204. Salieri, Antonio. Autograph manuscript of the aria “Son dama, ma so l’arte ancor delle plebe” signed (“d’Ant. Salieri Vienn[a 1]774”), 14 pages, oblong quarto (8.5 x 11.5 in.; 217 x 286mm), 10-stave paper, watermark of three moons and “W” within a shield (cf. Tyson Watermark 64), unbound, Vienna, 1774; trimmed, affecting the instrumental designations and a few other markings.

A lengthy manuscript of great rarity by Antonio Salieri.

The manuscript constitutes an inserted aria for Paisiello’s opera Il tamburo, scored for two horns in B flat, two oboes, two bassoons, string and soprano (“Poli:” [i.e. “Polissena”], consisting of a complete single movement marked “Allegro Maestoso,” notated in brown ink on one 10-stave system per page, with autograph superscriptions “7” and “Atto primo” at the upper left-hand side and right-hand side of the first page, a number of autograph corrections, deletions and revisions.

Paisiello’s Il tamburo (libretto: Giambattista Lorenzi, Naples, Spring, 1773) was first performed in Vienna at the Kärntnertortheater on 6 December 1774, under the title Il tamburo notturno. There were nine performances in Vienna in all, the last being on 9 February 1775. The aria “Son dama” is not listed in the catalogue of Salieri’s arias in R. Angermüller, Anton Salieri. Sein Leben und seine Weltlichen Werke. (Munich, 1971.)

Manuscripts of comparable length by Salieri are rarely offered at auction. $20,000 - $30,000