Due finali per Beatrice

Among the reasons for Beatrice di Tenda’s initial failure, there was the cold reception given to the opera’s Finale: the funeral march («Lugubre lamentoso») accompanying Beatrice to the scaffold and introducing the cantabile «Ah! se un’urna è a me concessa»; the chorus’ request to Beatrice for a final embrace («Oh! infelice! Oh a qual serbate»); the cabaletta «Ah! la morte a cui m’appresso»; the concluding choral coda («Il suo spirto,o ciel, ricevi»). Following Ricordi’s insistence, Bellini prepared – or rather authorized – some changes: cuts to the «Lugubre lamentoso» and the central chorus; changes to Beatrice’s aria; a new concluding coda. The present study investigates the genesis and the very authorship of these changes and demonstrates their dubious authenticity while reaffirming the better effectiveness and quality of the original version.