Catalogo Numerico

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Prefazione Catalogo Numerico
Philip Gossett
Circa quarantacinque anni fa iniziai le mie ricerche sulla storia dell'opera italiana studiando le edizioni pubblicate da Casa Ricordi nella prima metaÌ? del XIX secolo. In particolare risultoÌ? importante stabilire le date di pubblicazione di alcune composizioni di Gioachino Rossini. Non vi erano altre fonti secondarie utili e le stesse edizioni, come la maggior parte delle edizioni musicali pubblicate in questo periodo, erano del tutto prive di data. L'unica traccia di cronologia era rappresentata dai numeri di lastra che Ricordi stampava in calce ad ogni pagina, come gli altri editori di musica europei. Alcuni editori, specialmente in Francia, assegnavano questi numeri in modo imprevedibile, ma basta uno sguardo veloce alle prime edizioni Ricordi di Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti e Verdi, per rendersi subito conto che la Casa Editrice adoperava numeri di lastra progressivi secondo un criterio essenzialmente cronologico. Prima di entrare negli Archivi di Casa Ricordi e di venire a conoscenza dei «libroni» manoscritti, volumi in cui eÌ? registrata in modo esauriente la storia dell'attivitaÌ? della ditta, andai a trovare il bibliografo musicale inglese Cecil Hopkinson. I cataloghi delle edizioni delle opere di Berlioz, Field, Puccini, Verdi di Hopkinson, instancabile studioso delta musica a stampa, sono ancora una fonte basilare. Essendomi nota la sua conoscenza di esperto, gli chiesi se fosse possibile datare le edizioni Ricordi basandosi sui numeri d'incisione. Non mi rispose, ma andoÌ? nel suo studio per ritornare quasi subito con un grosso volume intitolato «Catalogo (in ordine numerico) delle opere publicate» edito da Casa Ricordi nel 1857. Mi porse il libro invitandomi a consultarlo e mi lascioÌ? solo per due ore. Ricordo ancora il crescere della mia emozione nello sfogliare, per la prima volta, le pagine di quel catalogo. La massa d'informazioni racchiusa fra la sua copertina era incredibile. Chi avrebbe potuto immaginare l'enorme portata varietaÌ? delle edizioni pubblicate dalla ditta nella prima metaÌ? dell'Ottocento? Era la testimonianza del genio e della intuizione del suo fondatore, Giovanni Ricordi, l'accorto copista di musica che estese pian piano la sua attivitaÌ? fino a creare una delle case editrici musicali piuÌ? importanti della storia. Nonostante il catalogo non indicasse chiaramente la data delle edizioni, elencava tutte le pubblicazioni di Ricordi dal 1808, inizio ufficiale dell'attivitaÌ? della Casa Editrice, fino al 1857, data del catalogo. (PiuÌ? tardi seppi dell'esistenza di almeno un'opera completa, edita col nome di Ricordi, anteriore al 1808: Adelasia ed Aleramo di Giovanni Simone Mayr del 1806, stampata insieme da Ricordi e G. Martorelli, suo predecessore come copista al Teatro alla Scala, nella riduzione per canto e pianoforte). Seguendo l'ordine progressivo dei numeri d'incisione, il catalogo stabiliva automaticamente un grossolano ordine cronologico. Ma come sarebbe stato possibile datare con esattezza queste pubblicazioni? Tenendo presente che il Teatro alla Scala era strettamente legato all'attivitaÌ? di Ricordi, sia come copista, sia come editore, iniziai ad esaminare le voci del catalogo relative a quelle opere eseguite per la prima volta nel maggior teatro milanese. Considerata la natura della vita teatrale all'inizio dell'Ottocento, con le sue frenetiche scadenze e i compositori sottoposti a sforzi disperati per com- pletare in tempo le opere per le date fissate per le prime rappresentazioni, eÌ? possibile presumere che la data della prima rappresentazione fosse anteriore a quella dell'edizione. (Questa supposizione, che sembra ovvia, si dimostreraÌ? spesso falsa per le opere di Puccini, per citare un esempio molto piuÌ? tardo e assai differente). Presumendo inoltre che Ricordi, come ottimo uomo d'affari, aveva interesse a pubblicare il piuÌ? presto possibile, dopo la prima esecuzione, i brani favoriti di un'opera in riduzione per canto e pianoforte, si potrebbe ipotizzare che gli estratti di un'opera in prima esecuzione a Milano, fossero editi immediatamente dopo la prima. Con questa tecnica elementare eÌ? stato possibile stabilire le date approssimative di pubblicazione di voci tipo del catalogo. Trovai subito le risposte ai miei interrogativi sulla cronologia delle prime edizioni di Rossini, risposte rimaste largamente valide anche dopo l'utilizzo ?di tecniche per la datazione piuÌ? sofisticate e accurate. Riflettendo sull'esperienza citata, quella tecnica appare oggi assai rozza: ma verso la metaÌ? degli anni '60 tutti noi sapevamo molto meno sulle edizioni musicali stampate nel XIX secolo. I recenti studi sistematici sugli editori e le edizioni musicali europee ci hanno dato una visione molto piuÌ? interessante e realistica della storia della musica di questo periodo. Tali studi sono importanti per molti differenti campi d'indagine: per la preparazione di nuove edizioni musicali, per la storia del gusto musicale, per le relazioni fra editori di paesi diversi (con profonde implicazioni per la musica di Chopin, ad esempio), per gli effetti sullo stile musicale e per le teorie estetiche che hanno determinato cambiamenti nella legge sul copyright. Nuovi campi d'indagine continuano ad aprirsi da quando abbiamo incominciato a capire che la storia della musica del XIX secolo non eÌ? solo la storia di una manciata di composizioni dei «grandi maestri». La pubblicazione del catalogo numerico Ricordi del 1857 eÌ? una tappa fondamentale nello studio della musica italiana del secolo XIX. In questo, come in molti altri settori, la nostra conoscenza del XIX secolo eÌ? rimasta assai indietro rispetto a quella di periodi precedenti. Sono pochi gli editori musicali del Ri- nascimento la cui produzione non sia stata analizzata e documentata. Mentre per Lucca, Girard, Ratti, Guidi, Lorenzi, tutti importanti editori italiani del XIX secolo e protagonisti centrali della diffusione della musica Italiana, fino a dieci anni fa avevamo pochissime indicazioni utili. Grazie ai loro sforzi la musica oltrepassoÌ? i confini dei teatri d'opera per raggiungere un pubblico piuÌ? vasto. Attraverso le loro edizioni i compositori ebbero la possibilitaÌ? di studiare la produzione dei loro colleghi, la cultura musicale di Napoli raggiunse Milano e viceversa. Nel 1856 Ricordi aveva pubblicato anche un catalogo sistematico per genere e compositore. Sebbene questo catalogo offra dei vantaggi per alcune ricerche particolari, non riesce a dare un'idea del quadro cronologico, ne? a svelare lo sviluppo storico delle pubblicazioni della ditta che traspare chiaramente solo dal catalogo numerico. Questa edizione in facsimile ha inoltre acquisito maggior valore in quanto corredata da un indice per compositore sotto il cui nome sono elencati alfabeticamente i titoli delle opere liriche (l'opera occupa il posto principale nell'attivitaÌ? editoriale di Ricordi). L'indice offre un immediato panorama delle varie forme di presentazione adottate da Ricordi per ogni opera: opere complete per canto e pianoforte, estratti, riduzioni per gruppi strumentali, ecc. L'aspetto cronologico del catalogo saraÌ? di particolare importanza per gli storici della musica, i bibliotecari e i bibliografi musicali. I numeri di lastra generalmente venivano assegnati al momento dell'acquisizione di un'opera da pubblicare, sono quindi da considerarsi numeri d'inventario. Ma la data di acquisizione di un'opera da parte di Ricordi puoÌ? differire notevolmente dalla data di pubblicazione della stessa. Per questo motivo, alla presente edizione sono stati aggiunti ulteriori dati relativi alla cronologia, ricavati da fonti come le date di deposito degli esemplari d'obbligo agli Uffici di Censura o di Polizia di Milano, A volte le discrepanze fra le date di pubblicazione e i numeri d'incisione sono notevoli. In alcuni casi, ad esempio, Ricordi assegna una serie di numeri d'incisione ad un'intera classe di pubblicazioni prima ancora d'aver stabilito esattamente quali composizioni pubblicheraÌ?. CosiÌ?, le parti per il coro e per gli archi del Macbeth di Verdi portano i numeri d'incisione 15247-15252, numeri che appartengono senza dubbio ad un periodo precedente la stessa composizione dell'opera. Dal catalogo appare chiaramente che Ricordi aveva riservato in anticipo alle parti corali e orchestrali i numeri 15101-15300. Quindi i numeri d'incisione delle parti del Macbeth non possono essere considerati utili dal punto di vista cronologico. Nella maggior parte dei casi, le date di deposito stabiliscono una datazione precisa; per il resto un attento esame dei dati disponibili puoÌ? generalmente portare ad una datazione verosimile. Altri aspetti interessanti emergono dall'ordine progressivo dei numeri d'incisione. Leggendo il catalogo, scopriamo che mancano alcuni numeri. Nelle sue note esplicative, Ricordi scrive: «I numeri mancanti sono opere distrutte, opere stampate per conto altrui, opere di non permessa pubblicazione, ed opere rinnovate sotto altri numeri». Ma questo non eÌ? tutto. Alcuni dei numeri mancanti all'inizio, ad ?esempio, erano stati assegnati in origine ad importanti pubblicazioni di brani d'opera in partitura completa che Ricordi aveva edito durante i primi anni della sua attivitaÌ? in societaÌ? con un altro, apparendo quindi come «Ricordi e Festa» stampatori. Un esempio eÌ? il Duetto «Lo ti vidi» nell'opera La festa della rosa di Stefano Pavesi (Venezia, 1808), che reca il numero d'incisione 10, numero che manca nel catalogo numerico. Lacune nella numerazione si riscontrano anche nei casi in cui Ricordi acquistava un’opera con l'intenzione di pubblicarla completa, e poi, presumibilmente per motivi commerciali, si accontentava (non accontentando probabilmente il suo compositore) di una serie di estratti. CosiÌ? ad esempio l’opera Rolla di Teodulo Mabellini, del 1845, rappresentata dai seguenti numeri: 12651, 53, 54, 55, 57, 58, 64, 66, 67, 68, 70, 71. Non vi eÌ? alcun motivo per credere che Ricordi abbia mai pubblicato gli altri brani. L'importanza del volume va ben oltre gli scopi bibliografici per cui fu edito per la prima volta e per cui eÌ? ancora utile oggi. Il Catalogo numerico ci consente di esplorare la vita musicale