Donizetti

39871 — 1 leaf. Oblong quarto 210 x 284 mm.<br /> <br /> Four measures in keyboard score from the duet between Lucia and Edgardo in Act I Scene IV set to the words "A' miei voti in vovo il cielo" From all danger be guarded for ever. Notated in ink at the blank lower margin of an original accomplished drawing depicting a male and female figure in costume presumably the characters Lucy and Edgardo in Donizetti's opera. Signed and dated by the artist in ink: "Clelia de Vera d'Aragona fece 14 Luglio 1838." In pen watercolor and brown wash with highlights in light gray gouache.<br /> <br /> Slightly worn; quite browned; offsetting from contact with another leaf of textual manuscript creating a slightly bleached appearance; small binding holes and fraying to left edge. Partial watermark most probably of the English paper maker J. Whatman.<br /> <br /> Provenance<br /> Christie's Rome 13 December 2001 Lot 337. Lucia di Lammermoor with a libretto by Salvatore Cammarano was first performed in Naples at the Teatro San Carlo on 26 September 1835. <br /> <br /> "It . very quickly became one of the most universally popular operas of the nineteenth century. . Donizetti himself writing to Ricordi three days after the première was in a rare state of excited exaltation: 'Lucia di Lammermoor went on . It pleased and it pleased very much if I am to believe in the applause and the compliments I received. I was called out many times the singers even more often. . Its title role has been impersonated by almost every soprano since 1835 who has supposed herself or has been supposed by others to have sufficient agility and enough dependable very high tones; the role of Edgardo has been favored by most of the non-Wagnerian tenors . The opera's second-act sextet 'Chi mi frena in tal momento' achieved an almost unique universal familiarity . The 'Mad Scene' became the chosen proving ground and applause-gatherer for an apparently unending succession of prima donnas. . With Rossini operatically inactive and Bellini dead Lucia di Lammermoor went far toward establishing Donizetti as the most eagerly sought-for of living Italian composers of opera - and therefore of all Italian composers - for the rest of his active life." Weinstock: Donizetti pp. 110-111 <br /> <br /> The artist was presumably a member of the historic Italian family De Vera d'Aragona of Naples. <br /> <br /> A unique and attractive document despite defects as noted. unknown