Donizetti, Gaetano

1) on the first page, the complete verse for Ruiz (tenor), notated in D minor in dark brown ink on six staves, the words entered only sporadically ("...qui solo: Solo voglio qui morir, nò non tema all’ ora estrema non sa il padre maledir…");

and on the verso:
2) compositional memoranda, possibly for the librettist Rossi: "Se finisse in Là aggiustando i versi per la stretta invece dell’altra stretta cred’ io sarà meglio";

3) the words of the dramatic interruption by the off-stage chorus: "Viva Bianca di Francia l’onore / che don pedro a sua sposa innalzò", with an earlier version deleted by Donizetti;

4) the words for Maria’s dramatic response: "Che mai sento...Bianca sposa ?..E soffirlo dovrò…?", including two versions of the second line;

5) a short sketch without words for the canzonetta in 6/8, for Don Ruiz ["Della sera la brezza leggera"], which comes considerably earlier in the due; and finally: 

6)  the conclusion of the duet on page 1, the vocal line for Maria (soprano) and bass accompaniment, marked "2da Vol[ta]...sin qui è basta".  

2 pages, oblong 4to (c.17.5 x 27cm), 6-stave paper, irregularly cut down from a larger sheet, the first page numbered in other hands in red crayon (“104”) and in pencil (“2”) [Milan, autumn 1841], loss to first stave on verso, where the leaf has been cut down, trace of mount to left-hand edge 

W. Ashbrook, Donizetti and his operas (1982), pp.456-466.

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This sketch-leaf gives an unusual insight into Donizetti’s compositional process in one the most dramatic of his later operas, including early versions and revisions to both the words and the music (the libretto was partly by the composer).  Maria Padilla was the opening opera of the carnival season at La Scala Milan on 26 December 1841, and its success was rather eclipsed by Verdi’s Nabucco later in the season.  William Ashbrook rates it as "one of Donizetti’s richest and most original scores" and draws attention particularly to this duet in Act 3 for Maria and Don Ruiz as the part "that engages one’s sympathies most deeply...[with] a masterly development of musical intensity".  Maria seeks reconciliation with her father, who has lost his mind, overwrought by her disgrace as the mistress of King Pedro (the "Cruel") and refuses to recognize her.  He tries unsuccessfully to recall the melody of the canzonetta 'Della sera la brezza leggera', and repulses Maria in the passage drafted on the first page here ('Ite omai non vi conosco').  An offstage chorus is heard hailing Bianca of France as Pedro’s new bride, driving her to further flights of desperation.