MS Mus. 1862

Vocal score for the opera Macbeth by Giuseppe Verdi, published in Milan by Ricordi, c. 1847. Printed score in oblong format, paginated 5-257. This first edition of the vocal score, representing the original form of the opera, seems to be the variant identified by Cecil Hopkinson as 46A(c): see Cecil Hopkinson, Bibliography of Giuseppe Verdi 1813-1901 (New York: Broude Brothers Limited, 1978). For other variants of the first edition, see British Library, F.125.x. (Hopkinson 46A(a)) and E.190.mm. (Hopkinson 46A(b)).

A stamp which reads ‘J. H. Mapleson, Music Library & Copyist’ appears on the cover and at various points throughout the score, perhaps associating the copy with James Henry Mapleson senior (1802-1869), music librarian at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Annotations appear throughout the score in pencil, red pencil and occasionally in ink. The ink annotations precede Lady Macbeth’s first act aria (‘Vieni! T’affretta’, page 38) and the sleepwalking aria in the fourth act (page 234) and indicate that those numbers were to be played a ‘third lower’. Both refer to separate band parts for more information. The first instance of this annotation also mentions ‘Garcia’ which may refer to Pauline García (later Viardot-Garcia), who took the role of Lady Macbeth in the first British performance of the work at the Theatre Royal, Dublin in April 1859.

The vast majority of the annotations indicate orchestral instrumentation and cues for dynamics, although there are additionally some indications of breathing and one amendment to the vocal line in pencil (see page 46). There is also a change to the accompaniment part at the end of the scene preceding Lady Macbeth’s sleepwalking aria, in order to modulate into the new transposed key (page 233). A number of cuts are marked in red pencil, including in Lady Macbeth’s second act aria (‘Tionfai! Secure alfini’, page 101). Paper has been pasted over at various points for more substantial cuts, in particular to the apparition scene in the third act, where the annotation ‘Dublin 1860’ appears (page 180).

The pages appear to have been trimmed at some point in the past as annotations are occasionally cropped.