[Footnote 3: See very interesting article signed C. Saint-Saëns in the _Écho de Paris_ for July 23, 1911.]
Other changes from the first Italian score were also made by Gluck in the later French version. Here is an example; being the recitative immediately preceding the great air of Orpheus in the last act:
[Music: (Original Italian version, as written for Vienna.)
Misero me! la perdo, e di nuovo, e per sempre! O legge! O morte! O ricordo crudel! Non ho soccorso, non m'avanza consiglio! Io veggo solo (Oh fiera vista!) il luttuoso aspetto dell'orrido mio stato! Saziati, sorte rea! son disperato!]
C'est moi, c'est moi, qui lui ravis le jour. Loi fatale! Cruel remords! Ma peine est sans égale, Dans ce moment funeste, Le désespoir, la mort, C'est tout ce qui me reste!
(As written for the Paris version, the rôle of Orphée being then sung by a tenor.)]
C'est moi, c'est moi, qui lui ravis le jour. Loi fatale! Cruel remords! Ma peine est sans égale, Dans ce moment funeste, Le désespoir, la mort, C'est tout ce qui me reste!
(As sung by Mme. Viardot-Garcia, the rôle being then restored to the contralto voice as in the Italian version, while the changes made by Gluck for the Paris version were retained. This is now definitively adopted at the Opéra-Comique.)]
Again, discrepancies exist between various published copies of the same work, arising from the fact that sometimes the editors of these revisions may have mistaken the intentions of the composer. Or, influenced by pardonable human vanity, they may have felt impelled to collaborate more directly with the composer, by adding something of their own.
There is valid reason for the additional accompaniments, with which Mozart has enriched the original scores of Handel's _Messiah_ and _Alexander's Feast_; and we have evidence of the skill, and can divine the reverence, with which these additions were accomplished. But how fatal would have been the results, had the delicate task been attempted by one in whom these qualities were lacking! Also, there is every excuse for the additions made to Gluck's _Armide_ by Meyerbeer for the Opera of Berlin; and we have the direct testimony of Saint-Saëns, who has examined this rescoring, as to the rare ability and artistic discretion with which the work has been done.[4]