Lucile Grétry’s opera Le mariage d’Antonio premiered in Paris when she was a mere fourteen years old. As the second daughter of André-Ernest-Modeste Grétry, she was afforded lessons at a young age in counterpoint and declamation. Her father supplied the orchestral parts for her comédie mêlée d’ariettes after Lucile had composed the vocal, bass, and harp parts. Although Le mariage d’Antonio was a modest success, Lucile’s second endeavor, a divertissement mêlée d’ariettes entitled Toinette et Louis (1787), did not receive the same positive attention. The young composer died from tuberculosis before she could establish herself further at the Comédie-Italienne.

This is a copy of Giovanni Battista Casti's libretto for the comic opera "Prima la musica e poi le parole". On the back of the t.p. appears a list of characters and names Antonio Salieri as the composer of the music. The one-act opera was commissioned by Emperor Joseph II. Members of the Burgtheater's Italian troupe premiered it at the Schönbrunn Palace on February 7, 1786. The library's copy is bound with the libretto of Zaccaria Valaresso's "Rutzvanscad, il giovine."