CARUSO, Luigi 1754-1823

Ah se l'avverso Fato ... Scena e Duetto. [Copyist musical manuscript full score]

Italy: ca. 1790.

Oblong quarto (219 x 279 mm). Sewn. Notated in black ink on 10-stave rastrum-ruled paper. [i] (title), 54, [i] (blank) pp.

Scored for two soprano voices (Corimba and Calto) and strings. The duet, for the same characters, is accompanied by strings, oboes, and horns.

Minor soiling to title and final blank page; occasional browning and minor foxing; small early label with "293" in manuscript to upper inner corner of title.

Drawn from the opera La disfatta di Duntalamo, re di Theuta, first performed in Rome at the Teatro Argentina in 1789.

Caruso "studied first with his father, Giuseppe, and then with Nicola Sala at the Conservatorio della Pietà dei Turchini, Naples. He began composing operas at an early age, achieving success both in Italy and abroad, where his works were performed almost every year. ... Caruso wrote many operas; his comic operas were sometimes reworked under different titles to satisfy the constant demand of the theatres. Their comedy always has a touch of pathos and intimacy, typical of 18th-century Neapolitan opera. Orchestral numbers and excerpts were widely distributed in contemporary manuscripts and were published in Florence, London, Paris and Rome. The librettos he set, whether by illustrious poets (Metastasio, Bertati, Rossi) or little-known writers, were always of high quality. He is notable for his extended melodies (often reminiscent of Paisiello) and for their formal construction. Although he continued to compose into the 19th century, he was unwilling to accept the innovations of Romanticism, remaining firmly linked to the older Neapolitan style. For this reason, in the last years of his life he turned his attention almost exclusively to sacred music (which contain some interesting stylistic features) and instrumental music." Galliano Ciliberti and Marita P. McClymonds in Grove Music Online.

Item #40866

Price: $600.00  other currencies