PUCCINI, Giacomo (1858-1924) - photo 1
PUCCINI, Giacomo (1858-1924) - photo 2
PUCCINI, Giacomo (1858-1924) - photo 3
PUCCINI, Giacomo (1858-1924) - photo 4

PUCCINI, Giacomo (1858-1924)

Lot 87
14.12.2022 10:30UTC +00:00
Classic
Starting price
£ 1 800
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
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ID 870834
Lot 87 | PUCCINI, Giacomo (1858-1924)
Estimate value
£ 1 800 – 2 500
PUCCINI, Giacomo (1858-1924)

Two autograph letters signed ('G. Puccini') to Carlo Clausetti, Via Verdi 4, Milan, 8 May 1905 and 28 February 1908.

In Italian. Together two pages, 249 x 158mm, on letter-cards, addressed to Clausetti in Naples. Provenance: (letter of 1905) with David Schulson Autographs, 2011.



The search for a new libretto. In May 1905 Puccini opens with expressions of concern about the health of Clausetti's daughter; for himself, Puccini is about to leave for America: 'I am going to America, and will return in August – I am still without a libretto!! and I cannot manage (and they cannot manage) to find anything alive, healthy, original, not yet done – deliriously passionate – and theatrical! so many things?!'. He closes with expressions of affectionate friendship: 'I have thought of you as of an old and sincere and good friend – and long may it remain so'. In February 1908 Puccini writes furiously about a draft libretto: 'The 3rd act which I have read is something infuriating! You will have seen it! I dreamed of something grand, tragic, a cathedral, but instead it has come out as a pathetic hut! Believe me, I am so discouraged, because at the R[icordi] firm nobody understands anything, and they carry on either with indifference or incompetence. Please polish up the language of the first two acts, and give me your general impression. But even in the first two acts there is no frisson of poetry whatsoever, neither lofty nor low'.



After the completion of Madama Butterfly in 1904, Puccini spent some years in the search for an appropriate subject for his next opera, before settling on La fanciulla del West, based on a play by David Belasco. The Neapolitan composer Carlo Clausetti (1869-1943) was a director of the Ricordi publishing house and one of Puccini's closest friends.





Special notice


This lot has been imported from outside of the UK for sale and placed under the Temporary Admission regime. Import VAT is payable at 5% on the hammer price. VAT at 20% will be added to the buyer’s premium but will not be shown separately on our invoice.
Place of origin:Italy, Europe
Auction house category:Letters, documents and manuscripts
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
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10.12.2022 – 13.12.2022
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