Il Contestabile di Chester ovvero I Fidanzati [Excerpts in piano-vocal score]

Napoli: B. Girard e C. [PNs 1480-11481, 1485, 1494, 1594, 1596-1597, 1604, 1643, 1645, 1648], 1829. Oblong folio. Vellum-backed and edged boards with black cloth laid down, initials "C.G." gilt to upper, titling to spine stamped in black. 1f. (title), [128] pp. Each number with separate caption title and individual pagination. Engraved.

Contains 11 numbers published separately from the opera.

From the collection of Italian conductor, vocal coach, and close associate of Puccini and Mascagni, Luigi Ricci (1893-1981).

Binding somewhat worn, scuffed, and bumped. Some numbers trimmed. Scattered light foxing. First Edition. Rare (no copies located either in the U.S. or the U.K.). A complete vocal score was not published until 1830.

I fidanzati, ossia Il contestabile di Chester, in 3 acts to a libretto by Domenico Gilardoni after Walter Scott, premiered in Naples at the Teatro San Carlo on 19 November 1829.

"... one of the leading composers of Italian operas from the late 1820s to the 1840s. ... while his role in the development of opera after Rossini was secondary to those of Bellini and Donizetti, both his operas and his memoirs provide a fascinating glimpse into the efforts of Italian composers to adapt Rossini's approach to the new musico-dramatic climate of the 1830s and 40s." Scott L. Balthazar in Grove Dictionary of Opera.