L'Elisire[!] d'Amore Melodramma giocoso in due Atti di F. Romani ... ridotto con accompagnamento di Pianoforte L'Opera intera D.6 ... [Piano-vocal score]

Napoli: Stabilimento Musicale Partenopeo, Successore di B. Girard e Co. [PNs 10407-10420, 10422-10427, 2163-2165, 2197, 2320, 2324, 5757), 1852. Oblong folio. Vellum-backed and edged boards with burgundy cloth laid down, initials "C.G." gilt to upper, titling to spine stamped in black, original light pink publisher's printed wrappers bound in. 1f. (recto title, verso blank), 1f. (recto cast list and table of contents, verso blank), 5-226 pp. Each number with separate caption title and pagination. Engraved.

Endpapers watermarked with a fleur-de-lis and "Michele Dupino Marmorato." With priced catalog, "Opere Teatrali Intere," to upper wrapper listing works by Bellini, Donizetti, Rossini, Verdi, et al. composed through 1853 and with list of pieces with individual prices and plate numbers to title.

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

Binding slightly worn, bumped, and scuffed. Minimal foxing throughout, primarily confined to margins. Later edition, later issue. Inzaghi IN. 41, pp. 155-7.

Girard's first edition of L'elisir d'amore appeared circa 1833. This new issue from 1852 contains many new plates alongside the older ones.

L'elisir d'amore, to a libretto by Felice Romani after Eugène Scribe's text for Auber's Le philtre (1831), was first performed at the Teatro Cannobiana in Milan on May 12, 1832.

"Donizetti's score is a study in shrewd contrasts: from the fairly florid lines of the duet 'Chiedi all'aura' - florid yet always rhetorically tidy - to the bumptious 3/8 stretta of the Act 1 finale, or from the sharply differentiated tones of Nemorino and Belcore in the 'Venti scudi' duet, to the comic irony in the duet for Adina and Dulcamara, 'Quanto amore!', which sets off the potion as charm against the charm of Adina herself. The apparently effortless outpouring of melody arouses wonder, especially as it is never melodiousness for its own sake but always describes some aspect of character; moreover, there are those moments of genuine pathos ('Adina, credimi' and 'Una furtiva lagrima', for instance) that keep this comedy from seeming merely heartless or cruel. Ultimately, the continuing appeal of L'elisir lies in the appropriateness of Donizetti's music to this bucolic variant of the 'male Cinderella' myth. Nemorino's good-heartedness and his singleness of purpose win out in spite of potions and unforeseen inheritances." William Ashbrook in Grove Music Online.

Ricci was an important figure in the transmission of 19th century traditions passed on to him by noted baritone Antonio Cotogni (1831-1918), whom he accompanied from the age of 12. He was active as a vocal coach at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, where he taught (amongst many others) Sesto Bruscantini, Anna Moffo, Rosalind Elias, Ezio Flagello, Peter Lindroos, and Martti Wallén.