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[THE FIRST TROUBADOUR IN RUSSIAN] Il Trovatore / Le Trobadour [i.e. The Troubadour]

Verdi, G.

Item #2377

St. Petersburg: Tipografia di J. Glasounoff e Comp., 1855. 94 pp. 16,6x10,5 cm. Owner’s period wrappers. Light foxing throughout, but otherwise in a very good condition.
Extremely scarce. First edition. Bilingual in Italian and French.

The very first appearance in Russian print of Giuseppe Verdi’s Il Trovatore, published in St. Petersburg in 1855 by the renowned pre-revolutionary publishing house of the Glazunov Brothers.

Russia was among the first countries to stage Il Trovatore, with an Italian troupe performing it in Odesa in 1854. The following year, on November 21, the Imperial Italian Opera brought the production to St. Petersburg’s Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre, where it was met with tremendous success. The censorship approval for our edition, dated October 1855, indicates that the book was likely published in anticipation of this highly awaited performance. Considering that attending the Italian Opera was a privilege reserved for the elite, this copy likely belonged to a distinguished member of high society who frequented such exclusive gatherings. By the mid-19th century, Russia’s fascination with Italian
opera had reached near-epidemic levels. Italian opera troupes in the city regularly staged works by Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini, while French companies introduced audiences to Meyerbeer, Gounod, and Offenbach. Verdi’s music first reached St. Petersburg in the 1845/46 season, when the Mikhailovsky Theater presented I Lombardi alla prima crociata [i.e. The Lombards on the First Crusade]. Verdi’s operas quickly became a staple of St. Petersburg’s theaters, with five or six of his works performed each season. By the 1860s, Verdi’s stature in Russia had grown so significantly that the Imperial Theatres commissioned him to compose a new opera. This led to the creation of La forza del destino [i.e. The Force of Destiny], based on a drama by the Duke of Rivas. Though delayed due to an illness among the cast, the opera premiered at the Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre in November 1862. Verdi himself traveled to St. Petersburg for the rehearsals, and despite initial setbacks, the production was a triumph, selling out its first three performances.

Overall, an extremely rare, first Russian edition of Giuseppe Verdi’s Trovatore.

No copies found in Worldcat.

Price: $650.00