Details
PUCCINI, Giacomo. Two autograph letters signed to Sybil Seligman, n.p. [Torre del Lago] and Milan, 25 September and 1 October 1906, one page, 8vo, and one page, oblong 4to, on letter cards.
News of Madame Butterfly and Conchita. Puccini will stay on at Torre for another few days before leaving for Milan and then Paris. 'Butt: [Madame Butterfly] will go on until the end of October'. He declares himself 'a bit worried about Conchita ... What frightens me is her character, and the plot of the play - and then all the characters seem to me unlovable, and that is a very bad thing on the stage'. The letter closes with a reference to Tito Ricordi, on his way to America for a tour of Butterfly, and with affectionate regards. The second letter, written on Puccini's arrival in Milan, gives further news on Conchita -- 'still weak, but she may recover her strength in Paris ... I'm going to see Papà Savoia [Giulio Ricordi] today about the Concha [sic] contract - I shan't tell him about my doubts. Milan is horrible ...'.
Ricordi and Puccini did go on to sign a contract for an opera based on Pierre Louys's novel La Femme et le Pantin. Puccini had a brief affair with Sybil Seligman, wife of a London banker, in 1904: thereafter she occupied almost the position of his muse. (2)
News of Madame Butterfly and Conchita. Puccini will stay on at Torre for another few days before leaving for Milan and then Paris. 'Butt: [Madame Butterfly] will go on until the end of October'. He declares himself 'a bit worried about Conchita ... What frightens me is her character, and the plot of the play - and then all the characters seem to me unlovable, and that is a very bad thing on the stage'. The letter closes with a reference to Tito Ricordi, on his way to America for a tour of Butterfly, and with affectionate regards. The second letter, written on Puccini's arrival in Milan, gives further news on Conchita -- 'still weak, but she may recover her strength in Paris ... I'm going to see Papà Savoia [Giulio Ricordi] today about the Concha [sic] contract - I shan't tell him about my doubts. Milan is horrible ...'.
Ricordi and Puccini did go on to sign a contract for an opera based on Pierre Louys's novel La Femme et le Pantin. Puccini had a brief affair with Sybil Seligman, wife of a London banker, in 1904: thereafter she occupied almost the position of his muse. (2)
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