THE MAKING OF AN ITALIAN ROMANTIC OPERA LIBRETTO — SALVADORE CAMMARANO'SFOLCO D'ARLES

There are not many opportunities to study the way in which an Italian opera libretto of the mid-nineteenth century took shape. There is some extant correspondence between composers and librettists, but very few examples of a librettist's draft papers. Consequently the identification amongst Cammarano's papers of drafts for one of his libretti provided an unusual chance of studying his modus operandi. The opera based on this libretto is of little importance today, but the circumstances of its origin, and the way in which Cammarano worked up his material, are of quite exceptional interest.