51
Prejeto / received: 24. 12. 2021. Odobreno / accepted: 8. 12. 2022.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, DOI: 10.3986/dmd19.2.03
PROFECTIO MOYSIS IN AEGYPTUM (1784)
A “FAKE” NEAPOLITAN ORATORIO?
ERIC BOARO
Canegrate
Izvleček: Izvod rokopisa oratorija Profectio 
Moysis in Aegyptum z letnico 1784, ki se danes 
nahaja v I-Mc, ima na naslovni strani pripis, da 
gre za pasticcio »slavnih neapeljskih mojstrov«. 
Ta vir je najverjetneje ponaredek, ki ga lahko 
povežemo s tremi neneapeljskimi skladatelji. 
Neapelj je v tem kontekstu zlorabljen zgolj iz 
tržnih razlogov.
Ključne besede: oratorij, ponaredek, Neapelj, 
Andrea Favi, Benetke
Abstract: One manuscript of an oratorio in 
I-Mc dating from 1784 is described, on its title 
page, as a pasticcio by “celebrated Neapolitan 
maestri”. I suggest that the source is actually 
a forgery and linked to three non-Neapolitan 
composers. The inference is that it was associ-
ated with Naples purely for marketing reasons.
Keywords: oratorio, forgery, Naples, Andrea 
Favi, Venice
When the twenty-six-year-old Giovanni Battista Pergolesi died in 1736, “all Italy manifested 
an eager desire to hear and possess his productions”.
1
 From the 1750s until the beginning 
of the following century Pergolesi’s fame reached mythical proportions, to the extent that
directors of opera companies were tempted to put on works by less popular composers 
under his name, and publishers who came into possession of manuscripts attributed to 
him were not always inclined to question their authenticity, but rather to put them on 
the market and reap the profits.
2
Also,
unscrupulous copyists and publishers wrote Pergolesi’s name on compositions by obscure 
musicians to sell them – so to speak – at a profit on account of the added value that the 
attribution of any music to Pergolesi would automatically ensure.
3
Numerous studies by such scholars as Helmut Hucke, Francesco Degrada, Barry 
S. Brook and Claudio Toscani, among many others, have purged Pergolesi’s catalogue 
1 
Burney, General History, 2:922.
2 
Walker, “Two Centuries of Pergolesi”, 298.
3 
Degrada, “False attribuzioni e falsificazioni”, 99 (see also 102–103). All the translations, unless 
otherwise specified, are mine. Much discussion has arisen about the misattributions in the 
Pergolesi catalogue and the myth that grew up around the composer: it would be an impossibility 
to quote all the relevant literature here.

De musica disserenda XIX/2 • 2023
52
of several misattributed pieces. Pergolesi’s case is emblematic of this phenomenon of 
misattribution, which actually affected eighteenth-century Neapolitan music as a whole. 
Since being “Neapolitan” was seen as a seal of musical excellence, operatic troupes active 
throughout Europe teemed with singers explicitly described in the relevant librettos as 
“Neapolitan”, even though Neapolitan they were not.
4
 Similarly , on the title pages of 
countless musical sources the inscription “napoletano” placed beneath the composer’s 
name stands out.
One manuscript transmitting a Latin oratorio of 1784 entitled Profectio Moysis in 
Aegyptum, preserved in Biblioteca del Conservatorio Statale di Musica Giuseppe Verdi 
in Milan (hereafter, I-Mc; with shelfmark M.S. MS. 249-1), raises eyebrows for similar 
reasons. The copyist writes on the title page that the oratorio is a pasticcio by “celebrated 
Neapolitan maestri” (see Figure 1), yet many of its features appear to argue against the 
reliability of this information. In the present article I subject various characteristics of 
this hitherto unnoticed “Neapolitan” source to critical scrutiny, arriving at the conclusion 
that this could well be an instance of musical forgery in relation to attribution. Starkly 
contradicting its alleged “Neapolitan-ness”, evidence of different kinds seems to provide 
a link between the oratorio and late eighteenth-century Venice, Forlì and Bologna, one 
bringing into play Ferdinando Bertoni (1725–1813), a composer born in Salò, a town near 
Brescia on the Venetian terraferma, Pietro Terziani (1765–1831), a maestro of Roman 
origin, and the musical activities of the Forlivese musician Andrea Favi (1743–1822) and 
his collaborators.
5
 This in turn provides strong evidence to suggest that the manuscript 
was associated with “celebrated Neapolitan maestri” for reasons similar to those that 
brought about the “eager desire to […] possess [Pergolesi’s] production”, which endured 
throughout the last half of that century.
The Oratorio in Northern Italy during the Eighteenth Century
To gain a better understanding of this article, it may be useful to give some information 
regarding the oratorio in Northern Italy during the eighteenth century. Four were the 
4 
This is the case, for instance, with the commedia dell’arte actress and singer Rosa Costa. At the 
outset of her career she was active as an actress in the Venetian commedia dell’arte company 
in the Teatro San Luca: “Rosa Costa: She acted in the company of comedians attached to the 
Teatro S. Luca in Venice […]. Besides acting in comedies, she was also able to sing” (“Rosa 
Costa: Recitava nella comica compagnia del teatro di S. Luca in Venezia […]. Oltre il recitare 
nelle commedie, possedeva ancora l’abilità di cantare”); see Bartoli, Notizie istoriche de’ comici 
italiani, 1:187. Some years later, we find her playing roles in Neapolitan commedie per musica. 
Their librettos describe her as “Napoletana”, even though she was probably a native of Venice. 
For instance, in the libretto for Gioacchino Cocchi’s La Matilde (Naples, Fiorentini Theatre, 1739; 
a copy is preserved in Milan, Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense [I-Mb], Racc. Dramm. Corniani 
Algarotti 3363), Costa is described as “Neapolitan, a singer in the service of His Excellency the 
Duke of Montemar” (“Napoletana, virtuosa dell’ecc.mo signor Duca di Montemar”).
5 
On Bertoni, see Truett Hollis, “Bertoni, Ferdinando (Gasparo)”; on Terziani, see Gmeinwieser, 
“Terziani, Pietro”.

