ALS Suggesting His Correspondent “turn to someone more prominent and influential than I am”

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VERDI, GIUSEPPE. (1813-1901). Italian composer of the opera’s La Traviata, Aida, Rigoletto, and many others.. ALS. (“G. Verdi”). 1¾ pp. 8vo. Busseto, March 15, 1860. To Sezzi (likely Tuscan banker Solone Sezzi, who was a liaison between Verdi and Paris’ Théâtre Italien in the 1850s). In Italian with translation.

“Having returned home, your letter followed me from Genoa, and this is the reason for the delay in my reply.

I regret to inform you, my dear Sezzi, that I cannot involve myself in your matter, nor can I send you a letter for Fould. I do not believe I am in sufficient connection with the minister to dare send him a letter of recommendation. Moreover, it has been so long since he has seen me that, who knows, he might not even remember me anymore. It is true that he once showed me some respect, but in that whirlwind of people and events, everything is forgotten very quickly. Instead, my dear Sezzi, turn to someone more prominent and influential than I am. Given the connections you have, it should not be difficult for you. Furthermore, apart from not feeling free to send a recommendation letter to Fould, I must also consider that it could be suspected that I am doing so for ‘self-interest,’ and even the mere suspicion would be most unpleasant to me.

Perhaps we will meet again soon in Paris. In the meantime, give my warm regards to your wife on behalf of both myself and Peppina…”

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Giuseppe Verdi

The astonishing success of his third opera, Nabucco, in 1842 and I Lombardi the following year only aroused the passions of Verdi’s ever-enthusiastic public. He was quickly heralded as Italy’s greatest opera composer and, because of the content of many of his works, he came to symbolize a politically unified country. Indeed, during the nine years from 1842 to 1851, Verdi produced fourteen operas and nearly as many vocal works.

French businessman and powerful government minister Achille Marcus Fould (1800-1867) oversaw the Privy Council in Napoleon III’s absence, headed the emperor’s expansion of the Louvre and was, at the time of our letter, both Minister of State and Minister of the Imperial Household whose responsibilities included oversight of theaters. Fould would have known Verdi through his involvement in the affairs of German opera singer Sophie Cruvelli, a favorite of Napoleon III, who sang in productions of Verdi’s Ernani, Attila, Louisa Miller, and Macbeth. In 1854, Cruvelli disappeared with some compromising letters written by Fould just before she was set to appear in Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots, for which she had already been paid. With Cruvelli’s disappearance Verdi threatened to cancel the upcoming première of Les vêpres Siciliennes in which she was cast as Hélène. Cruvelli returned a month later and made what would be her last triumphal appearance when the opera premiered in June 1855, before retiring from the stage.

It was around 1847 that Verdi began his relationship with the famous soprano Giuseppina “Peppina” Strepponi (1815-1897). The pair lived together, unmarried, in Busseto, where Strepponi was treated with derision. In 1851, they withdrew to Verdi’s estate in nearby Sant’Agata, marrying in 1859 and, thereafter, enjoying a happy union until Strepponi’s death.

Written on the recto and verso of a sheet of paper, with a minor closed fold tear affecting one word; in fine condition.

ALS Suggesting His Correspondent “turn to someone more prominent and influential than I am”