Tamagno, Francesco. (1850-1905)
"Niun Mi Tema" - Autograph Musical Quotation from Otello
A desirable and extremely rare AMQS from the tragic final scene of Verdi's "Otello," "ha! Morta! Morta! Morta" from the "Niun mi tema" aria, penned by the most famous dramatic tenor of the golden age, the creator of the historic role. Penned in a purple-hued ink on a card and signed "Tamagno / 19 - 3 - 95." Nicely double-matted and framed in a gold wooden frame with a modern photograph of Tamagno in costume as Otello. The card measures 10 x 7 cm [4 x 3 in], the full ensemble 28 x 43 cm [11 x 17 inches]. A great rarity - this is the only AMQS of Otello by Tamagno that we have traced on the market in more than 20 years.When the present quotation was penned, Tamagno was touring the United States with the post-season Metropolitan Opera, presenting - with Victor Maurel - their already famous interpretation of Otello, appearing in 8 performances from Baltimore to St. Louis. Shortly thereafter, in May, Tamagno returned to Europe and gave the first performance of the role at Covent Garden.
"Otello was first performed at La Scala in February, 1887... Verdi's ears were open to all that they encountered in Rossini, Donizetti and Mercadante, in Meyerbeer, Berlioz and Wagner... he found things that could become his own. Otello results from Verdi's lifetime of learning by trial and effort, by striving, experimenting, discarding and refining, how best to give musical shape to ideas about musical drama that guided him from the start. It crowns his career as an operatic tragedian." (New Grove, 19: 657).
Best known as the creator of Verdi's "Otello," Tamagno was also the first Gabriele Adorno in the revised 1881 "Simon Boccanegra," and creator of major roles in operas by Ponchielli and Gomes. In an 1892 letter to the great tenor, Puccini writes: "I can always hear the sound of your divine voice in my ear and think of the extraordinary, the inspired interpreter who will sing my music." (8478)
AMQS Opera