53
Eric Boaro: Profectio Moysis in Aegyptum (1784)
cities important for the development of the oratorio in that region: Bologna, Modena, 
Florence and, above all, Venice. In Bologna, oratorio performances were sponsored 
mainly by the Oratorians of San Filippo Neri. Oratorio performances, which were given 
in both sacred and secular contexts, marked a variety of occasions throughout the year, 
especially during Lent. The oratorios performed in nearby Modena were closely related 
to those given in Bologna, as many of the same composers were active in both centres. 
In Florence the Oratorians were sponsoring oratorio performances since the 1650s. The 
oratorio composers active in Florence were mostly local (Veracini, Arrigoni, Redi and  
others).
6
Oratorio performances in Venice began as early as 1667 at the church of Santa Maria 
della Consolazione, better known as “Santa Maria della Fava”, thanks to the sponsorship 
of the Oratorians. With some interruptions, oratorio performances at the Fava continued 
throughout the eighteenth century. At mid-century the Church of Santa Maria della Fava 
hired Neapolitans such as Francesco Feo and Leonardo Leo as oratorio composers.
7
 
From 1677 onwards, the city’s four ospedali began to produce oratorios as well.
8
 By the 
1740s, the maestri who composed them (Gasparini, Vivaldi, Pollarolo, Lotti, Hasse, and 
others) defined the features of mid-century Venetian oratorios, which continued to act as 
reference points throughout the century.
9
 A late eighteenth-century Venetian oratorio was 
a fully-fledged musical and dramatic work in operatic style, structured in well-defined 
recitatives and arias. The poetic style of librettos – either in Italian or Latin – was simi-
lar to that of opera seria; most of arias were in da capo form; the overall character was 
heroic, akin to that of contemporary drammi per musica. Denis and Elsie Arnold define 
this type of oratorio an “oratorio serio”,
10
 because of its obvious similarities to opera seria. 
To describe the relationship between this type of oratorio and opera seria, they wrote, in 
relation to the first, that
there can be no “exit” convention; the vanity of singers need not be taken so seriously; 
the complications of the opera plots are much reduced, partly by the nature of the subject, 
partly by the fact that the two-part oratorio is perforce simpler than the three-act opera. 
The usual complaint that there is no development of the characters becomes irrelevant 
when the main raison d’être becomes a religious lesson.
The 1784 Profectio Moysis in Aegyptum is a fully fledged oratorio serio. The only 
element of this oratorio that deviates from the genre’s description by the Arnolds is the 
presence of arias with modified da capo sections, that is, with the section A ’ written in  
full.
6 
Smither, “Oratorio”. For more information on oratorio, see the bibliography therein.
7 
Arnold and Arnold, Oratorio in Venice, 1–18, 36–76.
8 
Ibid., 20–35.
9 
Ibid., 70–76.
10 
Ibid., 41.
Eric Boaro: Profectio Moysis in Aegyptum (1784)

De musica disserenda XIX/2 • 2023
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The Source
This oratorio serio source comprises a full score, made up of 107 folios bound in stiff 
cardboard covers, and a set of separate parts for instrumentalists and singers;
11
 the two 
handwritings of the two sources, free from erasures, are neat. The handwriting of the full 
score is that of Andrea Favi (see below); that of the separate parts is that of the copyist 
“Delta”, one that appears regularly in the manuscripts of the Dono Villa, the library 
collection that includes the source here examined (see below).
12
 The title page of the full 
score, reproduced in Figure 1, clearly describes the oratorio as a pasticcio by Neapolitan 
composers.
Figure 1
Profectio Moysis in Aegyptum, fol. 1r (I-Mc, M.S. MS. 249-1; courtesy of I-Mc).
11 
Individual parts: Cantus 1 (Sephora): 9 fols.; Cantus 2 (Elcane): 4 fols.; Alto (Jethro): 9 fols.; 
Tenor (Moyses): 9 fols.; Bass (Labanus): 7 fols.; Violin 1: 15 fols. (2 copies, 15 + 15); Violin 2: 
15 fols. (2 copies, 15 + 15); Oboe 1: 7 fols.; Oboe 2: 7 fols.; Horn 1: 5 fols.; Horn 2: 5 fols.; Viola 
1: 13 fols.; Viola 2: 13 fols.; Bass: 13 fols.
12 
Vaccarini, “Il fondo Villa”, Appendix 3.

55
Eric Boaro: Profectio Moysis in Aegyptum (1784)
Profectio Moysis in Aegyptum
Actio Sacra
Musicis modulis exornarunt nonulli ex  
celebrioribus Magistris Neapolitanis
1784
The Journey by Moses to Egypt
A Sacred Opera
Some of the most celebrated Neapolitan  
maestri embellished [this text] with music
1784
The spine of the same manuscript, reproduced as Figure 2, includes similar informa-
tion, albeit without mention of the oratorio’s alleged Neapolitan origin. Its word “centone”, 
indeed, directly translates into ‘patchwork’, ‘pasticcio’.
Figure 2
Profectio Moysis in Aegyptum, spine.
Profectio Moysis in Aegyptum is based upon the biblical book of the Exodus and tells 
the story of the exodus of Moses and his followers out of Egypt. Leaving aside a chorus 
of shepherds, the characters of this one-act oratorio number five: Moysis (tenor), Sephora 
(his wife, soprano), Jethro (Sephora’s father, alto), Elcane (Sephora’s sister, soprano) and 
Labanus (one of Jethro’s relatives, bass). The arias include highly virtuosic passages; the 
orchestration, which reflects the traditions of late Settecento Italian opera, is rich, including 
besides strings and continuo two horns and two oboes.
The source forms part of the Dono Villa (Villa Donation), a specific library collection 
preserved in I-Mc that was donated by Count Carlo Villa to the institution in 1840.
13
 A 
substantial portion of the Dono Villa is made up of scores of oratorios and other pieces, 
some of which were originally performed in the ospedali of eighteenth-century Venice. 
The oratorios of the Dono Villa that appear to be connected with the Venetian ospedali 
are chronologically listed in the Table.
13 
Ibid., 25.
Eric Boaro: Profectio Moysis in Aegyptum (1784)