italiana, specialmente nel Nord, durante la prima metaÌ? del XIX secolo. Con assoluta chiarezza emerge lo sviluppo verso una posizione di preminenza assunta da Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti e Verdi. Si apprende quali opere e in quali anni venivano offerte al pubblico e in che modo Ricordi le rendeva popolari. Nei primi anni di attivitaÌ?, Ricordi normalmente pubblicava solo estratti,magari in partitura completa, Gradualmente abbandonoÌ? questo tipo di presentazione in favore della riduzione per canto e pianoforte. Fino all'inizio degli anni '20 gli accordi di Ricordi con i teatri milanesi non gli consentivano in genere di pubblicare spartiti completi per canto e pianoforte, ma dopo il 1823 cambioÌ? qualcosa, e quando le possibilitaÌ? di commercializzazione gli davano sufficienti garanzie, egli offriva al pubblico edizioni complete. PiuÌ? un'opera aveva successo, piuÌ? erano le forme in cui la presentava: riduzioni per voce e pianoforte, opere complete per pianoforte solo, per pianoforte a 4 mani, per violino e pianoforte, estratti per due flauti, per piccola banda, per clarinetto, e molte molte altre. L'appetito del pubblico italiano per questi arrangiamenti da eseguirsi «in casa», sembra fosse infinito. Quindi vi erano le fantasie, i potpourris e le variazioni sui temi favoriti di opere, scritte dai grandi virtuosi del pianoforte dell'epoca: i Thalberg, i Liszt, gli Herz, i Kalkbrenner che ebbero tutti un posto rimarchevole nella lista di Ricordi. Una collezione di pezzi facili per pianoforte edita da Luigi Truzzi, nota col divertente titolo « La gioia delle madri a, fu definita «Raccolta di piccoli Divertimenti per Pfte a 4 mani sopra motivi delle opere moderne rappresentate con bril. successo». La misura della popolaritaÌ? di un'opera puoÌ? essere rilevata dal numero di arrangiamenti che Ricordi pubblicava. E non dobbiamo fermarci solo ai compositori che ancora oggi vanno per la maggiore. Una folta schiera di musicisti minori era attiva in Italia. Molti erano artisticamente inferiori ai «maestri», certo, ma componevano molta bella musica e tutti avevano un proprio ruolo nello stabilire lo sfondo da cui i geni potevano emergere. Il Catalogo numerico spiega questo mondo e il suo sviluppo in modo preciso ed esauriente. Il significato del volume peroÌ? non si limita al mondo dell'opera. L'opera fu certamente la forma d'arte piuÌ? importante della cultura musicale italiana dell'Ottocento, ma di sicuro non fu l'unica. L'elenco completo delle opere pubblicate da Ricordi ci rivela la coesistenza di mondi musicali diversi. Vi sono molte opere didattiche di musicisti italiani (Asioli, Florimo) come di stranieri (Cherubini, Reicha), per non parlare del gran numero di metodi per ogni strumento, alcuni rappresentanti la scuola italiana, altri derivati dai docenti del Conservatorio di Parigi. Per chiunque si interessi alla storia degli strumenti e alta prassi esecutiva strumentale della prima metaÌ? dell'Ottocento questi trattati sono indispensabile fonte di conoscenza. Il catalogo mostra opere di compositori italiani che andavano contro corrente, dedicandosi alla musica per pianoforte, alla musica sacra, alla musica da camera strumentale e vocale, piuttosto che all'opera. Questo ci aiuta anche a stabilire l'estensione del movimento della musica dal Nord Europa verso il Sud delle Alpi. Lo scambio fra il Nord Europa e l'Italia puoÌ? destare sorpresa in chi pensasse che la vita musicale italiana fosse esclusivamente legata all'opera. La musica per pianoforte di Hummel, Moscheles, Czerny ?e Kalkbrenner circoloÌ? largamente, come ci si puoÌ? aspettare, ma vi si unirono subito i nomi di Weber, Chopin e Liszt. Perfino le sonate per pianoforte di Beethoven furono pubblicate da Ricordi all'inizio del secolo (come la partitura del suo Oratorio Cristo all'Oliveto). La musica da camera di Spohr, Onslow e Romberg si trova in gran quantitaÌ?, come le composizioni di Mendelssohn. C'eÌ? poca musica strumentale di Mozart, sebbene sia affascinante incontrare un gruppo di Sinfonie trascritte per pianoforte a 4 mani da Czerny. La musica per organo non eÌ? esclusa, e si notano con molto interesse volumi di fughe di compositori nordici come Albrechtsberger. Nel filone piuÌ? leggero, gli ultimi valzer viennesl di Strauss padre danzarono regolarmente verso l'Italia attraverso le edizioni Ricordi. Altra musica vocale, oltre l'opera italiana giuocoÌ? un ruolo importante in questa cultura. Attraverso lo studio dei manuali d'istruzione e le raccolte di solfeggi d'insegnanti italiani e francesi, cantanti e compositori (inclusi Asioli, Bordogni, Duprez, Lablache, Panseron, Rossini? e Vaccaj), nel far «sbocciare » dei cantanti acuirono il loro ingegno. Ricordi pubblicoÌ? soltanto poche opere complete di compositori stranieri, riflettendo in cioÌ? il repertorio dei teatri italiani, ma trovarono un mercato italiano anche arie di Auber, Me?hul, He?rold e altri compositori francesi. Alcuni titoli isolati sono affascinanti, come un'aria scritta dal compositore russo Glinka (numero 6722) durante il suo soggiorno italiano. E, naturalmente, vi eÌ? un imponente numero di arie da camera di Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, Mercadante e Verdi: il formarsi di un meraviglioso e assai negletto repertorio per cantanti eÌ? riposto in queste pagine. Il Catalogo numerico fissa il mutamento di alcuni orientamenti culturali. Possiamo tracciare un grafico dell'interesse vivo e crescente per la musica popolare e folcloristica in queste pagine. Fra le pubblicazioni di particolare interesse vi sono alcuni volumi di «Canzoni popolari» di Napoli, editi da Francesco Florimo, amico intimo di Bellini e bibliotecario al Conservatorio S. Pietro a Majella. Ad un certo momento Ricordi incomincia a pubblicare libretti d'opera. Questo ci aiuta a determinare storicamente il momento in cui le opere cessarono di subire cambiamenti sostanziali da un'esecuzione all'altra, tanto che un libretto standardizzato incomincioÌ? ad assumere un significato commerciale. CosiÌ?, un cambiamento significativo di ideali estetici andava sotto braccio ad astute decisioni editoriali. Una lettura attenta del catalogo comporta implicazioni storiche e politiche. Forse le piuÌ? sensazionali sono le pubblicazioni del 1848 (vedi la parte del catalogo che inizia intorno alla p. 712), in cui troviamo subito un gruppo di canti e cori intitolati «Canto guerriero per gli Italiani», «Il voto d'una donna ita- liana», «Il Cantico di battaglia dei Milanesi nelle cinque giornate del mese di marzo», o pezzi per pianoforte come «Il 22 Marzo 1848. Valzer per Pf.te ossia Musica allusiva alle cinque giornate». Tutte queste composizioni, opere che occuparono buona parte degli sforzi editoriali di Ricordi in questo periodo, sono segnate con parole che c'intimoriscono: «Edizione distrutta». Possiamo pensare che la decisione di Ricordi di includere i titoli in catalogo, nonostante le forze politiche avessero richiesto la loro soppressione, fosse senza intenzioni di rivolta? Il pubblico italiano certamente capiÌ? il significato di queste parole «Edizione distrutta», vivo ricordo delle speranze per il Risorgimento che avevano toccato cosiÌ? alte vette nel 1848. Un catalogo potrebbe sembrare in superficie un documento arido: una lista, una semplice lista di pubblicazioni. Ma sotto questa superficie vi eÌ? la storia di una forma d'arte, la storia degli interessi, delle motivazioni, delle aspirazioni di un popolo, la formazione e il declino di reputazioni, gli scambi culturali fra un paese e l'altro attraverso l'Europa. Il Catalogo numerico Ricordi eÌ? un libro che s’incomincia ad esplorare con un’attenzione solo fuggevole, ma che si dimostra subito assorbirci completamente. La sua pubblicazione qui rappresenta un passo importante verso la crescita della nostra conoscenza della musica e della cultura europea della prima metaÌ? dell’Ottocento. (Trad. A. Zecca Laterza)
Catalogo Numerico Preface
Philip Gossett
Almost fortyfive years ago I began my research into the history of Italian opera by studying printed editions issued by Casa Ricordi during the first half of the nineteenth century. In some cases it proved important to establish the dates of publication for certain compositions by Gioachino Rossini. Secondary sources were of no avail, and the editions themselves, like most editions published in this period, bare no dates at all. The only hint of chronology was supplied by the plate numbers that Ricordi, in common with other European music publishers, printed at the bottom of every page. Some publishers, especially in France, assigned these numbers in unpredictable ways; even a casual glance at the Ricordi first editions of Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, and Verdi, however, made it apparent that the firm employed plate numbers in an essentially chronological fashion. Before ever having entered the Archives of Casa Ricordi, and there learning of the manuscript «libroni», volumes in which much of the working history of the firm is exhaustively recorded, I visited the British music bibliographer, Cecil Hopkinson. An indefatigable student of printed music, Hopkinson's catalogues of the editions of Berlioz, Field, Puccini, and Verdi remain fundamental sources. Knowing his expertise, I asked him whether it was possible to date a Ricordi publication on the basis of its plate number. Instead of responding, he retired into his study, returning a few moments later with a thick volume entitled «Catalogo (in ordine numerico) delle opere publicate», published by Casa Ricordi in 1857. He laid the book be fore me, told me to study it, and left me alone for the next two hours. I still remember leafing through the pages of that catalogue for the first time, becoming more and more excited. The amount of information packed within its covers was extraordinary. Who could have imagined the remarkable scope and diversity of the publications issued by the firm during the first half of the nineteenth century? It was testimony to the genius and vision of its founder, Giovanni Ricordi, that shrewd music copyist who gradually expanded his activities to encompass one of the greatest music publishing houses of all time. Though the catalogue included no explicit dates, it did list the entire series of Ricordi publications