Autograph musical manuscripts in a copyist's hand for two additional arias by Donizetti for his opera Fausta, as sung by the tenor Domenico Donzelli and signed by Donzelli on the first page of each. Titled: Adagio Nuovo scritto [per il ...] Sig. Donzelli da scegliersi a suo desio and Cabaletta per Crispo Atto II nuova scritta espressamente per il Sig. Donzelli. Undated [ca. 1833.] Scored for orchestra and solo voice (Crispo), with an empty choir part in the second aria. 11 pp. and 8 pp., on hand-ruled manuscript paper. On the first page of each, an autograph note in the hand of Domenico Donzelli reads: "Autografo di Donizetti." In fact, the manuscripts are in a copyist's hand: apparently, Donzelli intended "autografo" in the sense of an original composition by Donizetti. The numbers on the first page, 32 and 33, are likely catalog numbers from a theatre or the singer's collection. 

Large area of water damage to the upper edge of all pages, partially obscuring the titles and some areas of the musical text. Overall toning, edge wear, some light soiling. The vocal line, text, bass, and most of the instrumental parts are fully legible throughout. Overall in very good condition. 12.75 x 9.25 inches (32.5 x 23.5 cm).

The two manuscripts speak to the ever-evolving nature of bel canto opera and reveal the interesting history of Donizetti's Fausta. This opera seria, based on Roman history, revolves around Fausta, the wife of Emperor Constantine I, who falls in love with her stepson Crispus (Crispo.) The opera premiered in Naples in January 1832 with prima donna Giuseppina Ronzi de Begnis as Fausta, and was staged shortly thereafter in Milan (with Adelaide Tosi), Venice (with Giuditta Pasta and Domenico Donzelli) and Turin. In each production, changes were made to the arias performed - apparently both with and without Donizetti's consent. At La Scala, Adelaide Tosi substituted an aria from Donizetti's Castello di Kenilworth for Fausta's first aria, while tenor Francesco Pedrazzi added an aria by Cesare Pugni. Although perhaps shocking to modern audiences, this practice of inserting arias from another opera was well-established in the 18th century and continued through the bel canto era, as Hilary Poriss writes in Changing the Score: Arias, Prima Donnas, and the Authority of Performance: "Insertion arias might replace a portion of an opera (substitutions), or they might dislodge none of the original music (interpolations); they may have been authored by the composer of the opera, or they may have been written by someone else[...] Without exception, singers planned these insertions in advance, and everyone involved in the production[...] was aware of when and where they would occur." (Poriss, p. 3).

Donizetti corresponded with the impresario Alessandro Lanari in 1833 about alterations to Fausta for its Venice performance with Pasta and Donzelli. Among the changes were a new introduction and a new soprano-tenor duet for the two stars. It was likely at this point that the two present arias were composed: they seem especially well-suited to Donzelli's voice, which was powerful and dark of timbre, but did not have a particularly wide range or impressive coloratura. It seems possible that "Se crudel, cosi m'estimi" may have been written on the same text as an aria previously inserted into the opera without Donizetti's consent (perhaps even the aria by Pugni which Pedrazzi performed in Milan.) According to autograph notes at the end of the scores, "Se crudel, cosi m'estimi" is to be inserted near the beginning of the second act, before the duet beginning "Le tue discolpe o perfido." It is unclear which aria "Nel candor di sua innocenza" replaces or precedes, but a note in that manuscript specifies: ""Here sing the crescendo of the other aria, repeat the cabaletta, and proceed to the cadenze ad lib."

The two present arias do not appear in the vocal score published in Milan by F. Lucca ca. 1841, or in the 1865 manuscript found on IMSLP. Interestingly, the copy of the Lucca edition on IMSLP contains an inserted manuscript copy of a different version of "Se crudel, cosi m'estimi," in the same key as the present version but with a higher tessitura; it is unclear whether that version predates or postdates the present version. "Se crudel, cosi m'estimi" has been included in the present version in at least two twentieth-century productions of the opera that we know of, but we have found no other record of the cabaletta "Nel candor di sua innocenza" either in an edition or a recording.