De musica disserenda XIX/2 • 2023
56
Table
Venetian oratorios in the Dono Villa. The information in the Table is taken from Gillio, 
L’attività musicale negli ospedali di Venezia, Materiali documentari (CD-ROM).
Title Composer Date Shelfmark in I-Mc
Davidde penitente Ferdinando Bertoni 1775 M.S. MS. 36-1
Esther Giuseppe Schuster 1781 M.S. MS. 238-1
Absalom Domenico Cimarosa 1782 M.S. MS. 85-1
Abramo Francesco Bianchi 1783 M.S. MS. 39-1
Profectio Moysis in Aegyptum Various Neapolitan Maestros 1784 M.S. MS. 249-1
Balthassar Ferdinando Bertoni 1784 M.S. MS. 35-2/3
Agar fugiens in desertum Francesco Bianchi 1785 M.S. MS. 38-1
Ninive convertita Pasquale Anfossi 1787 M.S. MS. 7-1
Susanna Giuseppe Gazzaniga 1787 M.S. MS. 108-1
Joas re di Giuda Francesco Bianchi 1790 M.S. MS. 37-2
Gerico distrutta Pasquale Anfossi 1791 M.S. MS. 9-1
Sisara Johann Simon Mayr 1793 M.S. MS. 188-1
Nuptiae Ruth Ignazio Girace 1793 M.S. MS. 122-1
Tobiae matrimonium Johann Simon Mayr 1794 M.S. MS. 187-1.bis
David in spelunca Engaddi Johann Simon Mayr 1795 M.S. MS. 185-1
Let us now subject some features of this group of manuscripts to scrutiny in pursu-
ance of the hypothesis that Profectio Moysis in Aegyptum has nothing to do with Naples, 
despite the inscription in Latin on its title page.
 
Binding, Cover and Watermarks
The cardboard covers and stitching of the full score appear to be original; in other words, 
Villa seemingly came into possession of these scores and donated them to the Milanese 
Conservatory without altering their original physical qualities. The features that point 
to this kind of pristine source are, as argued by Marina Vaccarini, two: a small orange 
label on the spine, and the manner of stitching within grey cardboard covers.
14
 Many of 
the full scores of the oratorios listed in Table share the orange label and the same type 
of binding with cardboard covers – features suggesting that the binding took place at 
the time of copying (as opposed to later) and in the same copisteria. Figures 3a and 3b 
reproduces for comparison the cardboard covers of Profectio Moysis in Aegyptum and 
Davidde penitente by Bertoni. 
14 
Other sources in the Dono Villa, in contrast, betray traces of nineteenth-century rebinding. 
Vaccarini, “Il fondo Villa”, 35–38, Appendix 2.

57
Eric Boaro: Profectio Moysis in Aegyptum (1784)
Figure 3a
Profectio Moysis in Aegyptum, cardboard cover.
Figure 3b
Davidde penitente, cardboard cover of Part I (I-Mc, M.S. MS. 36-1; courtesy of I-Mc).
Eric Boaro: Profectio Moysis in Aegyptum (1784)

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Even though Profectio Moysis in Aegyptum lacks the small orange label, the cord 
used for the binding of the two full scores displays identical features: this cord is visible 
at only three points but reveals identical manufacture, shape and design.
15
 Similarly, the 
cardboard cover of Profectio Moysis in Aegyptum – though bearing no title – mirrors 
that of Davidde penitente, which strongly suggests that the two scores originated in the 
same copisteria.
One principal watermark recurs throughout the full score and separate parts of 
Profectio Moysis in Aegyptum: three crescents (“tre mezze lune”). All the manuscripts 
listed in Table have this same generic watermark. The identical form of watermark 
seen in these manuscripts immediately points to an origin in the same city or at least 
the same geographical area. Indubitably, the three crescents watermark is linked to the 
paper’s manufacture within the Republic of Venice and very often to its use by the busy 
copisterie of its capital.
16
 However, Venetian paper circulated widely in the Republic and 
contiguous regions. So the shared watermarks do not provide quite enough evidence for 
it to be absolutely certain that the score of Profectio Moysis in Aegyptum originated in 
the same copy-shop in Venice. To nail down the origin of these sources other elements 
need to be taken into consideration.
The 1772 Profectio Moysis in Aegyptum by Ferdinando Bertoni
Pier Giuseppe Gillio’s fundamental work on the Venetian ospedali provides important 
clues to the origin of Profectio Moysis in Aegyptum. Gillio records that an oratorio by 
Ferdinando Bertoni entitled Profectio Moysis in Aegyptum was performed at the Ospedale 
dei Mendicanti on 22 July 1772.
17
 The text of the matching libretto, printed by Angelo 
Pasinelli in Venice and preserved in Venice, Biblioteca di Studi Teatrali della Casa di Carlo 
Goldoni (hereafter, I-Vcg; shelfmark: Correr 12 B 4/1), is identical with the underlaid text 
of the “Neapolitan” oratorio centone of 1784.
18
 At first glance this literary concordance 
would strongly suggest that the 1784 Profectio Moysis in Aegyptum was the same oratorio 
performed at the Ospedale dei Mendicanti on 22 July 1772 and penned by Ferdinando 
Bertoni rather than a “patchwork” of Neapolitan arias.
Moreover, oratorios and other musical compositions were commonly revived, even 
after the passage of several years, at the Ospedale dei Mendicanti: Bethulia Liberata by 
Felice Alessandri (1780) was repeated in 1781 and 1782;
19
 the cantata Canticorum Sponsa 
15 
The small orange label could have come unstuck. See ibid.
16 
Talbot, Sacred Vocal Music, 122.
17 
Gillio, L ’attività musicale negli ospedali di Venezia, Materiali documentari (CD-ROM), no. 69 
of the Mendicanti chronology.
18 
In 1772 the roles were taken by the following singers: Laura Risegari (Moyses), Antonia 
Lucovich (Sephora), Teresa Almerigo (Jethro), Francesca Tomii (Elcane), Jacoba Frari (Labanus).  
See p. 2 of the matching libretto.
19 
Gillio, L ’attività musicale negli ospedali di Venezia, Materiali documentari (CD-ROM), nos. 84, 
93 and 101 of the Mendicanti chronology.