from 1808, when the firm began its official activity, through 1857, the date of the catalogue. (I later learned that at least one earlier operatic score bears Ricordi's name: an edition for piano and voice of Giovanni Simone Mayr's 1806 opera, Adelasia ed Aleramo, published jointly by Ricordi and G. Martorelli, his predecessor as copyist at the Teatro alla Scala.) Since it followed the order of the plate numbers, the catalogue established at once a rough chronological order. But how could one assign specific years to these publications? Recalling that the Teatro alla Scala was closely tied to Ricordi's activity as both copyist and publisher, I examined entries in the catalogue for those operas first performed at the principal Milanese theatre. Given the nature of theatrical life in the early nineteenth century, with its frenetic deadlines and composers desperately striving to complete operas in time for scheduled first performances, it seemed reasonable to presume that an opera's premieÌ?re represented a date before which an edition was not likely to have been brought out. (This seems like an obvious assumption, but for the operas of Puccini, to take a later and very different example, it would often have proven false.) If one could furthermore presume that Ricordi, as a good business man, would issue favourite pieces from an opera in piano-vocal reductions as quickly after the premieÌ?re as possible, one might assign the earliest published extracts from an opera first performed in Milan to the period soon after its premiere. With this simple technique, it was possible to establish approximate dates of publication for representative items in the catalogue. I soon had answers to my questions concerning the chronology of early Rossini prints, answers that have largely remained valid even when more sophisticated and accurate dating techniques are employed. Almost fortyfive years ago I began my research into the history of Italian opera by studying printed editions issued by Casa Ricordi during the first half of the nineteenth century. In some cases it proved important to establish the dates of publication for certain compositions by Gioachino Rossini. Secondary sources were of no avail, and the editions themselves, like most editions published in this period, bare no dates at all. The only hint of chronology was supplied by the plate numbers that Ricordi, in common with other European music publishers, printed at the bottom of every page. Some publishers, especially in France, assigned these numbers in unpredictable ways; even a casual glance at the Ricordi first editions of Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, and Verdi, however, made it apparent that the firm employed plate numbers in an essentially chronological fashion. Before ever having entered the Archives of Casa Ricordi, and there learning of the manuscript «libroni», volumes in which much of the working history of the firm is exhaustively recorded, I visited the British music bibliographer, Cecil Hopkinson. An indefatigable student of printed music, Hopkinson's catalogues of the editions of Berlioz, Field, Puccini, and Verdi remain fundamental sources. Knowing his expertise, I asked him whether it was possible to date a Ricordi publication on the basis of its plate number. Instead of responding, he retired into his study, returning a few moments later with a thick volume entitled «Catalogo (in ordine numerico) delle opere publicate», published by Casa Ricordi in 1857. He laid the book be fore me, told me to study it, and left me alone for the next two hours. I still remember leafing through the pages of that catalogue for the first time, becoming more and more excited. The amount of information packed within its covers was extraordinary. Who could have imagined the remarkable scope and diversity of the publications issued by the firm during the first half of the nineteenth century? It was testimony to the genius and vision of its founder, Giovanni Ricordi, that shrewd music copyist who gradually expanded his activities to encompass one of the greatest music publishing houses of all time. Though the catalogue included no explicit dates, it did list the entire series of Ricordi publications from 1808, when the firm began its official activity, through 1857, the date of the catalogue. (I later learned that at least one earlier operatic score bears Ricordi's name: an edition for piano and voice of Giovanni Simone Mayr's 1806 opera, Adelasia ed Aleramo, published jointly by Ricordi and G. Martorelli, his predecessor as copyist at the Teatro alla Scala.) Since it followed the order of the plate numbers, the catalogue established at once a rough chronological order. But how could one assign specific years to these publications? Recalling that the Teatro alla Scala was closely tied to Ricordi's activity as both copyist and publisher, I examined entries in the catalogue for those operas first performed at the principal Milanese theatre. Given the nature of theatrical life in the early nineteenth century, with its frenetic deadlines and composers desperately striving to complete operas in time for scheduled first performances, it seemed reasonable to presume that an opera's premieÌ?re represented a date before which an edition was not likely to have been brought out. (This seems like an obvious assumption, but for the operas of Puccini, to take a later and very different example, it would often have proven false.) If one could furthermore presume that Ricordi, as a good business man, would issue favourite pieces from an opera in piano-vocal reductions as quickly after the premieÌ?re as possible, one might assign the earliest published extracts from an opera first performed in Milan to the period soon after its premiere. With this simple technique, it was possible to establish approximate dates of publication for representative items in the catalogue. I soon had answers to my questions concerning the chronology of early Rossini prints, answers that have largely remained valid even when more sophisticated and accurate dating techniques are employed. ?As I reflect on this incident, the technique seems very primitive: we all knew much less about nineteenth-century printed editions in the mid-1960s than we do today. Recent systematic studies of European music publishers and publications make possible a vastly more interesting and realistic vision of music history during this period. These studies have importance in many different realms: the preparation of new musical editions; the history of musical taste; the relationships between publishers in one country and those in another (with profound implications for the music of Chopin, for example); the effect on musical style and aesthetic theory of changes in copyright law. The possible fields of investigation constantly expand before us, for we have begun to understand that the history of music in the nineteenth century is more than the history of a handful of compositions by the "great masters". The publication of the 1857 Ricordi numerical catalogue is a fundamental step in the study of Italian music in the nineteenth century. Here, as in so many areas, our knowledge of the nineteenth century has lagged far behind that of earlier periods. Few are the Renaissance music publishers whose output has not been analysed and charted. Till ten years ago for Lucca, Girard, Ratti, Guidi, Lorenzi, all important Italian publishers during the nineteenth century and central protagonists in the dissemination of music in Italy, we have been poorly served. Through their efforts music spread beyond the confines of the opera house into the wider consciousness of the general public. Through their editions composers could study the efforts of their peers, the musical culture of Naples becoming known to the Milanese, and vice-versa. Around 1857 Ricordi also published a systematic catalogue by genre and composer. Though it offers some advantages for certain kinds of research, it fails to present the chronological picture, the unfolding history of the firm's publications, uniquely visible in the numerical catalogue. That this edition has been enriched with an index by composer, under which each operatic title is listed (opera being the main component of Ricordi's business), will give it further value. The index offers at a glance complete knowledge of the various forms of publication undertaken by Ricordi for each opera: full piano-vocal scores, excerpts, reductions for instrumental groups, etc. The chronological aspect of the catalogue will be of particular importance to music historians, librarians, and music bibliographers. Plate numbers were generally assigned at the time Ricordi acquired a work for publication, and hence represent acquisition numbers. The date on which Ricordi acquired a work, however, may differ considerably from the date of actual publication. For this reason, additional chronological information has been supplied in this edition, drawn from sources such as the dates copies were deposited with the Milanese censures or police. Occasionally there can be large discrepancies between publication dates and plate numbers. In several instances, for example, Ricordi assigned plate numbers to an entire class of publications before having established the precise works to be printed. Thus, the choral and printed string parts for Verdi's Macbeth bear the plate numbers 15247-15252, numbers that should by all rights come from a period before Macbeth was written. The catalogue makes clear that Ricordi has set aside in advance numbers 15101-15300 for choral and orchestral parts. Thus the plate numbers of the Macbeth parts cannot be considered chronologically determinate. In most cases, dates of deposit establish a precise chronology; for the rest, a careful consideration of the available evidence will usually make a reasonable dating possible. There are other interesting aspects of the consecutive listing by plate number. As we read through the catalogue we find some missing numbers. In his explanatory notes, Ricordi writes; "I numeri mancanti sono opere distrutte, opere stampate per conto altrui, opere di non permessa pubblicazione, ed opere rinnovate sotto altri numeri". But that does not tell the entire story. Some numbers missing near the