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Stanford University physicists use X-rays to uncover long-lost notes of historic 1797 opera blacked out by its composer

Opera connoisseurs now will be able to enjoy Luigi Cherubini's 18th century masterpiece Medee in its entirety for the first time in over 200 years thanks to scientists who used modern technology to uncover the music notes concealed by a layer of carbon smudges.

Experts working at Stanford University's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory were able to reveal the original score of the once-truncated aria ‘Du trouble affreux qui me dévore' (The terrible disorder that consumes me) with the help of a device called the synchrotron lightsource, which blasted the 200-year-old manuscript with X-rays.  

Cherubini wrote his musical opus in 1797, but it received tepid reception from contemporary critics, who complained that the three-hour opera was far too long.

Act of defiance: Legend has it that 18th century composer Luigi Cherubini blacked out the end of his opera Medee after critics complained that it was too long

Masterpiece revealed: Experts at Stanford University's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory were able to reveal the original score of a once-truncated aria with the help of the synchrotron lightsource, which blasted the manuscript with X-rays

In response, legend has it that the irked composer simply blacked out his opera’s closing lines to make it about 500 bars shorter.

For centuries, the piece was performed in its abridged form, according to the Stanford News Service.

That is until a German scholar working in Stanford got the idea to restore Medee using the same method that SLAC scientists employed to uncover hidden text in Archimedes' writings.

‘It was amazing to be able to see the complete aria,’ SLAC physicist Uwe Bergmann, who was involved in the work of restoring the mangled musical score, said in a statement. ‘For me, uncovering the composition of a genius' work that had been lost for centuries is as thrilling as trying to uncover one of the big secrets of nature.’

He explained that the naked eye could detect no notes under a layer of charcoal, but with the help of the synchrotron, X-rays were able to detect the iron in the ink used by Cherubini and the zinc in the printed music staff on the 200-year-old page, causing them to glow.

The lab staff focused their X-ray beam to 50 microns across - narrower that a human hair - to scan the sheet music line by line, moving left to right and right to left as the beam made its way down the page.

Each side of the manuscript, which had been placed in a custom-built frame to protect it from the X-rays, took about eight hours to scan.

A computer then converted the X-ray patterns into shades of gray easily identifiable as notes.

‘It is indescribable to see Cherubini's notes after more than 200 years for the first time again,’ wrote Heiko Cullmann, the musical scholar who was the one who came up with the idea for project.

Greek tragedy: The 1797 opera Medee is based on the myth of Medea, who murdered who two children in retaliation for her husband's infidelity

Forgotten genius: Although he has not become a household name, Luigi Cherubini had been considered one of the greatest composers of his time who counted among his many admirers Ludwig van Beethoven

Maria Luigi Carlo Zenobio Salvatore Cherubini, born in Florence in 1760, the tenth of a dozen children of a theater harpsichordist, was considered among the finest opera composers of his time who counted Ludwig Van Beethoven among his many admirers.

He died in Paris in 1984, and was laid to rest at the legendary cemetery of Pere Lachaise.

His 1797 masterpiece Medee is based on the Greek myth of Medea - the tragic heroine who murdered her two children in retaliation for her husband’s infidelity.

The piece was said to have influenced Beethoven’s Fidelio and Georges Bizet's Carmen.     





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