Zweig MS 86

Autograph full score. Written in ink on systems of up to 16 staves. Tempo direction ‘Andante un poco sostenuto’ (f. 1r). Staves extended into the right margin by the composer on f. 2r. The recitative is given in a shorter version than that found in the published score, and the parts for the two soloists, who in the published score sing in unison with the chorus, are not marked in during the chorus.

At the bottom of f. 1r is the composer’s description ‘Fragment d’une Scene dans Olimpie’, and a presentation inscription from Spontini to Cherubini is at the bottom of f. 2v: ‘Au très rèvèré Maitre Cherubini par son très dèvoué admirateur Spontini’, ‘Paris, 8 Mai 1839’. Later additions include the composer’s name in red at top left of f. 1r, and the no. ‘130’ beneath that in pencil and in ink at top left of f. 2v. Also in pencil at the foot of f. 1r, identification of the extract as Act III, no. 24.

This manuscript was apparently written out specially for presentation to Cherubini. It no doubt relates to the revised version of the opera, first given in Berlin, in German, on 14 May 1821, and, in a slightly revised form, in French at the Theatre de l’Académie Royale de Musique in Paris in February 1826. The published full score refers to these Paris performances.