start, for example, were originally assigned to important publications in full score of operatic excerpts that Ricordi undertook during his first years in business with the collaboration of another, appearing under the imprint of "Ricordi e Festa". An example is a Duetto by Stefano Pavesi, "Io ti vidi" from his opera La festa della rosa (Venezia, 1808), which bears the plate number 10, a number lacking from the Catalogo numerico. Lacunae in the numbering also ?resulted when Ricordi acquired works, intending to issue complete editions, and then, presumably for commercial reasons, contented himself (though probably not his composers) with a series of extracts. So, for example the 1845 opera by Teodulo Mabellini, Rolla, is represented by the following number: 12651: 53, 54, 55, 57, 58, 64, 66, 67, 68, 70, 71. There is no reason to believe that Ricordi ever brought out the other items. The importance of the catalogue goes well beyond the bibliographical aims for which it was first published and for which it remains useful today. The Catalogo numerico provides many insights into Italian musical life, especially in the north, during the first half of the nineteenth century. The rise to prominence of Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, and Verdi emerges with absolute clarity. One learns which operas were offered to the public in which years, as well as the formats Ricordi employed to popularize them. During his first years in business, Ricordi normally published only extracts, frequently in full score. Gradually he abandoned this format in favour of reductions for piano and voice. Until the early 1820s Ricordi's agreements with the Milanese theatres did not normally permit him to publish complete pianovocal scores; after about 1823 matters changed, and when commercial possibilities warranted it, he offered the public complete editions. The more success an opera had, the more diverse formats he would employ: reductions for piano and voice, complete operas for piano solo, for piano four-hands, for violin and piano, extracts for two flutes, small band, clarinet, and many, many more. The appetite of the Italian public for these arrangements to be performed in the home was seemingly endless. Then there were the fantasies, potpourris, and variations on popular operatic themes written by the great piano virtuosi of the time, the Thalbergs, Liszts, Herzs, Kalkbrenners, all of which found an honoured place in the Ricordi list. A collection of easy piano pieces edited by Luigi Truzzi, known amusingly as "La gioja delle madri", was defined as a "Raccolta di piccoli Divertimenti per Pfte a 4 mani sopra motivi delle Opere moderne rappresentate con bril. successo". The measure of a work's popularity can be taken by the number of similar arrangements that Ricordi published. And we must not restrict ourselves to the composers still famous today. A large group of lesser musicians were active in Italy. Most were artistically inferior to the masters, to be sure, but they composed much beautiful music and all played their part in establishing a background against which the geniuses could emerge. The Catalogo numerico sets out this world and its development in a precise and exhaustive manner. The significance of the volume, however, goes well beyond the world of opera. Opera was certainly the primary art form of Italian musical culture in the nineteenth century, but it was by no means the only one. The comprehensive listing of the works published by Ricordi reveals the diverse musical worlds that coexisted. There are many didactic writings, both by Italian musicians (Asioli, Florimo) and foreigners (Cherubini, Reicha), not to mention a large number of methods of every instrument, some representing native Italian teaching, others deriving from instructors at the Paris Conservatory. Anyone concerned with the history of instruments and instrumental performance practice during the first half of the nineteenth century will find these treatises indispensable fonts of knowledge. The catalogue exhibits the works of Italian composers who went against the norm, devoting themselves to piano music, chamber music, sacred music, or songs, rather than to opera. It also helps establish the extent to which music from the north of Europe made its way south of the Alps. The interactions between northern Europe and Italy may prove surprising to those who think of Italian musical fife as exclusively operatic. The piano music of Hummel, Moscheles, Czerny, and Kalkbrenner circulated widely, as we might expect, but the names of Weber, Chopin, and Liszt soon join them. Even Beethoven piano sonatas were published by Ricordi early in the century (as was the full score of his oratorio, Cristo all'Oliveto). The chamber music of Spohr, Onslow, Krommer, and Romberg is found in plenty, as are works by Mendelssohn. There is little instrumental music by Mozart, though it is fascinating to come across a group of Symphonies in four hand arrangements by Czerny. Organ music is not excluded, and one notes with real interest volumes of fugues by northern composers such as Albrechtsberger. In a lighter ?vein, the latest in the Viennese waltzes of Strauss the father regularly danced their way to Italy via the editions of Ricordi. Vocal music other than Italian opera played an important part in this culture. Through the study of instructional manuals and collections of solfeggi by both Italian and French teachers, singers, and composers (including Asioli, Bordogni, Duprez, Lablache, Panseron, Rossini, and Vaccai), budding vocalists developed their skills. Ricordi published few complete operas by foreign composers, reflecting in this the repertory of Italian opera houses, yet arias by Auber, He?rold, Me?hul, and other French composers found an Italian market. Some individual items are fascinating, such as an aria written by the Russian composer Glinka (PI. no. 6722) during his Italian sojourn. And, of course, there is an impressive number of songs by Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, Mercadante, and Verdi: the makings of a wonderful and largely neglected repertory for singers sits in these pages. The Catalogo numerico establishes certain changing cultural orientations. We can chart a lively and growing awareness of popular and folk music in its pages. Among the publications of particular interest are several volumes of "Canzoni popolari" from Naples, edited by Francesco Florimo, Bellini's close friend and librarian at the Conservatorio S. Pietro a Majella. At a certain point, Ricordi begins to print Opera librettos. This helps us determine the historical moment in which operas ceased being altered substantially from one performance to another, so that a standardized libretto began to make commercial sense. Thus, a significant shift in aesthetic ideals went hand in hand with astute editorial decisions. A careful reading of the catalogue has historical and political implications. Perhaps most striking are the publications of 1848 (see the section of the catalogue beginning around p. 712), where we suddenly find a group of arias and choruses entitled "Canto guerriero per gli Italiani", "Il voto d'una donna italiana", "Il Cantico di battaglia dei Milanesi nelle cinque giornate del mese di marzo", or piano pieces such as "Il 22 Marzo 1848. Valzer per Pfte ossia Musica allusiva alle cinque giornate". Ali these compositions, works that occupied much of Ricordi's publication efforts during the period, are marked with the frighteningly clear words: "Edizione distrutta". Can we believe that Ricordi's decision to include the numbers in the catalogue, even though political forces had required their suppression, was without inflammatory intentions? The Italian public certainly understood the significance of those words, "Edizione distrutta", poignant reminders of the hopes for the Risorgimento that had risen so high in 1848. A catalogue would seem on the surface to be a dry document: a list, a mere list of publications. Yet beneath that surface is the history of an art form, the history of a people's interests, motivations, and aspirations, the rise and fall of reputations, the cultural interactions occurring between one country and another throughout Europe. The Catalogo numerico of Ricordi is a book you begin by scanning with only passing attention, but which soon proves absolutely absorbing. Its publication here represents an important step towards our growing understanding of European music and culture during the first half of the nineteenth century. ?As I reflect on this incident, the technique seems very primitive: we all knew much less about nineteenth-century printed editions in the mid-1960s than we do today. Recent systematic studies of European music publishers and publications make possible a vastly more interesting and realistic vision of music history during this period. These studies have importance in many different realms: the preparation of new musical editions; the history of musical taste; the relationships between publishers in one country and those in another (with profound implications for the music of Chopin, for example); the effect on musical style and aesthetic theory of changes in copyright law. The possible fields of investigation constantly expand before us, for we have begun to understand that the history of music in the nineteenth century is more than the history of a handful of compositions by the "great masters". The publication of the 1857 Ricordi numerical catalogue is a fundamental step in the study of Italian music in the nineteenth century. Here, as in so many areas, our knowledge of the nineteenth century has lagged far behind that of earlier periods. Few are the Renaissance music publishers whose output has not been analysed and charted. Till ten years ago for Lucca, Girard, Ratti, Guidi, Lorenzi, all important Italian publishers during the nineteenth century and central protagonists in the dissemination of music in Italy, we have been poorly served. Through their efforts music spread beyond the confines of the opera house into the wider consciousness of the general public. Through their editions composers could study the efforts of their peers, the musical culture of Naples becoming known to the Milanese, and vice-versa. Around 1857 Ricordi