Verdi, Giuseppe.

a complete work, scored for voice and piano, notated in brown ink on four three-stave systems, a few small erasures, comprising 22 bars



1 page, plus blank integral, folio (36.6 x 26.2cm), 16-stave paper, Naples, 20 April 1858, browned

Fortunato Ortombina, '"Sgombra, o gentil". Un dono di Verdi all'amico Delfico', Studi verdiani (1992), pp.104-117; M.J. Phillips Matz, Verdi (1993), p.377; TNG, xxvi, p.462; not in Hopkinson

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing, where appropriate.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

This song is Verdi's only surviving setting of words by Alessandro Manzoni (1785-1873),

The text of this short, complete composition for voice and piano - an evocative and exquisitely fashioned mini scena - is taken from the chorus closing the first scene of Act IV of Manzoni's poetic drama Adelchi (1822), which describes the death of the wretched Ermengarda. The work was written during the time of Verdi's visit to Naples at the beginning of 1858 in connexion with an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to perform his opera Una vendetta in domino (which he transformed into Un ballo in maschera).

Verdi presented this song to the artist Melchiorre Delfico (1825-1895), one of a close circle of his friends in Naples.  Delfico left a famous set of caricatures of Verdi in rehearsals at Naples during this period: for examples, see J. Budden, Verdi (1985), p.116f, plate 8; and A. Luzio, Carteggi verdiani).  Discovered in America in the 1980s, the present work was unknown until performed at Parma in 1989.   

This is Verdi's only surviving setting of Manzoni, the great Italian poet and novelist, whose liberal and patriotic views were so revered by the composer.  Verdi's admiration for Manzoni lasted his entire life: he set a chorus from Adelchi and the ode Il cinque maggio as early as c.1830, but evidently destroyed them (see Matz, p.30).   Verdi eventually gave full expression to his love for Manzoni in the great Requiem Mass composed in his memory in 1874.