Saffo [Piano-vocal score] Tragedia lirica in 3 parti di S. Cammarano ... Dedicata a S.E. il Maresciallo di Campo Marchese del Carretto ... Riduzione per Canto con accomp.o di Pfte Fr.30

Milano: Giovanni Ricordi [PNs 12590-4, 12596, 12848, 13388-99], 1855. Oblong folio. Vellum-backed and edged boards with dark brown cloth laid down, initials "C.G." gilt to upper, titling to spine stamped in black. Original publisher's green wrappers bound in, with series title "Opere teatrali complete" to upper and catalog dated 1855 to lower. 1f. (title), 1f. (contents, named cast list), 3-266 pp. Each number with separate caption title and secondary pagination. Engraved.

Named cast list includes Cartagenova, Buccini, Pixis, and Fraschini. Handstamp of Lucca to title; blindstamp of Tito Ricordi to inner margin.

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

Binding somewhat worn and scuffed. Scattered light foxing. First Edition, later issue. Scarce (2 copies located in the U.S., at Harvard and the Newberry Library).

Saffo, a tragedia lirica in three parts to a libretto by Salvadore Cammarano after Pietro Beltrame, premiered in Naples at the Teatro San Carlo on 29 November 1840. First published by Ricordi in 1841.

"Saffo is important for its integration of scenes into extended musical tableaux, for the complexity of its ensembles and for the relatively minor role played by solo numbers, all of which include chorus, secondary soloists or both. Its great Part 1 finale may have been the source of techniques later associated with Verdi's concertato slow movements. Pacini achieved a remarkable expressive intensity not only in cantabile movements but also in lyric dialogues by largely abandoning the florid bel canto that had marked his earlier works and moving closer to Bellini's impassioned melodic style." Scott L. Balthazar in Grove Dictionary of Opera. (Inventory #: 33499)