also published a systematic catalogue by genre and composer. Though it offers some advantages for certain kinds of research, it fails to present the chronological picture, the unfolding history of the firm's publications, uniquely visible in the numerical catalogue. That this edition has been enriched with an index by composer, under which each operatic title is listed (opera being the main component of Ricordi's business), will give it further value. The index offers at a glance complete knowledge of the various forms of publication undertaken by Ricordi for each opera: full piano-vocal scores, excerpts, reductions for instrumental groups, etc. The chronological aspect of the catalogue will be of particular importance to music historians, librarians, and music bibliographers. Plate numbers were generally assigned at the time Ricordi acquired a work for publication, and hence represent acquisition numbers. The date on which Ricordi acquired a work, however, may differ considerably from the date of actual publication. For this reason, additional chronological information has been supplied in this edition, drawn from sources such as the dates copies were deposited with the Milanese censures or police. Occasionally there can be large discrepancies between publication dates and plate numbers. In several instances, for example, Ricordi assigned plate numbers to an entire class of publications before having established the precise works to be printed. Thus, the choral and printed string parts for Verdi's Macbeth bear the plate numbers 15247-15252, numbers that should by all rights come from a period before Macbeth was written. The catalogue makes clear that Ricordi has set aside in advance numbers 15101-15300 for choral and orchestral parts. Thus the plate numbers of the Macbeth parts cannot be considered chronologically determinate. In most cases, dates of deposit establish a precise chronology; for the rest, a careful consideration of the available evidence will usually make a reasonable dating possible. There are other interesting aspects of the consecutive listing by plate number. As we read through the catalogue we find some missing numbers. In his explanatory notes, Ricordi writes; "I numeri mancanti sono opere distrutte, opere stampate per conto altrui, opere di non permessa pubblicazione, ed opere rinnovate sotto altri numeri". But that does not tell the entire story. Some numbers missing near the start, for example, were originally assigned to important publications in full score of operatic excerpts that Ricordi undertook during his first years in business with the collaboration of another, appearing under the imprint of "Ricordi e Festa". An example is a Duetto by Stefano Pavesi, "Io ti vidi" from his opera La festa della rosa (Venezia, 1808), which bears the plate number 10, a number lacking from the Catalogo numerico. Lacunae in the numbering also Almost fortyfive years ago I began my research into the history of Italian opera by studying printed editions issued by Casa Ricordi during the first half of the nineteenth century. In some cases it proved important to establish the dates of publication for certain compositions by Gioachino Rossini. Secondary sources were of no avail, and the editions themselves, like most editions published in this period, bare no dates at all. The only hint of chronology was supplied by the plate numbers that Ricordi, in common with other European music publishers, printed at the bottom of every page. Some publishers, especially in France, assigned these numbers in unpredictable ways; even a casual glance at the Ricordi first editions of Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, and Verdi, however, made it apparent that the firm employed plate numbers in an essentially chronological fashion. Before ever having entered the Archives of Casa Ricordi, and there learning of the manuscript «libroni», volumes in which much of the working history of the firm is exhaustively recorded, I visited the British music bibliographer, Cecil Hopkinson. An indefatigable student of printed music, Hopkinson's catalogues of the editions of Berlioz, Field, Puccini, and Verdi remain fundamental sources. Knowing his expertise, I asked him whether it was possible to date a Ricordi publication on the basis of its plate number. Instead of responding, he retired into his study, returning a few moments later with a thick volume entitled «Catalogo (in ordine numerico) delle opere publicate», published by Casa Ricordi in 1857. He laid the book be fore me, told me to study it, and left me alone for the next two hours. I still remember leafing through the pages of that catalogue for the first time, becoming more and more excited. The amount of information packed within its covers was extraordinary. Who could have imagined the remarkable scope and diversity of the publications issued by the firm during the first half of the nineteenth century? It was testimony to the genius and vision of its founder, Giovanni Ricordi, that shrewd music copyist who gradually expanded his activities to encompass one of the greatest music publishing houses of all time. Though the catalogue included no explicit dates, it did list the entire series of Ricordi publications from 1808, when the firm began its official activity, through 1857, the date of the catalogue. (I later learned that at least one earlier operatic score bears Ricordi's name: an edition for piano and voice of Giovanni Simone Mayr's 1806 opera, Adelasia ed Aleramo, published jointly by Ricordi and G. Martorelli, his predecessor as copyist at the Teatro alla Scala.) Since it followed the order of the plate numbers, the catalogue established at once a rough chronological order. But how could one assign specific years to these publications? Recalling that the Teatro alla Scala was closely tied to Ricordi's activity as both copyist and publisher, I examined entries in the catalogue for those operas first performed at the principal Milanese theatre. Given the nature of theatrical life in the early nineteenth century, with its frenetic deadlines and composers desperately striving to complete operas in time for scheduled first performances, it seemed reasonable to presume that an opera's premieÌ?re represented a date before which an edition was not likely to have been brought out. (This seems like an obvious assumption, but for the operas of Puccini, to take a later and very different example, it would often have proven false.) If one could furthermore presume that Ricordi, as a good business man, would issue favourite pieces from an opera in piano-vocal reductions as quickly after the premieÌ?re as possible, one might assign the earliest published extracts from an opera first performed in Milan to the period soon after its premiere. With this simple technique, it was possible to establish approximate dates of publication for representative items in the catalogue. I soon had answers to my questions concerning the chronology of early Rossini prints, answers that have largely remained valid even when more sophisticated and accurate dating techniques are employed. ?As I reflect on this incident, the technique seems very primitive: we all knew much less about nineteenth-century printed editions in the mid-1960s than we do today. Recent systematic studies of European music publishers and publications make possible a vastly more interesting and realistic vision of music history during this period. These studies have importance in many different realms: the preparation of new musical editions; the history of musical taste; the relationships between publishers in one country and those in another (with profound implications for the music of Chopin, for example); the effect on musical style and aesthetic theory of changes in copyright law. The possible fields of investigation constantly expand before us, for we have begun to understand that the history of music in the nineteenth century is more than the history of a handful of compositions by the "great masters". The publication of the 1857 Ricordi numerical catalogue is a fundamental step in the study of Italian music in the nineteenth century. Here, as in so many areas, our knowledge of the nineteenth century has lagged far behind that of earlier periods. Few are the Renaissance music publishers whose output has not been analysed and charted. Till ten years ago for Lucca, Girard, Ratti, Guidi, Lorenzi, all important Italian publishers during the nineteenth century and central protagonists in the dissemination of music in Italy, we have been poorly served. Through their efforts music spread beyond the confines of the opera house into the wider consciousness of the general public. Through their editions composers could study the efforts of their peers, the musical culture of Naples becoming known to the Milanese, and vice-versa. Around 1857 Ricordi also published a systematic catalogue by genre and composer. Though it offers some advantages for certain kinds of research, it fails to present the chronological picture, the unfolding history of the firm's publications, uniquely visible in the numerical catalogue. That this edition has been enriched with an index by composer, under which each operatic title is listed (opera being the main component of Ricordi's business), will give it further value. The index offers at a glance complete knowledge of the various forms of publication undertaken by Ricordi for each opera: full piano-vocal scores, excerpts, reductions for instrumental groups, etc. The chronological aspect of the catalogue will be of particular importance to music historians, librarians, and music bibliographers. Plate numbers were generally assigned at the time Ricordi acquired a work for publication, and hence represent acquisition numbers. The date on which Ricordi acquired a work, however, may differ considerably from the date of actual publication. For this reason, additional chronological information has been supplied in this edition, drawn from sources such as the dates copies were deposited with the Milanese censures or police. Occasionally there can be large discrepancies between publication dates and plate numbers. In several instances, for example, Ricordi assigned plate numbers to an entire class of publications before having