Libretti Housed at the Anderson Music Library of the University of Louisville

The rare libretto collection at the Anderson Music Library of the University of Louisville contains over three hundred individual libretti (a number which does not include duplicate copies), two hundred of which are for Tuscan performances (Florence and Siena), forty-seven of which are for Italian performances outside of Tuscany (Naples, Milan, Bergamo, Lucca, etc.), thirty-two of which are for publication (mostly by Ricordi and Barion), and the remaining that represent a mixed lot from non- Italian presses and performances. The Tuscan libretti are focused mainly on the period from the 1780s until the mid-nineteenth century for productions primarily at the Pergola and Cocomero theaters in Florence and for the various academies of Siena. While not rare in the sense of being unica, they do present a marvelous picture of the Tuscan theater in the period encompassing the end of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and the protectorship of Napoleon up until the Unification of Italy.