Autograph musical manuscript signed. 16 measures in piano-vocal score from Act I of the composer's opera in 4 acts, Andrea Chénier
1f. Folio (330 x 258 mm). Notated in black ink on 12-stave rastrum-ruled paper in 4 systems of 3 staves each on one side of the leaf only. 330 x 258 mm.
Titled by the composer to the upper margin:"Andrea Chénier + Improvviso Atto I," with text commencing "Un di all'azuro spazio," sung by Chénier.
Marked "Andante," corresponding to a complete section found on pages 51-52 of the piano-vocal score edited by Amintore Galli and published by Edoardo Sonzogno (plate number "E 929 S").
Slightly worn, with light uniform browning; several small marginal tears and one 2.5" tear archivally repaired.
Andrea Chénier, with a libretto by Luigi Illica, was first performed in Milan at La Scala on 28 March 1896.
"Andrea Chénier features some of the most incredible music ever written for the tenor voice. In his Act I aria ‘Un di all’azzuro spazio’, an improvised poem about the suffering of the poor, Chénier’s passion for the cause he believes in is portrayed through the music, and we really feel his conviction.
The opera also contains the heartbreaking soprano aria ‘La mamma morta’ (‘They killed my mother’), featured in the Oscar-winning Philadelphia (1993).
The piece is written in the verismo style, meaning ‘realism’, from Italian vero, meaning ‘true’. It dominated Italian opera at the time, focussing not on gods or kings and queens, but on ordinary people and their gritty lives (although some, including Chénier, take historical subjects). Verismo operas are ‘through-composed’ (seamless sung text) instead of following the recitative-and-aria structure of earlier opera, and are always highly dramatic!" Opera North online, 17 January 2016.
"Illica’s libretto, inspired by the life of the French poet André Chénier (1762–94), was ceded to Giordano in 1894 by Alberto Franchetti, for whom it was written. The opera was completed in mid-November the following year. After some hesitation it was accepted for performance at La Scala on the strong recommendation of Mascagni, and it proved the only success of a disastrous season given at that theatre under the management of the publisher Sonzogno, who excluded from the cartello all works belonging to his rival, Ricordi. The principals were Giuseppe Borgatti (Chénier), then at the start of his career, Evelina Carrera (Maddalena) and Mario Sammarco (Gérard); the conductor was Rodolfo Ferrari. Andrea Chénier at once raised the composer to the front rank of the ‘giovane scuola’, along with Mascagni, Puccini and Leoncavallo. Today it remains the most widely performed of Giordano’s operas, mainly as an effective vehicle for a star tenor. Borgatti owed to it the start of a notable Italian career. Outstanding exponents in recent times have included Franco Corelli and Placido Domingo." Julian Budden in Grove Music Online.
Item #39934
Price: $4,800.00 other currencies