established the precise works to be printed. Thus, the choral and printed string parts for Verdi's Macbeth bear the plate numbers 15247-15252, numbers that should by all rights come from a period before Macbeth was written. The catalogue makes clear that Ricordi has set aside in advance numbers 15101-15300 for choral and orchestral parts. Thus the plate numbers of the Macbeth parts cannot be considered chronologically determinate. In most cases, dates of deposit establish a precise chronology; for the rest, a careful consideration of the available evidence will usually make a reasonable dating possible. There are other interesting aspects of the consecutive listing by plate number. As we read through the catalogue we find some missing numbers. In his explanatory notes, Ricordi writes; "I numeri mancanti sono opere distrutte, opere stampate per conto altrui, opere di non permessa pubblicazione, ed opere rinnovate sotto altri numeri". But that does not tell the entire story. Some numbers missing near the start, for example, were originally assigned to important publications in full score of operatic excerpts that Ricordi undertook during his first years in business with the collaboration of another, appearing under the imprint of "Ricordi e Festa". An example is a Duetto by Stefano Pavesi, "Io ti vidi" from his opera La festa della rosa (Venezia, 1808), which bears the plate number 10, a number lacking from the Catalogo numerico. Lacunae in the numbering also ?resulted when Ricordi acquired works, intending to issue complete editions, and then, presumably for commercial reasons, contented himself (though probably not his composers) with a series of extracts. So, for example the 1845 opera by Teodulo Mabellini, Rolla, is represented by the following number: 12651: 53, 54, 55, 57, 58, 64, 66, 67, 68, 70, 71. There is no reason to believe that Ricordi ever brought out the other items. The importance of the catalogue goes well beyond the bibliographical aims for which it was first published and for which it remains useful today. The Catalogo numerico provides many insights into Italian musical life, especially in the north, during the first half of the nineteenth century. The rise to prominence of Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, and Verdi emerges with absolute clarity. One learns which operas were offered to the public in which years, as well as the formats Ricordi employed to popularize them. During his first years in business, Ricordi normally published only extracts, frequently in full score. Gradually he abandoned this format in favour of reductions for piano and voice. Until the early 1820s Ricordi's agreements with the Milanese theatres did not normally permit him to publish complete pianovocal scores; after about 1823 matters changed, and when commercial possibilities warranted it, he offered the public complete editions. The more success an opera had, the more diverse formats he would employ: reductions for piano and voice, complete operas for piano solo, for piano four-hands, for violin and piano, extracts for two flutes, small band, clarinet, and many, many more. The appetite of the Italian public for these arrangements to be performed in the home was seemingly endless. Then there were the fantasies, potpourris, and variations on popular operatic themes written by the great piano virtuosi of the time, the Thalbergs, Liszts, Herzs, Kalkbrenners, all of which found an honoured place in the Ricordi list. A collection of easy piano pieces edited by Luigi Truzzi, known amusingly as "La gioja delle madri", was defined as a "Raccolta di piccoli Divertimenti per Pfte a 4 mani sopra motivi delle Opere moderne rappresentate con bril. successo". The measure of a work's popularity can be taken by the number of similar arrangements that Ricordi published. And we must not restrict ourselves to the composers still famous today. A large group of lesser musicians were active in Italy. Most were artistically inferior to the masters, to be sure, but they composed much beautiful music and all played their part in establishing a background against which the geniuses could emerge. The Catalogo numerico sets out this world and its development in a precise and exhaustive manner. The significance of the volume, however, goes well beyond the world of opera. Opera was certainly the primary art form of Italian musical culture in the nineteenth century, but it was by no means the only one. The comprehensive listing of the works published by Ricordi reveals the diverse musical worlds that coexisted. There are many didactic writings, both by Italian musicians (Asioli, Florimo) and foreigners (Cherubini, Reicha), not to mention a large number of methods of every instrument, some representing native Italian teaching, others deriving from instructors at the Paris Conservatory. Anyone concerned with the history of instruments and instrumental performance practice during the first half of the nineteenth century will find these treatises indispensable fonts of knowledge. The catalogue exhibits the works of Italian composers who went against the norm, devoting themselves to piano music, chamber music, sacred music, or songs, rather than to opera. It also helps establish the extent to which music from the north of Europe made its way south of the Alps. The interactions between northern Europe and Italy may prove surprising to those who think of Italian musical fife as exclusively operatic. The piano music of Hummel, Moscheles, Czerny, and Kalkbrenner circulated widely, as we might expect, but the names of Weber, Chopin, and Liszt soon join them. Even Beethoven piano sonatas were published by Ricordi early in the century (as was the full score of his oratorio, Cristo all'Oliveto). The chamber music of Spohr, Onslow, Krommer, and Romberg is found in plenty, as are works by Mendelssohn. There is little instrumental music by Mozart, though it is fascinating to come across a group of Symphonies in four hand arrangements by Czerny. Organ music is not excluded, and one notes with real interest volumes of fugues by northern composers such as Albrechtsberger. In a lighter ?vein, the latest in the Viennese waltzes of Strauss the father regularly danced their way to Italy via the editions of Ricordi. Vocal music other than Italian opera played an important part in this culture. Through the study of instructional manuals and collections of solfeggi by both Italian and French teachers, singers, and composers (including Asioli, Bordogni, Duprez, Lablache, Panseron, Rossini, and Vaccai), budding vocalists developed their skills. Ricordi published few complete operas by foreign composers, reflecting in this the repertory of Italian opera houses, yet arias by Auber, He?rold, Me?hul, and other French composers found an Italian market. Some individual items are fascinating, such as an aria written by the Russian composer Glinka (PI. no. 6722) during his Italian sojourn. And, of course, there is an impressive number of songs by Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, Mercadante, and Verdi: the makings of a wonderful and largely neglected repertory for singers sits in these pages. The Catalogo numerico establishes certain changing cultural orientations. We can chart a lively and growing awareness of popular and folk music in its pages. Among the publications of particular interest are several volumes of "Canzoni popolari" from Naples, edited by Francesco Florimo, Bellini's close friend and librarian at the Conservatorio S. Pietro a Majella. At a certain point, Ricordi begins to print Opera librettos. This helps us determine the historical moment in which operas ceased being altered substantially from one performance to another, so that a standardized libretto began to make commercial sense. Thus, a significant shift in aesthetic ideals went hand in hand with astute editorial decisions. A careful reading of the catalogue has historical and political implications. Perhaps most striking are the publications of 1848 (see the section of the catalogue beginning around p. 712), where we suddenly find a group of arias and choruses entitled "Canto guerriero per gli Italiani", "Il voto d'una donna italiana", "Il Cantico di battaglia dei Milanesi nelle cinque giornate del mese di marzo", or piano pieces such as "Il 22 Marzo 1848. Valzer per Pfte ossia Musica allusiva alle cinque giornate". Ali these compositions, works that occupied much of Ricordi's publication efforts during the period, are marked with the frighteningly clear words: "Edizione distrutta". Can we believe that Ricordi's decision to include the numbers in the catalogue, even though political forces had required their suppression, was without inflammatory intentions? The Italian public certainly understood the significance of those words, "Edizione distrutta", poignant reminders of the hopes for the Risorgimento that had risen so high in 1848. A catalogue would seem on the surface to be a dry document: a list, a mere list of publications. Yet beneath that surface is the history of an art form, the history of a people's interests, motivations, and aspirations, the rise and fall of reputations, the cultural interactions occurring between one country and another throughout Europe. The Catalogo numerico of Ricordi is a book you begin by scanning with only passing attention, but which soon proves absolutely absorbing. Its publication here represents an important step towards our growing understanding of European music and culture during the first half of the nineteenth century. ?resulted when Ricordi acquired works, intending to issue complete editions, and then, presumably for commercial reasons, contented himself (though probably not his composers) with a series of extracts. So, for example the 1845 opera by Teodulo Mabellini, Rolla, is represented by the following number: 12651: 53, 54, 55, 57, 58, 64, 66, 67, 68, 70, 71. There is no reason to believe that Ricordi ever brought out the other items. The importance of the catalogue goes well beyond the bibliographical aims for which it was first published and for which it remains useful today. The Catalogo numerico provides many insights into Italian musical life, especially in the north, during the first half of the nineteenth century. The rise to