C. Gounod. Autograph musical quotation from the love duet in Act 3 of "Faust", signed and inscribed to Adelina Patti

Charles Gounod

Autograph musical quotation from the love duet in Act 3 of Faust, in Italian, signed and inscribed to Adelina [Patti] ("All' Adelina Mirabile, uno fra tanti!...Ch. Gounod")

four bars for Doctor Faust (tenor) from the introduction to the duet with Marguerite, with the words "Dammi ancor, dammi ancor contemplar il tuo viso!", notated on a hand-drawn stave titled "Faust"

1 page, on an album-leaf, c.15 x 25cm, [possibly London 1871-1874], with part of an autograph note signed by Giovanni Bottesini on verso, from the Hotel Privitali, [London], some browning, the verso defective from former mount, tiny hole, not affecting text   

Faust (1859) is Gounod's most famous work. This quotation is from the Italian version of the introduction to the Act 3 duet for Faust and Marguerite, "O Nuit d'amour". The original French words for this passage are "Laisse-moi, laisse-moi contempler ton visage". Outside France, Faust was often sung in Italian, especially at Covent Garden, where Adelina Patti (1843-1919) reigned supreme from 1861 to 1885. It is highly likely that Gounod heard "the wonderful Adelina" in Faust during his exile in London from 1870 to 1874, and that this album-leaf constitutes his musical request to meet her. Gounod echoes Dante (with regard to Beatrice) in dubbing Patti "mirabile".