Portal:Opera/Selected picture/56
Credit: Antoine Barbizet; restored by Adam Cuerden
Cover of the entire vocal score to Hector Berlioz's opera Les Troyens published by the Parisian music editors Choudens et Cie in 1863. In this score, Berlioz introduced a number of optional cuts which have often been adopted in subsequent productions. He complained bitterly of the cuts that he was more-or-less forced to allow at the 1863 Théâtre Lyrique première, and his letters and memoirs are filled with the indignation that it caused him to "mutilate" his score. In the early 20th century, the lack of accurate parts led musicologists W. J. Turner and Cecil Gray to plan a raid on the Choudens office, even approaching the Parisian underworld for help.