A score fragment by Verdi will be auctioned at Bonhams of London on June 7 - Gramophone editor James Inverne went to take a look.

Sometimes an autograph can say so much. And this is the case, perhaps, with the fragment of signed music by Giuseppe Verdi currently at Bonhams, prior to auction. A confirmed Verdi fanatic, as soon as I heard of the existence of the fragment I arranged to visit Bonhams to see it, in the flesh as it were.

With a chastening lack of flourish Simon Roberts of the Bonhams book and manuscript department held the small piece of card-mounted paper in his hand for a moment, chatting happily before placing it on a table. I did my best to keep up the small talk while appearing not to crane my neck to see the object of my excitement.

Though short, only three bars and some 14 notes long, it did not disappoint. Age-stained, nestled on the same piece of parchment between similar signed snatches of music from long-forgotten tunesmiths, Verdi’s scribbles reveal a martial tune, similar to the Rataplan chorus from La Forza Del Destino, the opera on which he was working at the time. The fragment is dated, by Verdi, “June 1862”. “It is possible that this is from that opera,” explained Roberts, “perhaps an early draft of the chorus, but we don’t know to whom it was given. It might actually be a message about the Risorgimento.” Yes of course, because (as the catalogue reminds me) also in June 1862 Garibaldi was preparing to take his forces for a military expedition to Rome.

I run my finger lightly over Verdi’s signature. Could it be then that this military-style music was a message of support, or exhortation, to a supporter of – or even fighter for – unification? Such themes run deep and hardly hidden in Verdi’s operas, but this could be a fascinating example of music composed on the hoof for that very specific purpose and yet another indication of how strongly this sometime-Parliamentarian felt. Or, as Simon Roberts points out, it could just be an autograph.