59
Eric Boaro: Profectio Moysis in Aegyptum (1784)
by Bertoni (1777) was reprised seven years later, in 1784;
20
 and many similar cases are 
documented in Gillio’s fundamental study. This, together with the fact that Bertoni was 
in Venice both in 1772 and in 1784,
21
 further suggests that the 1784 Profectio Moysis in 
Aegyptum was a revival, twelve years later, of the eponymous oratorio premiered in 1772. 
The stylistic closeness of the arias in the 1784 source of Profectio Moysis in Aegyptum to 
the idiom of Bertoni during those years and, more generally, to late eighteenth-century 
Venetian oratorio serio, seemingly lends further corroboration to the hypothesis.
22
 But 
the case of the 1784 source of Profectio Moysis in Aegyptum is many times more complex 
than may at first appear.
Andrea Favi and the Forlivese Connection
Marina Vaccarini provided strong evidence in her article of 2013 on the Dono Villa to 
suggest that the 1784 source of the Profectio Moysis in Aegyptum was put together by one 
precisely identifiable musician: Andrea Favi (1743–1822). Born in Forlì, near Bologna, 
Favi was maestro di cappella at the local Duomo and concertmaster of the city’s theatre.
23
 
In 1789 he composed for the Oratorio dei Mendicanti the oratorio Abigail, through which 
he came into contact with Teresa Almerigo, one of the singers who had participated in the 
1772 premiere of Profectio Moysis in Aegyptum. Favi, therefore, had connections with 
both Venice and Forlì.
24
Among his various activities as a busy church musician Favi appears to have arranged 
for Forlì some Venetian oratorios performed earlier at the Venetian ospedali. The case of 
the 1787 source in the Dono Villa for Giuseppe Gazzaniga’s oratorio Susanna typifies the 
procedures adopted by Favi. As shown by Vaccarini, Gazzaniga’s Latin oratorio Susanna 
was performed in Venice in 1788, as stated in the libretto preserved in I-Vcg, Correr 
Oratori 59 F 9. But the language of the underlaid text in the matching manuscript score 
in the Dono Villa (I-Mc, M.S. MS. 108-1) is Italian. A libretto in Italian for an oratorio of 
1788 entitled Susanna is preserved in I-Mc, Libretti V. 71; the text it contains is identical 
with the underlaid words for the Italian Susanna in I-Mc. The two sources are obviously 
connected. The title page of the libretto reads as follows:
Susanna, sacra rappresentazione per musica, Daniel. Cap. XIII, Forlì 1788, Per 
Barbiani stamp. con approv. 
 
20 
Ibid., nos. 77 and 107 of the Mendicanti chronology.
21 
Truett Hollis, “Bertoni, Ferdinando (Gasparo)”.
22 
See Arnold and Arnold, Oratorio in Venice, 36–76. I do not wish to use stylistic features for my 
argument here. On this matter, and speaking of Pergolesi, Degrada indeed writes that “attributions 
based exclusively on stylistic analysis have led […] to laughable results in that attributions that 
are in other ways certain have been put in doubt, while works that are certainly not by Pergolesi 
have been added to his catalogue”. Degrada, “False attribuzioni e falsificazioni”, 109.
23 
Schmidl, Supplemento al Dizionario universale, 292.
24 
Vaccarini, “Il fondo Villa”, 47–48.
Eric Boaro: Profectio Moysis in Aegyptum (1784)

De musica disserenda XIX/2 • 2023
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Susanna, a sacred play for music taken from chapter XIII of the Book of Daniel, Forlì 
1788, printed by Barbiani with [official] approval.
The connection provides strong evidence in favour of a belief that the Italian version 
of Gazzaniga’s Susanna was performed in Forlì in 1788. The handwriting of this Italian 
source has been identified with that of Andrea Favi on the grounds of its similarity to 
that of an autograph letter by this musician to Padre Martini (27 July 1778) preserved in 
Bologna, Museo internazionale e biblioteca della musica di Bologna (hereafter, I-Bc), 
with shelfmark I.7.31.
25
 Favi’s changes to these Venetian oratorios include, besides the 
translation into Italian, the addition of cadenzas and instrumental sections, the replace -
ment of arias and modifications to the orchestration.
26
 Favi, or whoever copied the music 
for him, often employed, as his starting point for these pasticci, scores copied in Venice, 
into which he opportunely inserted additional or replacement gatherings.
At first glance, these last compelling pieces of evidence might seem to suggest a 
definitive answer: notwithstanding the fact that the 1772 libretto and the 1784 musical 
manuscript share a Latin text, the 1784 Profectio Moysis in Aegyptum is a pasticcio based 
on Bertoni’s eponymous work of 1772, as arranged by Favi for his chapel in Forlì, that 
also includes arias by Neapolitan maestri. However, a closer look reveals other points 
of interest that greatly complicate the matter. Whereas it is reasonable to conclude that 
Profectio Moysis in Aegyptum was performed in Forlì in 1784, it remains puzzling why 
this manuscript was ever labelled a “Neapolitan” centone. Moreover, Favi’s pasticci usu-
ally exhibit significant textual differences between the Venetian libretto and the score 
performed in Forlì. This situation does not apply, however, to the case of the present 
Profectio Moysis in Aegyptum.
The Aria by Pietro Terziani
To my knowledge, there are no musical sources of the original 1772 version of Profectio 
Moysis in Aegyptum. It is therefore impossible to ascertain the extent to which Favi 
modified the original oratorio, especially since the manuscript source does not betray 
major editorial interventions (such as insertions and/or deletions of gatherings). But close 
examination of the musical incipit of the arias provides some clues.
Sephora’s opening aria, “Prata, sylves, ameni colles”, is apparently by a Roman 
composer, Pietro Terziani. It appears, in adapted form and scored for soprano, tenor and 
organ, as a piece entitled “Exaltabo te Domine” (serving as the Offertory in a Mass) 
preserved in Rome, Archivio capitolare della Basilica papale di Santa Maria Maggiore 
(I-Rsm), shelfmark: 111/39, and in Rome, Archivio musicale della Basilica di San Giovanni 
in Laterano (I-Rsg), shelfmark: ms. mus. A.1438. Whereas the date of composition of the 
piece is uncertain, the name of the composer attracts notice. Both Roman sources attribute 
the piece to Pietro Terziani. Born in Rome in 1765, Terziani studied under Giovanbattista 
25 
Andrea Favi to Padre Martini, 27 July 1778, I.7.31, I-Bc.
26 
Vaccarini, “Il fondo Villa”, 48–50.

