In preparing the librettos for offsite storage, a number were targeted for revised cataloging and placement within the Merritt collection, as they were much older, rare editions, or had an interesting provenance.\u00a0 One work, originally targeted for inclusion in Merritt as a first edition Italian language libretto of Sacchini\u2019s Oedipe \u00e0 Colone<\/a>, presented some surprises.<\/p>\n Merritt Mus 575.156. Nicola Fran\u00e7ois Guillard, Oedipe \u00e0 Colone.<\/p><\/div>\n The work was donated by Col. Charles W. Folsom (1826-1904) of Cambridge in 1874 (he was an 1845 Harvard College alumnus). Charles W. Folsom\u2019s father Charles Folsom (1794-1872) was an alumnus of the Harvard Divinity School, and is the central figure of this story.<\/p>\n After earning his divinity degree from Harvard, the elder Folsom served as a chaplain in the Navy, stationed on the Washington<\/em>, then in the Mediterranean. His duties also serving as tutor to the Washington<\/em> midshipmen, a group that included a teenager named David G. Farragut (1801-1870). Farragut would go on to become the first admiral of the United States Navy, perhaps best known for his service in the Civil War as a flag officer, particularly in the Battle of Mobile Bay in 1864. In the fall of 1817, after Folsom had been appointed American consul in Tunis, Farragut left the Washington<\/em> to continue his studies with his tutor for an additional nine months.<\/p>\n Returning to our libretto, however, we learn that Farragut spent some time in the early part of 1817 in Italy. On the title page verso, we find Farragut\u2019s signature, along with the place and date of the performance, Naples, Jan. 5th, 1817.<\/p>\n Merritt Mus 575.156. Nicola Fran\u00e7ois Guillard, Oedipe \u00e0 Colone.<\/p><\/div>\n This libretto clearly found its way into the collection of the elder Folsom, with whom Farragut developed a lifelong friendship.<\/p>\n Folsom also served as a librarian at Harvard from 1823-1826, and taught Italian. Harvard would later receive donations of his work from his son and, later, a larger donation from his grandson in the 1920s, the Charles Folsom Papers, 1829-1855<\/a>, now at Houghton Library.<\/p>\n Anne Adams, Music Cataloger, Loeb Music Library<\/p>\n Bibliography<\/u><\/p>\n Schneller, Robert J., Jr. Farragut: America\u2019s First Admiral. Potomac Books, 2002.<\/a><\/p>\n![\"This](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.harvard.edu\/loebmusic\/files\/2017\/09\/Anne-blog-1-649x1024.jpg?resize=649%2C1024\")
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