Verdi, Giuseppe

the first Italian edition of the libretto, Verdi's copy with his unpublished autograph additions and revisions, 50 printed pages, 8vo (16.5 x 11.3cm), original cast-list of the St Petersburg production, interleaved throughout with blue paper, with autograph additions by Verdi on five pages, and by the librettist (Francesco Maria Piave) on six pages, including the complete re-drafting of the final scene over 7 pages, written in dark brown ink, [probably late 1863], green printed wrappers, with Ricordi's advertisements 

ICCU\PAR\0690328, recording one copy in Parma: Biblioteca dell'Istituto Nazionale di Studi Verdiani (no copy in the British Library).  J. Nádas, 'New Light on Pre-1869 Revisions of La forza del destino', in Verdi Newsletter, volume 15 (New York: 1987), pp.7-29.  See also, A. Porter & D. Rosen, Verdi's Macbeth. A Sourcebook (1984), pp.339-345.

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Of the greatest rarity. We have no record of a printed libretto, revised by Verdi in his own hand, ever appearing for sale.  The present copy contains Verdi's radical revisions to the ending of his opera.  

These seem to be relatively early autograph revisions by the composer, made in late 1863 with the collaboration of the original librettist F.M. Piave.  Verdi composed La forza del destino for St Petersburg in the winter of 1862, and the present libretto is the first Italian edition, issued in 1863; it records the original cast of singers, including Enrico Tamberlick and Caroline Barbot. The dénouement of La forza del destino, with the hero leaping to his death (and two other violent deaths) always troubled the composer, and he began to revise it almost immediately, first for Madrid in February 1863, probably with Piave, and later with De Lauzières. In this copy of the libretto, Verdi has redrafted Scena V, including a complete page in his hand containing new text for Don Carlos.  Verdi has also revised Scena VIII with a working draft of some new lines which are partly incorporated in the final version (a few passages barely legible). 

"Tutto fec' io per evitar lo scontro..
[deleted line:] Chiusi in un chiostro...E mi 
In un chiostro mi chiusi
Così in un chiostro [...]
E mi raggiunse...un insulto...e morì"

Verdi's additions to the present libretto evidently postdate the 1863 Madrid production, but still represent an early stage in his revisions.  He wrote to Piave on 30 October and 13 November 1863, asking for his ideas as how they could revise the ending, and they set to work using the present interleaved copy of the published libretto, probably provided by Ricordi for this very purpose.  The librettist visited Verdi at St Agata between 16 and 26 November, which is probably when this work was done.  There is another such example of Verdi and Piave working together in this way in 1865, using an interleaved copy of the original Macbeth libretto.  The final pages here contain a version of the final scene in Piave's hand, including Padre Guardiano's "Non imprecare, umiliati", but otherwise quite different from either the original 1862 version or the final version for La Scala.  Although it is no longer explicit that Don Alvaro leaps to his death, he still breaks away at the end to "lose himself among the precipices".  It was only when Ricordi suggested that the opera should be performed at La Scala, Milan, in 1869, that Verdi completed his revision with the help of  the librettist Antonio Ghislanzoni.