61
Eric Boaro: Profectio Moysis in Aegyptum (1784)
Casali in the same city. He was a pupil, between 1780 and 1784, of Carlo Cotumacci and 
Giacomo Insanguine at the Sant’Onofrio conservatory in Naples; but then returned to his 
home town to study the strict a cappella style of composition under his first maestro. In 1784 
he was admitted to both the Accademia Filarmonica of Bologna and the Congregazione di 
Santa Cecilia in Rome. He left a large number of sacred compositions, which he used in 
the course of his duties as maestro di cappella in various Roman churches (San Giovanni 
in Laterano, Chiesa del Gesù, Sant’Ignazio di Loyola, San Silvestro). He died on 5 October 
1831 in Rome. He was also active in Venice in 1788 as a composer of operas.
27
The link between the 1784 score of Profectio Moysis in Aegyptum and Terziani, a 
member of the Accademia Filarmonica in Bologna, attracts attention. In the already men-
tioned Italian libretto of 1788 for Gazzaniga’s Susanna, a certain Ottaviano Brusatori, a 
local monk from Forlì, wrote a dedicatory sonetto for Gazzaniga. The composer Francesco 
Bianchi had previously composed a cantata for solo tenor for the same “Brusatori”  
(preserved in I-Mc, Mus. Tr. ms. 177). Gazzaniga and Bianchi were members of the 
Accademia Filarmonica of Bologna, and both therefore had connections with personalities 
of the local Forlivese/Bolognese milieu, such as Brusatori. On the basis of this evidence 
Vaccarini argued that “this passage of scores [between Venice and Forlì/Bologna] revolved 
around the Accademia Filarmonica of Bologna”.
28
The fact that the 1784 Profectio Moysis in Aegyptum includes a piece by Terziani, a 
member of the Accademia Filarmonica of Bologna, is therefore not surprising. It further 
confirms Vaccarini’s conclusion that these sources should be viewed in relation to the 
documented passage of scores between Venice and Forlì/Bologna that were adapted by 
Favi and his collaborators. In the light of all of this evidence, and especially given the 
fact that the words of the 1784 source coincide with the text of the 1772 libretto, the 1784 
source for Profectio Moysis in Aegyptum could have come about in two contrasted ways. 
According to the first scenario, Favi, following his usual pasticcio-making procedures, 
took the 1772 score by Bertoni and reworked it by inserting arias by other composers (such 
as Terziani); according to the second, very different scenario Favi, starting from solely the 
1772 Venetian libretto, composed and/or compiled the oratorio from scratch, including 
pre-existing arias by other composers (who included Terziani).
29
 In the first scenario, the 
oratorio would be a work based on Bertoni’s original version but including individual 
pieces by different composers (Terziani, perhaps Favi himself, plus others); in the second, 
it would be a pasticcio made up of pieces by Terziani and other maestri. Neither case 
27 
Gmeinwieser, “Terziani, Pietro”.
28 
Vaccarini, “Il fondo Villa”, 50.
29 
This would not be surprising. In a letter dated 3 February 1765 Pietro Morandi, a composer, 
bookseller and distributor of the printed editions by Alessandri and Scattaglia, wrote to Padre 
Martini to ask him for an oratorio libretto with the text of which he could compose an oratorio 
for his local chapel (Pietro Morandi to Padre Martini, 3 February 1765, Carteggi, I.14.39, I-Bc). 
In a second letter, dated 31 March 1765, Morandi expresses his gratitude to Martini for having 
sent him the requested libretto (Pietro Morandi to Padre Martini, 31 March 1765, I.014.041, I-Bc). 
According to Vaccarini, Morandi, who was a member of the Accademia Filarmonica (Sechi, 
“Morandi, Pietro Maria”), seems to have had connections with the above-mentioned Forlivese/
Venetian milieu. Vaccarini, “Il fondo Villa”, 50.
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provides for any connection with Naples or “celebrated Neapolitan composers”. Despite 
his four-year period spent under Cotumacci and Insanguine at Naples, T erziani was a 
Roman composer: so why did Favi state that the 1784 Profectio Moysis in Aegyptum was 
a pasticcio of pieces by “Neapolitan” composers? As I will suggest, this rebranding could 
perhaps be linked to a desire to increase the source’s marketability.
A Musical Souvenir?
Different types of evidence suggest, indeed, that at least some of the oratorio manuscripts 
preserved in the Dono Villa were intended as copies for the luxury book market. The 
overall features of some of the oratorio sources in the Dono Villa are typical, indeed, of 
luxury music manuscripts. Not only are they devoid of erasures and signs of usage, but 
the covers often sport richly decorated friezes executed by different engravers from the 
Venetian/Florentine areas, such as Alessandri & Scattaglia, Marescalchi & Canobbio, 
Antonio Zatta, Ranieri Del Vivo, Gaetano Barchesi, Giovanni Chiari, Giuseppe Benedetti, 
Luigi Guidotti and Antonio Giuseppe Pagani.
30
 Figure 4 reproduces the luxury cover 
of Abramo by Francesco Bianchi, which includes, beneath the ornamental frieze, the 
following inscription:
Si vendono a Venezia da Alessandri e Sca[t]taglia all’Insegna della B. V. della Pace sul 
Ponte di Rialto presso de’ quali si trova ogni sorta di musica vocale e instrumentale. 
 
