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Catalogo Generale (I-MObeu Cat. Gen. 53 I-II), fol. 58r Photo © 2014 John Wilson

ABOUT THIS PICTURE

From around 1784 to the late 1790s, Maximilian Franz kept a detailed inventory of the music in his library. Now held at Modena’s Biblioteca Estense Universitaria (shelf mark Cat. Gen. 53 I-II), this inventory is 640 pages long and contains incipits or titles of around 3400 works. In this excerpt (fol. 58r), four “symphonies” by Tommaso Traetta (1727-1779) actually refer to four overtures by the once-popular Italian opera composer, to the works Ifigenia in Tauride, L’Olimpiade, one difficult to discern (Didone abbandonata?), and Le serve rivali.

Photo used with permission from the Biblioteca Estense Universitaria di Modena.