschaft der Associierten, the Viennese musical society founded in 1786 by Baron Gottfried van Swieten. It includes:

[Sonatas, piano, K. 533/494, F major]. Sonate pour le clavecin ou piano-forte, oeuvre 44 composé par W.A. Mozart. Vienne: Artaria, [1798].

RISM A/I, M/MM 6849

Artaria’s reissue of K. 533 and K. 494, from Hoffmeister’s first edition of 1788.

XIV. différentes pieces pour le piano forte par W.A. Mozart. A Paris: Chez Pleyel, [1805?].

RISM A/I, M/MM 7458

Volume 5 of Pleyel’s Collection complette des œuvres de piano par W.A. Mozart, containing 14 pieces for piano.

[Rondos, piano, K. 511, A minor]. No. 2o Rondeau pour le forte piano, ou clavicembalo composé par Mr. W.A. Mozart; J. Gyenis [copyist?]. Manuscript, ca. 1795-1800.

Manuscript music notated in ink on 8-stave paper with a watermark of 3 crescent moons and the letters “FA.” Originally composed in 1787; this manuscript probably derives from the 1st or a very early edition: the notation in measure 161 in the left hand corresponds to the autograph. Includes early (possibly contemporary) manuscript fingering to the bass line of measures 122-124. Some notation to measure 40 is lacking, and added in pencil in an early hand.

The last 2 pages of music are in a different hand, with the initials “MA.” This unidentified piece – arpeggiated passages over a chordal progression – consists of a simple tune, possibly for violin with piano accompaniment, with a correction and one measure crossed out, indicating that it may have been composed as a teaching piece.

[Sonatas, violin, piano, K. 454, B♭ major]. Sonata pour le clavecin ou piano forte avec un violon, no 21 par Mr. W.A. Mozart. Manuscript, ca. 1795-1800.

A manuscript of the keyboard part only, notated in ink on 8-stave paper with a watermark of 3 crescent moons and the letters “BAC.” K. 454 was composed in 1784 and published by Christoph Torricella in July; this copy was probably made from the first or an early edition.

On the verso of a the final leaf is a 1 page song notated in both ink and pencil, in a different hand.

[Trios, piano, strings, K. 496, G major]. Trio in G per il cembalo ò fortepiano, violino e violoncello del sig: W:A: Mozart. Manuscript, ca. 1795-1800.

A manuscript of the keyboard part of the Piano Trio in G major, K. 496, notated in ink on 8-stave paper with a watermark incorporating a canopy over the letter “A” countered by “GF” over “C.” At the bottom of the title page, in different ink, is written “Graf Anton Nr. 21 [crossed out, with "19" substituted] Sonate uman.”

This trio was composed in 1786 and published in Vienna by Hoffmeister in the same year; this copy was likely made from the 1st or an early edition.

[Quartets, piano, strings, K. 478, G minor]. Quartetto per il clavicembalo o forte piano accompagnement violino, viola, e violoncello del sig: W:A: Mozart. Manuscript, ca. 1795-1800.

A manuscript of the keyboard part of the String Quartet in G minor, K. 478, notated in ink on 8-stave paper with a watermark of 3 crescent moons over “Real,” a canopy, and the letters “GL,” similar to the watermark on paper Mozart used in 1791 for sketches of Die Zauberflöte. The quartet, composed in 1785, was published by Hoffmeister in December of that year; this copy was probably prepared from the 1st or an early edition.

“Graf Anton Apponyi” is written in light pencil at the right hand corner of the title page; at the bottom of the title page, in ink, is “Graf Anton” is scratched out, and “angefangen den 2. December N17 (corrected from 19) Anton” written below. In the score, early penciled annotations include fingering, accidentals, and dynamics.

The Loeb Music Library holds multiple copies of the other two pieces in this volume, and had already digitized these copies:

[Sonatas, violin, piano. Selections]. Six sonates pour le clavecin, ou pianoforte avec l’accompagnoment [sic] d’un violon, oeuvre II par Wolf. Amadee Mozart. Vienne: Artaria, [1781].

First edition, 1st issue, RISM A/I, M 6492

Mozart’s first works to be printed in Vienna, after his arrival in the city in March of 1781.

This copy is part of the Biblioteca Mozartiana Eric Offenbach (BMEO); digitized along with the score are a photocopy of a letter from Alexander Weinmann to Eric Offenbacher regarding the edition and Weinmann’s speculations about a possible earlier publication by Torricella, and a typewritten note containing information on this work.

[Symphonies, K. 543, E♭ major; arr.]. Wolfg. Ama. Mozarts grosse Sinfonie ins Claviergesetzt und dem verdienstvollen Tonküstler und Verehrer dieses unvergesslichen Meisters … von Johann Wenzel. Prag: Zu haben beÿm Verfasser; Leipzig: In der Breitkopfischen Buchhandlung, [ca. 1794].

First edition, RISM A/I, M 5540

- Kerry Masteller

It’s time once again for a quick tour of the latest additions to our collection of Digital Scores and Libretti. For this week’s post, I’ve chosen one 18th century collection of keyboard works and four vocal scores by Giacomo Meyerbeer. Enjoy!

