antedating of fiasco (1827ff)

[Stephen Goranson]

OED2 has 1855 sense 2 {"...of obscure origin..."), "A failure or
break-down in a dramatic or musical performance. Also in a general sense: An
ignominious failure, a 'mull'"

How early does fiasco appear in Italian with this sense?
Do the earliest Italian uses appear with a simple failure (say, a boring opera)
or with an ignominious or disastrous failure?
Are there commendable articles on this word?

ads-l archives has 1842 1nd 1844 quotations.

1827 May.   The Oriental herald and colonial review v. XIII ed. by James Silk
Buckingham p.229 [Google Books full view; apparently genuine]{In Italy at a
performance of a the opera Giovanna by Vaccaij]
People began to mutter 'pasticcio,' a phrase by which they are wont to indicate
music made up of odds and ends ; and every thing seemed to portend a fiasco, (in
musical phraseology, a failure.) A fine duet, however...turned the scale, and
put the audience in good humour.

1841 Cecil: or, The adventures of a coxcomb. A novel. 2nd ed. v.2 p.11 [Google
Books full view].  [By Mrs. Catherine Grace F. Gore]
I was fain to confess that, with all my tact and cleverness, my season had been
a failure. I had achieved nothing. My advantages had been great, the
result--fiasco!

1841 April The Foreign Quarterly Review p. 118 [GoBk, fv]
.. the prying public recognize in a new manoeuvre, anything that has been used
before, they hiss it; the ballet is damned, and in this fiasco all the splendid
costumes [etc.]...condemned to vanish....

The following are from British Library 19th Century British Newspapers (accessed
on an individual not institutional trial basis). Some correspondent apparently
quite liked the word.
MUSIC AND THE DRAMA
The Era (London, England), July 25, 1841; Issue 148
When transplanted to Turin a decided _fiasco_ followed, though the principal
_artistes_ were the same. [Oberto by Verdi creates a _furore_ in one city and
meets with a _fiasco_ in another]

MUSIC AND THE DRAMA
The Era (London, England), December 5, 1841; Issue 167
anticipated the fiasco [a singer omitted some songs, knowing that]

MUSIC AND THE DRAMA
The Era (London, England), December 11, 1842; Issue 220
a downright fiasco

MUSIC AND THE DRAMA
The Era (London, England), December 29, 1844; Issue 327
met with a fiasco [audience reception--cold?]  [has been got up and played
in Vienna to considerable applause]

MUSIC AND THE DRAMA
The Era (London, England), December 29, 1844; Issue 327
fiasco [some call for carriage to leave early]

MUSIC AND THE DRAMA
The Era (London, England), June 8, 1845; Issue 350
met with a fiasco

MUSIC AND THE DRAMA
The Era (London, England), November 30, 1845; Issue 375
a "fiasco" in the Haymarket is a thing unknown

MUSIC AND THE DRAMA
The Era (London, England), December 21, 1845; Issue 378
With my support you succeed; without it you incur fiasco

MUSIC AND THE DRAMA
The Era (London, England), December 21, 1845; Issue 378
tears...could not avert a fiasco

MUSIC AND THE DRAMA
The Era (London, England), December 21, 1845; Issue 378
[letter on corn laws fuss...fiasco]

MUSIC AND THE DRAMA
The Era (London, England), December 21, 1845; Issue 378
season commenced inauspiciously...At Venice Genoa and Milan the fiasco has been
general ....[success mitigated] fiasco

MUSIC AND THE DRAMA
The Era (London, England), February 22, 1846; Issue 387
[one success [a dancer]] in the midst of the general fiasco

MUSIC AND THE DRAMA
The Era (London, England), March 29, 1846; Issue 392
met with rude fiasco

Stephen Goranson
http://www.duke.edu/~goranson

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