[These volumes] are sold in Venice by Alessandri and Scattaglia at the sign of Our Lady of 
Peace on the Rialto Bridge; here, you can find all kinds of vocal and instrumental music.
Innocente Alessandri (1741–1803) and Pietro Scattaglia (1739–1810; his surname 
also found as Scattagia and Scataglia) were booksellers, engravers and printers active in 
Venice during the second half of the eighteenth century. They opened their shop at the 
Rialto around 1770 and worked there up until the end of the century. They sold their own 
engraved products and handled the distribution of musical editions by other publishers. 
From 1776/1780 onwards they published luxury printed editions of music single-handedly 
during a period when such activity was far from common.
31
A further clue to this suggestion is provided by a rare source preserved in the Biblioteca 
Civica of Belluno (I-BEc, shelfmark: Miari AM.ms99), which seems to establish a link 
30 
The realisation of neat copies of separate parts, which do not bear signs of practical use, 
should not come as a surprise. There are indeed many sources of this kind. For instance, 
consider the separate parts of Giovanni Paisiello’s Nina, preserved in Dresden, Sächsische  
Landesbibliothek - Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek ( D-Dl), with shelfmark Mus.3481-F-513a; 
of Johann Adolf Hasse’s Demofoonte, in the same library, with shelfmark Mus.2477-F-57a; of 
one opera overture by Tommaso Traetta in I-Mc, Noseda Q.26.1; and of many others in other 
libraries.
31 
Antolini, Dizionario degli editori musicali italiani, 40–43. The original Italian sentence does 
not specify what “could be purchased” in the Rialto shop of Alessandri e Scattaglia; there is also 
evidence suggesting that they sold blank decorated title pages to be used for music manuscripts.

63
Eric Boaro: Profectio Moysis in Aegyptum (1784)
between copyist “Epsilon”, whose handwriting appears throughout the oratorios of the 
Dono Villa,
32
 and the Venetian copisteria of Alessandri & Scattaglia. The source’s unusual 
title, written down by its owner, reads as follows:
[Two] finales, one by Sig. Domenico Cimarosa, and the other by Sig. Pasquale Anfossi; 
these were bought by me, Domenico Parron, for a total of 7.10 lire from a stall on the 
Rialto bridge, on 14 February 1799 […].
33
The decorated title page of the second piece of this source has the same legend as that 
seen in Figure 4 (“Si vendono a Venezia da Alessandri e Scattaglia […]”). The fact that 
Domenico Parron bought “on the Rialto bridge” a musical manuscript that contains the 
phrase “are sold […] on the Rialto bridge” suggests to me that the stall where he found his 
two finales was that of Alessandri & Scattaglia. Therefore, the copyist “Epsilon”, who exe -
cuted one of the two finales in the manuscript “bought on the Rialto”, was connected to the 
Rialto shop of Alessandri and Scattaglia. These dealers must therefore have sold – alongside 
32 
Vaccarini, “Il fondo Villa”, Appendix 3.
33 
“Finali, uno del sig.r Domenico Cimarosa e l’altro del sig.r Pasquale Anfossi, comprati sopra 
un bancheto al Ponte di Rialto da me Domenico Parron il tutto per lire 7.10. Lì, 14 febraro,  
l’an[n]o 1799 […]”.
Figure 4
Francesco Bianchi, Abramo, cover of Part II (I-Mc, M.S. MS. 39-1).
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printed music, books and engravings – luxury manuscript copies of music produced by 
them and embellished with their own decorative friezes.
The fact that at least one of Favi’s frequent collaborators – copyist “Epsilon” – could 
be connected to the trading activities of one of the copisterie appearing in the Dono Villa 
suggests that Favi himself was involved in this commerce network. Two are, indeed, the 
types of sources materially executed by Favi: fair copies devoid of erasures and signs of 
usage, such as Profectio Moysis in Aegyptum; and working scores, which are Venetian 
originals that have been modified, through the insertion and deletion of gatherings, by 
Favi.
34
 This last type of source would evidently reflect the work of revision that Favi 
carried out on the original oratorios for his productions in Forlì; the first would coincide 
with the fair copies – including parts – of the working scores. The hypothesis is that the 
fair copies mentioned above were intended for the luxury trade. The status of Profectio 
Moysis in Aegyptum would, therefore, be that of a fair copy of a lost working score.
Perhaps, Venetian copisterie saw to the production of luxury manuscript copies of 
the Venetian oratorios as revised and performed in Forlì (but concealing their real nature 
as pasticci) because of the fact that they knew that such works enjoyed great popularity. 
For instance, eighteenth-century grand tourists enjoyed attending the performances of 
the figlie di coro. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, in his Italienische Reise (1813–1817), 
recalled his Venetian sojourn of 1786, describing the performances at the Mendicanti in 
the following words:
With my plan in my hand I endeavoured to find my way through the strangest labyrinth 
to the church of the Mendicanti. Here is the conservatorium, which stands in the highest 
repute at the present day. The ladies performed an oratorio behind the grating, the church 
was filled with hearers, the music was very beautiful, and the voices were magnificent. 
An alto sung the part of King Saul, the chief personage in the poem. Of such a voice I 
had no notion whatsoever; some passages of the music were excessively beautiful, and 
the words, which were Latin, most laughably Italianised in some places, were perfectly 
adapted for singing. Music here has a wide field.
35
Similar in spirit was the account of the musical activities in the Venetian ospedali 
offered by Jean-Jacques Rousseau in 1743:
A kind of music far superior, in my opinion, to that of operas, and which in all Italy 
has not its equal, nor perhaps in the whole world is that of the scuole. The scuole are 
houses for charity, established for the education of young girls without fortune, to whom 
the republic afterwards gives a portion either in marriage or for the cloister. Amongst 
talents cultivated in these young girls, music is in the first rank. Every Sunday the church 
of each of these four scuole, during vespers, mottettos or anthems with full choruses, 
accompanied by a great orchestra, and composed and directed by the best masters in Italy, 
are sung in the galleries by girls only […]. I have not an idea of anything so voluptuous 
and affecting as this music: the richness of the art, the exquisite taste of the vocal part, 
the excellence of the voices, the justness of the execution, everything in these delightful 
34 
Vaccarini, “Il fondo Villa”, 40–50.
35 
Goethe, Goethe’s Travels in Italy, 62–63.