prominence of Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, and Verdi emerges with absolute clarity. One learns which operas were offered to the public in which years, as well as the formats Ricordi employed to popularize them. During his first years in business, Ricordi normally published only extracts, frequently in full score. Gradually he abandoned this format in favour of reductions for piano and voice. Until the early 1820s Ricordi's agreements with the Milanese theatres did not normally permit him to publish complete pianovocal scores; after about 1823 matters changed, and when commercial possibilities warranted it, he offered the public complete editions. The more success an opera had, the more diverse formats he would employ: reductions for piano and voice, complete operas for piano solo, for piano four-hands, for violin and piano, extracts for two flutes, small band, clarinet, and many, many more. The appetite of the Italian public for these arrangements to be performed in the home was seemingly endless. Then there were the fantasies, potpourris, and variations on popular operatic themes written by the great piano virtuosi of the time, the Thalbergs, Liszts, Herzs, Kalkbrenners, all of which found an honoured place in the Ricordi list. A collection of easy piano pieces edited by Luigi Truzzi, known amusingly as "La gioja delle madri", was defined as a "Raccolta di piccoli Divertimenti per Pfte a 4 mani sopra motivi delle Opere moderne rappresentate con bril. successo". The measure of a work's popularity can be taken by the number of similar arrangements that Ricordi published. And we must not restrict ourselves to the composers still famous today. A large group of lesser musicians were active in Italy. Most were artistically inferior to the masters, to be sure, but they composed much beautiful music and all played their part in establishing a background against which the geniuses could emerge. The Catalogo numerico sets out this world and its development in a precise and exhaustive manner. The significance of the volume, however, goes well beyond the world of opera. Opera was certainly the primary art form of Italian musical culture in the nineteenth century, but it was by no means the only one. The comprehensive listing of the works published by Ricordi reveals the diverse musical worlds that coexisted. There are many didactic writings, both by Italian musicians (Asioli, Florimo) and foreigners (Cherubini, Reicha), not to mention a large number of methods of every instrument, some representing native Italian teaching, others deriving from instructors at the Paris Conservatory. Anyone concerned with the history of instruments and instrumental performance practice during the first half of the nineteenth century will find these treatises indispensable fonts of knowledge. The catalogue exhibits the works of Italian composers who went against the norm, devoting themselves to piano music, chamber music, sacred music, or songs, rather than to opera. It also helps establish the extent to which music from the north of Europe made its way south of the Alps. The interactions between northern Europe and Italy may prove surprising to those who think of Italian musical fife as exclusively operatic. The piano music of Hummel, Moscheles, Czerny, and Kalkbrenner circulated widely, as we might expect, but the names of Weber, Chopin, and Liszt soon join them. Even Beethoven piano sonatas were published by Ricordi early in the century (as was the full score of his oratorio, Cristo all'Oliveto). The chamber music of Spohr, Onslow, Krommer, and Romberg is found in plenty, as are works by Mendelssohn. There is little instrumental music by Mozart, though it is fascinating to come across a group of Symphonies in four hand arrangements by Czerny. Organ music is not excluded, and one notes with real interest volumes of fugues by northern composers such as Albrechtsberger. In a lighter Almost fortyfive years ago I began my research into the history of Italian opera by studying printed editions issued by Casa Ricordi during the first half of the nineteenth century. In some cases it proved important to establish the dates of publication for certain compositions by Gioachino Rossini. Secondary sources were of no avail, and the editions themselves, like most editions published in this period, bare no dates at all. The only hint of chronology was supplied by the plate numbers that Ricordi, in common with other European music publishers, printed at the bottom of every page. Some publishers, especially in France, assigned these numbers in unpredictable ways; even a casual glance at the Ricordi first editions of Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, and Verdi, however, made it apparent that the firm employed plate numbers in an essentially chronological fashion. Before ever having entered the Archives of Casa Ricordi, and there learning of the manuscript «libroni», volumes in which much of the working history of the firm is exhaustively recorded, I visited the British music bibliographer, Cecil Hopkinson. An indefatigable student of printed music, Hopkinson's catalogues of the editions of Berlioz, Field, Puccini, and Verdi remain fundamental sources. Knowing his expertise, I asked him whether it was possible to date a Ricordi publication on the basis of its plate number. Instead of responding, he retired into his study, returning a few moments later with a thick volume entitled «Catalogo (in ordine numerico) delle opere publicate», published by Casa Ricordi in 1857. He laid the book be fore me, told me to study it, and left me alone for the next two hours. I still remember leafing through the pages of that catalogue for the first time, becoming more and more excited. The amount of information packed within its covers was extraordinary. Who could have imagined the remarkable scope and diversity of the publications issued by the firm during the first half of the nineteenth century? It was testimony to the genius and vision of its founder, Giovanni Ricordi, that shrewd music copyist who gradually expanded his activities to encompass one of the greatest music publishing houses of all time. Though the catalogue included no explicit dates, it did list the entire series of Ricordi publications from 1808, when the firm began its official activity, through 1857, the date of the catalogue. (I later learned that at least one earlier operatic score bears Ricordi's name: an edition for piano and voice of Giovanni Simone Mayr's 1806 opera, Adelasia ed Aleramo, published jointly by Ricordi and G. Martorelli, his predecessor as copyist at the Teatro alla Scala.) Since it followed the order of the plate numbers, the catalogue established at once a rough chronological order. But how could one assign specific years to these publications? Recalling that the Teatro alla Scala was closely tied to Ricordi's activity as both copyist and publisher, I examined entries in the catalogue for those operas first performed at the principal Milanese theatre. Given the nature of theatrical life in the early nineteenth century, with its frenetic deadlines and composers desperately striving to complete operas in time for scheduled first performances, it seemed reasonable to presume that an opera's premieÌ?re represented a date before which an edition was not likely to have been brought out. (This seems like an obvious assumption, but for the operas of Puccini, to take a later and very different example, it would often have proven false.) If one could furthermore presume that Ricordi, as a good business man, would issue favourite pieces from an opera in piano-vocal reductions as quickly after the premieÌ?re as possible, one might assign the earliest published extracts from an opera first performed in Milan to the period soon after its premiere. With this simple technique, it was possible to establish approximate dates of publication for representative items in the catalogue. I soon had answers to my questions concerning the chronology of early Rossini prints, answers that have largely remained valid even when more sophisticated and accurate dating techniques are employed. ?As I reflect on this incident, the technique seems very primitive: we all knew much less about nineteenth-century printed editions in the mid-1960s than we do today. Recent systematic studies of European music publishers and publications make possible a vastly more interesting and realistic vision of music history during this period. These studies have importance in many different realms: the preparation of new musical editions; the history of musical taste; the relationships between publishers in one country and those in another (with profound implications for the music of Chopin, for example); the effect on musical style and aesthetic theory of changes in copyright law. The possible fields of investigation constantly expand before us, for we have begun to understand that the history of music in the nineteenth century is more than the history of a handful of compositions by the "great masters". The publication of the 1857 Ricordi numerical catalogue is a fundamental step in the study of Italian music in the nineteenth century. Here, as in so many areas, our knowledge of the nineteenth century has lagged far behind that of earlier periods. Few are the Renaissance music publishers whose output has not been analysed and charted. Till ten years ago for Lucca, Girard, Ratti, Guidi, Lorenzi, all important Italian publishers during the nineteenth century and central protagonists in the dissemination of music in Italy, we have been poorly served. Through their efforts music spread beyond the confines of the opera house into the wider consciousness of the general public. Through their editions composers could study the efforts of their peers, the musical culture of Naples becoming known to the Milanese, and vice-versa. Around 1857 Ricordi also published a systematic catalogue by genre and composer. Though it offers some advantages for certain kinds of research, it fails to present the chronological picture, the unfolding history of the firm's publications, uniquely visible in the numerical catalogue. That this edition has been enriched with an index by composer, under which each operatic title is listed (opera being