Giuseppe Verdi: ‘Luisa Miller’, opera in three acts (libretto Salvatore Cammarano, after Schiller): album leaf with an extract from Act III
Scope & Content:
Autograph. Passage of 9 bars for Luisa (soprano), from the final section of her duet with her father, comprising the lines beginning ‘Andrem, raminghi e poveri’. Written, on the recto of the leaf only, in ink on sytems of two staves giving the vocal line and accompaniment. Marked ‘and[ant]e’ aga...
Giuseppe Verdi: ‘Falstaff’, opera in three acts (libretto Arrigo Boito), 1893: draft in short score of 16 bars from Act III, part ii
Scope & Content:
In the hand of Arrigo Boito. Written, on the recto of the leaf only, in ink on systems of two staves giving vocal line and accompaniment (in the treble clef). Text in Italian. The passage begins 4 bars after fig. 50, and represents the revisions to the text and vocal line sung over the wedding m...
Giuseppe Verdi: Letter to the publisher Tito Ricordi; Rome, 4 Feb. 1859
Scope & Content:
Autograph. Italian. The text, with a postscript, occupies ff. 1r-2r, the address, to Ricordi in Milan, impression of Verdi’s oval ‘G.V.’ seal, and Rome and Milan franking stamps, f. 2v. Part of the upper margin of f. 1 is torn away, leaving part of a number added in ink in another hand at the to...
Christoph Georg Wagenseil: Aria ‘Se del fiume altera l’onda’ (text, Pietro Metastasio), for medium voice and orchestra of 2 horns, 2 flutes and strings
Scope & Content:
Autograph full score. Written in ink on systems of eight staves. Tempo direction ‘Andante’ (f. 1r); ‘Da Capo’ at end (f. 8v). ‘Wagenseil 761 [line over]’ is written in ink of a darker colour in the upper right margin of f. 1r, and the name ‘Arcid:[ucessa] Joanna’, in a different ink and hand, at...
Richard Wagner: Overture in E minor to Ernst Raupach’s König Enzio (WWV 24)
Scope & Content:
Autograph draft in piano score. Written in ink on systems of two staves, with additions in red ink (f. 2v). Tempo directions ‘Sostenuto - Allegro’ (f. 1r); ‘Fine’ at end (f. 2v). The draft of the Overture ends on the fourth system on f. 2v; below this are brief sketches for the Concert Overture ...
Richard Wagner: Entracte tragique in D (WWV 25, no. 1)
Scope & Content:
Complete autograph draft in short score. Written in ink on systems of two staves; with a very few indications of orchestration. On a single leaf, headed ‘Entreacte tragique No: 1.’ (recto). Top left corner of the leaf torn away, removing tempo direction on the recto and affecting text on the ver...
Richard Wagner: Entracte tragique in D (WWV 25, no. 1)
Scope & Content:
Fragmentary autograph full score. Written in ink on systems of 11 staves. Incomplete, the first 52 bars only, occupying the whole of ff. 1-3r. Headed ‘No. 1’ and ‘Entreacte tragique No: 1.’ (f. 1r). Tempo direction ‘Allegro’ (f. 1r). Numbered 57-9 in ink over pencil (see description of Zweig MS ...
Richard Wagner: Symphony in C (WWV 29): piano duet version of part of movement I
Scope & Content:
Autograph score. Incomplete, breaking off after 116 bars of the Allegro. Written in ink on systems of four staves. ‘Sinfonia’ at head of f. 1r. Tempo directions ‘Sostenuto e maestoso (f. 1r) - Allegro con brio’ (f. 1v). The last two bars are written in the ‘primo’ part only, and the lower two sy...
Richard Wagner: Music for ‘Beim Antritt des neuen Jahr 1835’, allegorical festival play in one act by Wilhelm Schmale (WWV 36): autograph draft of Overture and two choral numbers, nos. 3 and 5
Scope & Content:
Autograph. Short (piano) score, and piano vocal score. Written in ink, the Overture on systems of two staves, the vocal numbers on systems of up to five staves. Contents: ff. 1r-2v. Overture; headed (f. 1r) ‘No: 1: Ouverture’. Tempo directions ‘Sostenuto - Allegro assai’ (f. 1r). f. 3r and v. [N...
Richard Wagner: ‘Das Liebesverbot’ or ‘Die Novize von Palermo’ (WWV 38), comic opera in two acts (libretto by the composer, after Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure), 1834-6: incomplete draft of Overture, sketches for nos. 6, 7 and 11, and unidentified sketches
Scope & Content:
Autograph short score. Written mostly in ink on one stave or systems of two staves, partly in pencil (f. 3v), and with annotations in red ink (f. 2r, v). Trial stave rulings in lower margin of f. 1r. The identifiable sketches, using cue numbers from the published full score, are as follows: ff...
