Amilcare Ponchielli | Manuscript score of the overture to "La Savoiarda", apparently corrected by Ponchielli, c.1861 or later

Amilcare Ponchielli.

Manuscript score of the overture to La Savoiarda, apparently reviewed and corrected by Ponchielli, NOT RECORDED IN THE PONCHIELLI THEMATIC CATALOGUE

notated by an unidentified scribe in dark brown ink on one 19-stave system per page, the bar lines drawn in pencil, with scribal title-page ("Sinfonia / nell' Opera la Savojarda / del / M:^o Ponchielli Amilcare / allievo del Reg:^o Conservatorio Musicale / di / Milano"), scored for flutes, piccolo, oboes, clarinets, horns, trumpets, bassoons, trombones, serpent, timpani, bass drum and strings, additions and corrections apparently by Ponchielli in a dark black ink, comprising textual revisions, added music, dynamic markings, performance markings ("allarg^o","arco", "tutta forza", "sotto voce" etc.), with rehearsal numbers in red crayon

52 pages, plus one blank leaf, oblong 4to (23.9 x 33.3cm), 20-stave paper, ownership inscription to foot of title ("Cremona il Carnevale dell' anno 1861-62 / Proprieta di Piatti... [?]"), later inscription to verso of last leaf of music ("R. Prefettura dell Provincia di Milano...Visto per la presentazione fatta alla Prefettura di Milano dal Sig. Tito di Gio. Ricordi di Milano per gli effetti delle leggi 25 Giugno 1865...Milan 23 Novembre 1877"), modern green half morocco, gilt lettering to spine ("Ponchielli La Savojarda Sinfonia"), no place or date [c.1861 or later], a few small stains, small tear tear to pp.5/6 repaired

Ponchielli's three-act opera La Savoiarda was first performed at Cremona on 19 January 1861, being subsequently revised and performed in Milan in 1877 as Lina. The present manuscript is not recorded in Licia Sirch's thematic catalogue, the Catalogo tematice delle musiche di Amilcare Ponchielli (1989). The autograph score of Act I of the revised opera is preserved today at Harvard College Library, Cambridge (MA). The autograph of an arrangement of the overture for wind band is preserved at the Museo Civica, Cremona.