Alamanni, Vincenzio
1734 – 1795

L’arrivo d’Enea nel Lazio componi­mento drammatico in decorazione di una mostra di esercizi cavallereschi dall’Istituto de’Nobili presentata alle loro altezze reali il Serenissimo Arciduca Pietro Leopoldo d’Austria Gran­duca di Toscana ec ec ec e la Serenissima Infanta Maria Luisa di Borbone Grandu­chessa sua sposa ec ec ec nella faustissima occasione della loro venuta in Firenze ed ese­guita nel Teatro dell’Accademia degl’ Immobili la sera de’ 15 novembre mdcclxv.

Florence, Moücke, (1765)

quarto, (31) ff. signed A–C⁸ D⁶ plus leaf of ‘Correzioni e Aggiunte’, paginated 1–59 (3). Engraved title signed Giuseppe Magni del. | P. Ant. Pazzi sc. included in registra­tion.

provenance Prince Piero Ginori Conti (1865–1939), his exlibris on paste-down¹ — Giannalisa Feltrinelli (1903–1981) — sale by Christie’s, South Kensington, ‘The Giannalisa Feltrinelli Library, Part Six’, London, 2 June 1998, lot 1312

Occasional spotting; binding rubbed, wormholes in spine.

binding contemporary Italian red morocco, gilt arms of the author on covers, edges gilt.

Image

The libretto of an entertainment (cantata by Baldassare Galuppi) performed in the Teatro della Pergola on 15 November 1765 before the new Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo and his consort Maria Luisa. Teresa Torti of Milan took the role of ‘Venere’, Giacomo Veroli of Arezzo ‘Enea’, and Antonio Prati of Bologna ‘Latino’. A second performance was given on 23 November; except for these two performances, the Pergola remained closed in mourning for the death of the Emperor Francesco i, until 30 May 1766.

Members of the Istituto de’Nobili performed in the balli (scenes five and seven) and giuochi di picca e bandiera, the latter exe­cuted on foot and on horseback. Giovanni Batista Sereni and Costantino Mainero designed the costumes and Giuseppe Romei, Domenico Stagi, Pietro delle Nave, Giuseppe del Moro, Vincenzo Meucci, and Michele Loi painted the twelve scenes.²

Two days previously, the Istituto de’Nobili had invited Pietro Leopoldo to view an exhibition of paintings, drawings, and maps borrowed from members’ collec­tions. The list of these art works (printed pp.11–14) includes a drawing of the façade of the Cappella di S. Lorenzo attributed to Michelangelo (lent by marchese Girolamo Bartolommei).

references Library of Congress, Catalogue of Opera Librettos, edited by O.G.T. Sonneck (Washington, dc 1914), no. 156; Marcello de Angelis, La Felicità in Etruria… lo spettacolo nella Firenze dei Lorena (Florence 1990), p.47 (title reproduced); Claudio Sartori, I Libretti italiani a stampa dalle origini al 1800 (Cuneo 1992), no. 2838; Robert L. and Norma W. Weaver, A Chronology of Music in the Florentine Theater, 1751–1800 (Warren, mi 1993), pp.216–219 (title-page reproduced as fig. 8); Luigi Zangheri, Feste e apparati nella Toscana dei Lorena 1737–1859 (Florence 1996), p.108; Lo ‘spettacolo maraviglioso’; Il Teatro della Pergola: l’opera a Firenze, catalogue of an exhibition held in the Archivio di Stato di Firenze, 6 October–30 December 2000 (Florence 2000), pp.176–177 no. 3.3.11 (title-page reproduced)