BELLINI, Vincenzo 1801-1835

I Capuleti ed i Montecchi Melodramma romantico in quattro parti di Felice Romani Posto in Musica e dedicato à suoi concittadini Catanesi... Lo spartito intero per canto L_15.00. [Piano-vocal score]

Napoli: Teodoro Cottrau [PN 1646-4435], [ca. 1865].

Oblong folio. Full modern dark red textured paper, titling gilt to spine. 1f. (title), 3-140 pp. Engraved.

Numbers in the original keys. Contemporary annotation in black ink dated August 11, 1874 to upper margin of title. Slightly worn, soiled, and foxed; annotation trimmed. Rare. Worldcat (1 copy only, at Tulane).

I Capuleti e i Montecchi, to a libretto by Felice Romani, was first performed at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice on March 11, 1830.

"... the subject of star-crossed lovers enabled Bellini to play from strength as a purveyor of tender, elegiac melody. Here, as in Zaira, he infused the simple, syllabic vocal writing of La straniera with melismatic bravura, preparing the way for that perfect synthesis of expression and virtuosity he attained in La sonnambula. As the last important opera with a breeches-part hero, I Capuleti survived throughout the century as a favourite war-horse for star sopranos such as Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient and Johanna Wagner, despite the hostility of progressives such as Liszt, who dismissed it as intolerably old-fashioned, and the ambivalence of Wagner, who loved its melodies while deploring its dramatic conception." Simon Maguire, Elizabeth Forbes, and Julian Budden in Grove Music Online.

Bound with:
An additional finale by Nicola Vaccai (1790-1848). Scena aria e duetto finale Ah! se tu dormi svegliati Nell'atto 4o. dell' opera Romeo e Giulietta N.B. Questa scena si esegue in Napoli dalla Sig.a. Malibran. F. 4 Gr. 60. [Piano-vocal score]. Napoli: B. Girard e Ci. [PN 2421], [ca. 1843?]. Oblong folio. 14 pp. Engraved. Contemporary signature in black ink to upper margin of p. 1. Moderate foxing, soiling, dampstaining, and wear; pp. 1-2 with repair along inner margin with slight loss to upper outer corner; trimmed at upper margin; occasional annotations. Rare. Worldcat (1 copy only, at the Library of Congress). Vaccai's Giulietta e Romeo, to a libretto by Felice Romani, was first performed at the Teatro alla Cannobiana in Milan on October 31, 1825.

Binding slightly worn and bumped.

Item #26589

Price: $200.00  other currencies