SAT OwlMusicologists long believed that a manuscript of a violin sonata by the Italian composer Lucia Ferrante was written in her own hand around 1725. A recent analysis, however, found that the manuscript's paper bears a watermark used only by a paper mill that began operating in 1748, three years after Ferrante's death. This finding suggests that the manuscript ______
Which choice most logically completes the text?
was most likely copied by someone else after Ferrante died.
was written by Ferrante much later in her life than scholars had assumed.
contains a sonata that was not composed by Ferrante.
was produced by Ferrante at the paper mill.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A
The paper could not have existed before 1748, and Ferrante died in 1745. So she could not have written on it, and someone else must have produced this copy after her death, choice A.
Choice C goes too far: the watermark shows who made this copy and when, not who composed the music, which could still be Ferrante's.
Why the other choices are wrong
- B. This choice contradicts the timeline because Ferrante died in 1745, making it impossible for her to write on paper that did not exist until 1748.
- C. The watermark only proves the physical copy was made later, not that the musical composition itself was not written by Ferrante.
- D. Ferrante died in 1745, so she could not have produced the manuscript at a paper mill that began operating in 1748.
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