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Eric Boaro: Profectio Moysis in Aegyptum (1784)
concerts concurs to produce an impression which certainly is not the mode, but from 
which I am of opinion no heart is secure. Carrio and I never failed being present at these 
vespers of the Mendicanti, and we were not alone. The church was always full of the 
lovers of the art, and even the actors of the opera came there to form their tastes after 
these excellent models.
36
Similar accounts have been left by other grand tourists, such as Edward Wright 
(1720–1722) and Charles de Brosses (1739).
37
 In view of the fact that all the oratorios listed 
in Table were performed at the four Venetian ospedali and “composed and directed by 
the best masters in Italy”, that their manuscripts display the material features of luxury 
copies and that attending performances at the four ospedali was considered something à 
la mode, it can be reasonably argued that at least some of the oratorio sources of the Dono 
Villa were intended for the luxury book market.
There are therefore two possible answers to the dilemma posed by the reference to the 
“Neapolitan” masters on the Milanese manuscript. Either Favi and his collaborators, having 
no clue about the authors of the inserted arias and/or about the fact that the 1772 Profectio 
Moysis in Aegyptum was by Bertoni, thoughtlessly identified the source as “Neapolitan”; 
or they deliberately and fraudulently Neapolitanized the source for marketing purposes. 
As regards the first possibility, it would be counterintuitive to maintain that Favi and his 
collaborators did not know that Profectio Moysis in Aegyptum was by Bertoni, because 
of the above-mentioned connections between Favi, the Forlivese/Bolognese milieu and 
the Venetian ospedali. Moreover, during those years Bertoni’s fame had reached its apex: 
he was appointed primo maestro at the ducal church of San Marco in 1785;
38
 in addition 
to this, Alessandri and Scattaglia, the same booksellers who executed the decorative title 
pages on many of the manuscripts in the Dono Villa, printed Bertoni’s Orfeo ed Euridice 
(Venice, Teatro San Benedetto, 1776) in the year of its premiere.
39
 Equally counterintuitive 
would be to maintain that they were unaware that at least one aria was by Pietro Terziani, 
a Roman (not Neapolitan) composer linked to the Accademia Filarmonica in Bologna, 
around which, as Vaccarini suggested, these scores revolved.
The second possibility is much more likely, since it can easily be explained by the 
Neapolitan “fever” that struck the musicians and music enthusiasts of those years. As 
shown at the start of this article, a Neapolitan provenance for music and musicians was 
widely perceived as a guarantee of excellence, often used to increase the marketability 
of specific manuscripts.
36 
Rousseau, Confessions of J. J. Rousseau, 257–258.
37 
See, respectively: Wright, Some Observations, 1:79; Brosses, Lettres familières, 143–144.
38 
Truett Hollis, “Bertoni, Ferdinando (Gasparo)”.
39 
One copy is preserved in I-Mc, Noseda C. 32. Bertoni came into contact with the emperor 
Joseph II in 1769 and in 1775, when the latter attended, unannounced, the performance of 
Davidde penitente at the Mendicanti. The emperor was so astonished by Bertoni’s oratorio that 
it was performed the following year in Vienna’s Kärntnertortheater at a concert given by the 
Tonkünstler-Societät. Truett Hollis, “Bertoni, Ferdinando (Gasparo)”.
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Conclusion
This article has shed new light on the anonymous source of an oratorio preserved in the 
Dono Villa of the Library of the Conservatorio “Giuseppe Verdi” in Milan that bears the 
title Profectio Moysis in Aegyptum and the date 1784. The title on the first page of the 
source informs us that the oratorio is a patchwork of arias composed by some of the most 
celebrated Neapolitan maestri. Yet, upon closer examination, I have proposed that the 
1784 source for Profectio Moysis in Aegyptum had connections to the Forlivese/Bolognese 
milieu and to the musical activities of Favi and his collaborators, additionally containing 
an aria by Terziani, a composer of Roman (not Neapolitan) provenance. The statement 
declaring the oratorio’s “Neapolitan-ness” is therefore misleading. I have tried to suggest 
that the reference to the Neapolitan maestri was added to enhance the manuscript’s mar -
ketability. Therefore, the case of the Milanese source of Profectio Moysis in Aegyptum 
could well represent an instance of forgery in eighteenth-century music: one belonging 
to the category of fake Neapolitan-ness.
The findings of this article open up further paths of research, each linked to every 
single oratorio belonging to the Dono Villa. As I have tried to suggest, complex networks 
between different centres of the Peninsula lay behind the 1784 source for Profectio Moysis 
in Aegyptum. The question therefore arises whether further research on the other oratorios 
of the Dono Villa could make other, similar networks emerge. Vaccarini had already 
tracked the Forlivese connection down in the past, but had not identified Terziani’s aria 
in Profectio Moysis in Aegyptum (this was not the purpose of her article, after all). In this 
specific case, the element of fake Neapolitan-ness led me to the above conclusions, but 
the careful examination of each oratorio in the Dono Villa has the potential to unearth 
previously unknown networks of musical influence. Networks that are, perhaps, concealed 
behind falsified authorships.

