Zweig MS 96

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 minuet made early in 1894 for the Paris performances, beginning, at bar 4 of the extract, with Ford’s ‘Gia s’avanza il corteggio nuziale’. Later dealer’s annotations in pencil in upper margins of recto and verso.

The French text of Falstaff had been prepared by Boito and Paul Solanges, in close collaboration with Verdi, in the late summer of 1893, but minor revisions to the musical text made early in 1894 necessitated further adjustments (Hepokoski). Verdi wrote to Ricordi on 21 January 1894, expressing his desire to insert new words to accompany the wedding minuet: ‘Se Boito trova un mezzo verso per compire l’Alessandrino che faccia rima con cortège, tutto è a posto’ (Carteggio, vol. ii). From this it seems that Ricordi was the intermediary and that he passed to Boito the leaf (see ‘Related manuscript’ above) containing Verdi’s ideas for this revision. Once Verdi was satisfied with the French text, he must have asked Boito to translate it back into Italian, just as he had done a few days earlier for the similar revision they had made to an earlier passage in Act III, ii (Carteggio, vol. i). In Zweig MS 96 Boito provides this Italian translation matched to a short score which follows Verdi’s draft almost exactly. Verdi was in Milan in February and early March of 1894 and saw Boito frequently during that time, so it is not surprising that no mention of the present manuscript is to be found in their correspondence.