Keyboard works

C.P.E. Bachs, Nichelmanns und Händels Sonaten und Fugen fürs Clavier. 2. Aufl. Berlin : Wever, 1774.
Merritt Room Mus 460.69

A collection of keyboard works by C.P.E. Bach, Nichelmann, Handel, and Kirnberger, first published in 1762 as Tonstücke für das Clavier.

Giacomo Meyerbeer

• Margherita d’Anjou : opera semiseria in due atti / Composto e ridotto per il cembalo da G. Meyerbeer. Paris : M. Schlesinger, [1827?].
  Mus 743.3.610 B

  Meyerbeer’s first opera for La Scala, premiered on November 14, 1820. This edition includes the title vignette: “Salvi amico la regina, salvi il figlio del tuo re,” from Act I, scene XV.

• Il crociato in Egitto; opera seria. Ridotto con accompagniamento de pianoforte. Paris, Chez Pacini, [18--].
  Mus 743.3.650
   
• Le pardon de Ploërmel : opéra comique en trois actes / paroles de J. Barbieret M. Carré ; musique de Giacomo Meyerbeer ; partition chant et piano. Paris : G. Brandus et S. Dufour, [1859?].
  Mus 743.3.692.5
   
• Les Huguenots : opéra en cinq actes / paroles de Scribe ; musique de G. Meyerbeer ; partition chant et piano. Ed. définitive et complète. Paris : Ph. Maquet, [1888?].
  Mus 743.3.624
   

Stay tuned for our next batch of scores, featuring early editions and copyist’s manuscripts from a 19th-century album of Mozart’s works.

-Kerry Masteller

As we near our goal of digitizing the Music Library’s collection of first editions and notable variants of Giuseppe Verdi’s operas, these vocal scores and libretti have been added to the digital scores collection:

• Giovanna d’Arco: dramma lirico in quattro parti da rappresentarsi nel regio Teatro il carnovale del 1845-46, alla presenza delle LL. SS. RR. MM. Torino: Tipografia dei fratelli Favale, [1845].
  Merritt Room Mus 577.322.11

  An early edition of the libretto, published with two ballet scenarios by Luigi Astolfi: Alma, ossia, La figlia del fuoco and Il consiglio di Recluta.

• Il finto Stanislao: melodramma giocoso in due atti / de Felice Romani; posto in musica dal maestro Giuseppe Verdi; riduzione per canto con accompagnamento di pianoforte dei L. Truzzi, A. Rajneri e C. Dominiceti. Milano: G. Ricordi, [1846].
  Mus 857.1.605.5
  Hopkinson 38B(a)

  The first complete edition of the vocal score. After one performance at La Scala in 1840, with the title Un Giorno di Regno, Il Finto Stanislao was next produced in 1845 in Venice.

• Attila : dramma lirico in tre atti con prologo / poesia di T. Solera ; musica di Gius. Verdi ; canto con accompto. di piano forte. [1st ed.]. Milano : F. Lucca, [1846].
  Mus 857.1.616.5
  Hopkinson, 45A(a)

  The first complete edition of the first version, premiered at La Fenice in 1846.

• L’assedio di Arlem: tragedia lirica in quattro atti / posta in musica del maestro Giuseppe Verdi; riduzione per canto con accomp. di pianoforte di E. Muzio. Milano: G. Ricordi, [1850].
  Mus 857.1.621.5
  Hopkinson, 50A A(b) 

  The confusing production and publication history of L’Assedio di Arlem/La Battaglia di Legnano reveals some of the changes that could be made to accommodate the political climates of different cities (and the demands of censors). When premiered in 1849 in Rome – as La Battaglia di Legnano – this patriotic opera was set in 1176 during the struggles of the Lombard League against Frederick Barbarossa and the Holy Roman Empire. In the aftermath of failed revolutions against the Austrian Empire, however, such an obviously nationalistic subject was viewed with suspicion: while this variant of the first complete edition, published in Austrian-governed Milan, preserves the original music, it moves the action of the work instead to 16th-century Haarlem, during the Eighty Years’ War between the Dutch provinces and the Spanish Habsburg Empire.¹

• Rigoletto : melodramma di F.M. Piave ; musica del maestro G. Verdi ; riduzioni per canto con accomp. di pfte. di Luigi Truzzi. Milano : G. Ricordi, [1852].
  Merritt Room Mus 857.1.559 

  A variant of the first complete edition, not listed in Hopkinson.

• Un ballo in maschera : melodramma tragico in tre atti / musica di G. Verdi ; riduzione per canto e pianoforte di Luigi ed Alessandro Truzzi. Milan : Ricordi, [1860].
  Merritt Room Mus 857.1.678.7 PHI 

  An early edition of the vocal score, not listed in Hopkinson.

• Simon Boccanegra : melodramma in un prologo e tre atti / di F. M. Piave ; musica di G. Verdi. Milano : R. Stabilimento Ricordi, [1881].
  Merritt Room Mus 689.630.360.9 PHI 

  The first edition of the revised version of the libretto, from the La Scala staging of 1880-1881.

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1. For more information about the composition and publication of L’Assedio di Arlem, see Cecil Hopkinson, A Bibliography of the Works of Giuseppe Verdi, 1813-1901 (New York: Broude Brothers, 1973-1978) and Roger Parker, “La Battaglia di Legnano“, in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, ed. Stanley Sadie, Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online (access restricted to Harvard affiliates).

- Kerry Masteller