Una parafrasi in società
Le Réminiscences de Lucia di Lammermoor di Liszt nella Milano ottocentesca
Abstract
The article follows Franz Liszt’s Réminiscences de Lucia di Lammermoor through the streets, theatres and salons of nineteenth-century Milan. Starting from his first meeting with Giovanni Ricordi in 1837 and the stay in Milan and Bellagio with Marie d’Agoult, it reconstructs the milieu in which Liszt moved: the Teatro alla Scala and its ambivalent reception, the private musical gatherings, and the network of aristocratic salons that helped turn the young virtuoso into a social and artistic attraction. Within this framework, Casa Ricordi emerges not only as a publisher, but as an active mediator, using advertisements, dedications and editorial choices to shape Liszt’s Italian presence. The central part of the study is devoted to the genesis and textual history of the Réminiscences: the autograph held at the Archivio Ricordi, the first Ricordi, Bernard Latte and Hofmeister editions, and the alternative ossia passage that resurfaced at a Sotheby’s auction in 2012. The comparison between these sources shows how Liszt continued to adjust the piece, treating the paraphrase less as a fixed ‘reduction’ and more as an open text, especially at points of greatest dramatic tension. The final section reads the work from within, focusing on its dramaturgy and pianistic writing. Built around the Act II sextet Chi mi frena in tal momento, the piece moves away from literal transcription and turns Donizetti’s materials into a free dramatic fantasia, rich in orchestral allusions and virtuosic writing that serves the narrative rather than mere display. In this light, the Réminiscences appear as a meeting point between operatic memory, virtuoso culture and social music-making, and as a lens through which Milan’s role in the European construction of Liszt’s image and in the circulation of his opera paraphrases becomes particularly clear.