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Eric Boaro: Profectio Moysis in Aegyptum (1784)
Bibliography
Sources
Bertoni, Ferdinando. “Davidde penitente”. Score. Milan, Biblioteca del Conservatorio 
Statale di Musica Giuseppe Verdi (I-Mc), M.S. MS. 36-1.
———. Orfeo ed Euridice. Venice: Alessandri & Scattaglia, 1776.
Bianchi, Francesco. “L’Abramo”. Score. I-Mc, M.S. MS. 39-1.
———. “Originale Cantata A voce Sola di Tenore Di Francesco Bianchi Cremonese Per 
uso Del M. R. Padre Ottaviano Brusatori”. Score. I-Mc, Mus. Tr. ms. 177.
Cimarosa, Domenico. “Finali, uno del sig.r Domenico Cimarosa e l’altro del sig.r Pasquale 
Anfossi […]”. Score. Belluno, Biblioteca Civica (I-BEc), AM.ms99.
Gazzaniga, Giuseppe. “Susanna”. Score. I-Mc, M.S. ms. 108-1.
Hasse, Johann Adolf. “Demofoonte”. Score. Dresden, Sächsische Landesbibliothek - Staats- 
und Universitätsbibliothek (D-Dl), Mus.2477-F-57a.
Paisiello, Giovanni. “Nina”. Score. D-Dl, Mus.3481-F-513a.
Palomba, Antonio. La Matilde. Naples: Di Biase, 1739. Milan, Biblioteca Braidense, Racc. 
Dramm. Corniani Algarotti 3363.
“Profectio Moysis in Aegyptum”. Score. I-Mc, M.S. MS. 249-1.
Profectio Moysis in Aegyptum. Venice: Angelo Pasinelli, 1772. I-Vgc, Correr 12 B 4/1.
“Susanna”. I-Mc, Libretti V . 71.
Susanna. Venice, 1788. I-Vcg, Correr Oratori 59 F 9.
Terziani, Pietro. “Exaltabo te Domine”. Rome, Archivio capitolare della Basilica papale 
di Santa Maria Maggiore (I-Rsm), 111/39; Rome, Archivio musicale della Basilica 
di San Giovanni in Laterano (I-Rsg), ms. mus. A.1438.
Traetta, Tommaso. “Ouverture”. Score. I-Mc, Noseda Q.26.1.
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Arnold, Denis, and Elsie Arnold. The Oratorio in Venice. London: Royal Musical Association, 
1986.
Bartoli, Francesco. Notizie istoriche de’ comici italiani che fiorirono intorno all’anno MDL 
fino a’ giorni presenti. Padua: Conzatti, 1781.
Brosses, Charles de. Lettres familières écrites d’Italie. Paris: Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, 
1858.
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Dover, 1957.
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Caruso, 93–114. Berlin: Birkhäuser, 1994. https://doi.org/10.33137/q.i..v16i1.10404.
Gillio, Pier Giuseppe. L’attività musicale negli ospedali di Venezia nel Settecento. Florence: 
Olschki, 2006.
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Gmeinwieser, Siegfried. “Terziani, Pietro”. In Grove Music Online. Accessed 15 June 
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Eric Boaro: Profectio Moysis in Aegyptum (1784)
PROFECTIO MOYSIS IN AEGYPTUM (1784):  
PONAREJEN »NEAPELJSKI« ORATORIJ?
 
Povzetek 
Ko je leta 1736 umrl šestindvajsetletni Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, so številni prepisovalci 
in založniki začeli njegovo ime brezvestno pisati na prepise skladb neznanih glasbenikov, 
da bi jih nato z dobičkom prodajali. Obravnavani Pergolesijev primer je značilen primer 
tega pojava, sicer ne neobičajnega za neapeljsko glasbo 18. stoletja. Če je bil skladatelj 
glasbenega dela označen kot »neapeljski«, je bil to zanesljiv znak njegove glasbene 
odličnosti. Znani so številni člani potujočih opernih skupin, delujočih po vsej Evropi, ki 
so bili v priložnostnih tiskih izrecno navedeni kot »Neapeljčani«, pa čeprav to niso bili.
Iz podobnih razlogov vzbuja pomisleke tudi rokopis latinskega oratorija iz leta 
1784 z naslovom Profectio Moysis in Aegyptum, shranjen v fondu donacije Villa v  
knjižnici Državnega glasbenega konservatorija Giuseppa Verdija v Milanu (Biblioteca 
del Conservatorio Statale di Musica Giuseppe Verdi). Prepisovalec je na naslovni strani 
zapisal, da je oratorij pasticcio »slavnih neapeljskih mojstrov«, vendar številne glas-
bene značilnosti kažejo na nepravilnost te opredelitve. V pričujoči razpravi so različne 
značilnosti tega doslej neopaženega »neapeljskega« vira (vodni znaki, vezava, platnice, 
povezave z drugimi partiturami, drugimi libreti itd.) kritično analizirane in avtor ocenjuje, 
da bi lahko šlo za primer glasbenega ponaredka. V popolnem nasprotju z domnevno 
»neapeljskostjo« oratorija se zdi, da številni dokazni elementi kažejo bolj na povezavo 
z Benetkami, Forlijem in Bologno poznega 18. stoletja ter Ferdinandom Bertonijem  
(1725–1813), skladateljem, rojenim v kraju Salò blizu Brescie na beneški terrafermi, 
Pietrom Terzianijem (1765–1831), maestrom rimskega rodu, in glasbenimi dejavnostmi 
Andrea Favija (1743–1822) ter njegovih sodelavcev. Vsa ta dejstva podpirajo domnevo, 
da je bil rokopis povezan s »slavnimi neapeljskimi mojstri« iz razlogov, podobnih tistim, 
ki so tudi sicer v drugi polovici 18. stoletja spodbujali pripisovanje skladb neznanih 
glasbenikov slavnemu Neapeljčanu Pergolesiju.
Eric Boaro: Profectio Moysis in Aegyptum (1784)