Gassmann, Florian Leopold: Overture to 'Il viaggiatore ridicolo' (Hill 137) (AE160)

Gassmann, Florian Leopold (1729-1774)

Il viaggiatore ridicolo (The Ridiculous Traveller), Gassmann's three-act setting of Goldoni's libretto, received its premiere in Vienna at the Krtnertortheater on 25 May 1766. Judging from the number of contemporary copies which survive the opera enjoyed widespread popularity. Significantly, the overture was offered for sale in the Breitkopf Catalogue (Supplement X 1775) and is also listed in both the Gttweig and Quartbuch catalogues. The Viennese court copy of the score - upon which this edition of the overture is based - is handsomely bound in three volumes and was clearly made after the premiere as a full cast list is given in the score. Evidence of a later revival may be found in the overture where trumpet and timpani parts have been pencilled very lightly in the score. The trumpet parts (in C) are very rudimentary and the accompanying timpani part - which calls for timpani in C, F & G - suggests a 19th-century revision rather than one closer to Gassmann's time. No contemporary references can be found to these very dubious auxiliary parts which have, nonetheless, been printed in this edition in smaller type for the sake of completeness. In producing the score the copyist adhered to the usual time-saving conventions of the period: where the violins play in unison, the second part is not notated; similarly, the viola line is left blank unless it is playing independently of the basso part. As the copy was doubtless prepared under Gassmann's direct supervision it should be considered a highly reliable source. Nonetheless, there are inconsistencies, errors and the odd omissions. The style and notation of articulation and dynamic markings have been standardised throughout, and, where missing from the source, markings have been reconstructed from parallel passages. These are indicated by the use of dotted slurs or brackets. Like most eighteenth-century sources, the present manuscript is inconsistent in its notation of appoggiature; these too have been standardised to minimise confusion. Obvious wrong notes have been corrected without comment; editorial emendations with no authority from the source are placed within brackets. Allan Badley