the main component of Ricordi's business), will give it further value. The index offers at a glance complete knowledge of the various forms of publication undertaken by Ricordi for each opera: full piano-vocal scores, excerpts, reductions for instrumental groups, etc. The chronological aspect of the catalogue will be of particular importance to music historians, librarians, and music bibliographers. Plate numbers were generally assigned at the time Ricordi acquired a work for publication, and hence represent acquisition numbers. The date on which Ricordi acquired a work, however, may differ considerably from the date of actual publication. For this reason, additional chronological information has been supplied in this edition, drawn from sources such as the dates copies were deposited with the Milanese censures or police. Occasionally there can be large discrepancies between publication dates and plate numbers. In several instances, for example, Ricordi assigned plate numbers to an entire class of publications before having established the precise works to be printed. Thus, the choral and printed string parts for Verdi's Macbeth bear the plate numbers 15247-15252, numbers that should by all rights come from a period before Macbeth was written. The catalogue makes clear that Ricordi has set aside in advance numbers 15101-15300 for choral and orchestral parts. Thus the plate numbers of the Macbeth parts cannot be considered chronologically determinate. In most cases, dates of deposit establish a precise chronology; for the rest, a careful consideration of the available evidence will usually make a reasonable dating possible. There are other interesting aspects of the consecutive listing by plate number. As we read through the catalogue we find some missing numbers. In his explanatory notes, Ricordi writes; "I numeri mancanti sono opere distrutte, opere stampate per conto altrui, opere di non permessa pubblicazione, ed opere rinnovate sotto altri numeri". But that does not tell the entire story. Some numbers missing near the start, for example, were originally assigned to important publications in full score of operatic excerpts that Ricordi undertook during his first years in business with the collaboration of another, appearing under the imprint of "Ricordi e Festa". An example is a Duetto by Stefano Pavesi, "Io ti vidi" from his opera La festa della rosa (Venezia, 1808), which bears the plate number 10, a number lacking from the Catalogo numerico. Lacunae in the numbering also ?resulted when Ricordi acquired works, intending to issue complete editions, and then, presumably for commercial reasons, contented himself (though probably not his composers) with a series of extracts. So, for example the 1845 opera by Teodulo Mabellini, Rolla, is represented by the following number: 12651: 53, 54, 55, 57, 58, 64, 66, 67, 68, 70, 71. There is no reason to believe that Ricordi ever brought out the other items. The importance of the catalogue goes well beyond the bibliographical aims for which it was first published and for which it remains useful today. The Catalogo numerico provides many insights into Italian musical life, especially in the north, during the first half of the nineteenth century. The rise to prominence of Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, and Verdi emerges with absolute clarity. One learns which operas were offered to the public in which years, as well as the formats Ricordi employed to popularize them. During his first years in business, Ricordi normally published only extracts, frequently in full score. Gradually he abandoned this format in favour of reductions for piano and voice. Until the early 1820s Ricordi's agreements with the Milanese theatres did not normally permit him to publish complete pianovocal scores; after about 1823 matters changed, and when commercial possibilities warranted it, he offered the public complete editions. The more success an opera had, the more diverse formats he would employ: reductions for piano and voice, complete operas for piano solo, for piano four-hands, for violin and piano, extracts for two flutes, small band, clarinet, and many, many more. The appetite of the Italian public for these arrangements to be performed in the home was seemingly endless. Then there were the fantasies, potpourris, and variations on popular operatic themes written by the great piano virtuosi of the time, the Thalbergs, Liszts, Herzs, Kalkbrenners, all of which found an honoured place in the Ricordi list. A collection of easy piano pieces edited by Luigi Truzzi, known amusingly as "La gioja delle madri", was defined as a "Raccolta di piccoli Divertimenti per Pfte a 4 mani sopra motivi delle Opere moderne rappresentate con bril. successo". The measure of a work's popularity can be taken by the number of similar arrangements that Ricordi published. And we must not restrict ourselves to the composers still famous today. A large group of lesser musicians were active in Italy. Most were artistically inferior to the masters, to be sure, but they composed much beautiful music and all played their part in establishing a background against which the geniuses could emerge. The Catalogo numerico sets out this world and its development in a precise and exhaustive manner. The significance of the volume, however, goes well beyond the world of opera. Opera was certainly the primary art form of Italian musical culture in the nineteenth century, but it was by no means the only one. The comprehensive listing of the works published by Ricordi reveals the diverse musical worlds that coexisted. There are many didactic writings, both by Italian musicians (Asioli, Florimo) and foreigners (Cherubini, Reicha), not to mention a large number of methods of every instrument, some representing native Italian teaching, others deriving from instructors at the Paris Conservatory. Anyone concerned with the history of instruments and instrumental performance practice during the first half of the nineteenth century will find these treatises indispensable fonts of knowledge. The catalogue exhibits the works of Italian composers who went against the norm, devoting themselves to piano music, chamber music, sacred music, or songs, rather than to opera. It also helps establish the extent to which music from the north of Europe made its way south of the Alps. The interactions between northern Europe and Italy may prove surprising to those who think of Italian musical fife as exclusively operatic. The piano music of Hummel, Moscheles, Czerny, and Kalkbrenner circulated widely, as we might expect, but the names of Weber, Chopin, and Liszt soon join them. Even Beethoven piano sonatas were published by Ricordi early in the century (as was the full score of his oratorio, Cristo all'Oliveto). The chamber music of Spohr, Onslow, Krommer, and Romberg is found in plenty, as are works by Mendelssohn. There is little instrumental music by Mozart, though it is fascinating to come across a group of Symphonies in four hand arrangements by Czerny. Organ music is not excluded, and one notes with real interest volumes of fugues by northern composers such as Albrechtsberger. In a lighter ?vein, the latest in the Viennese waltzes of Strauss the father regularly danced their way to Italy via the editions of Ricordi. Vocal music other than Italian opera played an important part in this culture. Through the study of instructional manuals and collections of solfeggi by both Italian and French teachers, singers, and composers (including Asioli, Bordogni, Duprez, Lablache, Panseron, Rossini, and Vaccai), budding vocalists developed their skills. Ricordi published few complete operas by foreign composers, reflecting in this the repertory of Italian opera houses, yet arias by Auber, He?rold, Me?hul, and other French composers found an Italian market. Some individual items are fascinating, such as an aria written by the Russian composer Glinka (PI. no. 6722) during his Italian sojourn. And, of course, there is an impressive number of songs by Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, Mercadante, and Verdi: the makings of a wonderful and largely neglected repertory for singers sits in these pages. The Catalogo numerico establishes certain changing cultural orientations. We can chart a lively and growing awareness of popular and folk music in its pages. Among the publications of particular interest are several volumes of "Canzoni popolari" from Naples, edited by Francesco Florimo, Bellini's close friend and librarian at the Conservatorio S. Pietro a Majella. At a certain point, Ricordi begins to print Opera librettos. This helps us determine the historical moment in which operas ceased being altered substantially from one performance to another, so that a standardized libretto began to make commercial sense. Thus, a significant shift in aesthetic ideals went hand in hand with astute editorial decisions. A careful reading of the catalogue has historical and political implications. Perhaps most striking are the publications of 1848 (see the section of the catalogue beginning around p. 712), where we suddenly find a group of arias and choruses entitled "Canto guerriero per gli Italiani", "Il voto d'una donna italiana", "Il Cantico di battaglia dei Milanesi nelle cinque giornate del mese di marzo", or piano pieces such as "Il 22 Marzo 1848. Valzer per Pfte ossia Musica allusiva alle cinque giornate". Ali these compositions, works that occupied much of Ricordi's publication efforts during the period, are marked with the frighteningly clear words: "Edizione distrutta". Can we believe that Ricordi's decision to include the numbers in the catalogue, even though political forces had required their suppression, was without inflammatory intentions? The Italian public certainly understood the significance of those words, "Edizione distrutta", poignant reminders of the hopes for the Risorgimento that had risen so high in 1848. A catalogue would seem on the surface to be a dry document: a list, a mere list of publications. Yet beneath that surface is the history of an art form, the history of a people's interests, motivations, and aspirations, the rise and fall of reputations, the cultural interaction
1. Introduction
Agostina Zecca Laterza
2. Preface
Philip Gossett