Unique ALS to His Lover Mentioning Five Operas and Two Great Sopranos

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PUCCINI, GIACOMO. (1858-1924). Modern Italy’s most successful opera composer after Verdi. ALS. (“Giacomo”). 4pp. Large 8vo. Vienna, October 17, 1920. To his long-time confidante and former mistress, SYBIL SELIGMAN (?-1936). In Italian with translation.

“You are right, I am a pig – a real Pig [the second “Pig” is in English] because I have not written in so long. Please forgive me; here they are celebrating me in an atrocious, terrible, unspeakable way. La Rondine went well, but I wasn’t happy with the performance and the mise-en-scene. It was staged at the Volksoper and Il Trittico will open Wednesday at the former imperial opera (Hofoper]. I believe it will be an enormous success. Jeritza is really an original artist. Perhaps the most original artist I have ever known. She has impressive qualifications. I heard her in Tosca and in the second act she does some admirable things. She would come to London but she wants to do Tabarro and [Suor]Angelica. Tell Mr. Higgins this. Naturally, the opera management is trying its best to keep her. Last night in Tosca, with a full theater and proceeds of 300.000 crowns, she amazed the audience. She is a magnificent Giorgetta in Tabarro. Here is the news: I am fine but tired, because of rehearsals and of the restless life I lead. There’s Elvira and Tonio, poor soul, whose fiancé died – but he looks like he is calming down. The mise-en-scene is wonderful, especially for Tabarro. There is another artist [Lotte] Lehman, who is singing Angelica here – she is an excellent singer and she would also be much liked in London (though German). Jeritza is Czechoslovakian. Goodbye dear Sybil, love and best wishes…”

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Giacomo Puccini

It was at Torre del Lago, his home from 1891 to 1921, that Puccini composed all his later operas except Turandot, including the immortal La Bohème, Tosca and Madam Butterfly, works that made him one of the most popular composers of all time. He spent the summer of 1919 revising La Rondine, considered a work of “consummate technical skill and… certain allure,” (The New Grove Dictionary). La Rondine tells the story of the Paris courtesan Magda during the reign of Napoleon III and premiered in Monte Carlo on March 27, 1917, and in Italy three months later on June 5, 1917. Although well-liked by the critics, its war-time debut affected its success. With World War I raging around them, the public was not interested in the escapism offered by the opera’s lighthearted and trivial story. As a result, the work lingers on the edge of Puccini’s repertoire despite the view held by some that it is a sequel to his beloved La Bohème. Puccini revised the work in 1919 and Vienna’s Volksoper performed it in 1920. Our letter also discusses the October 1920 performance of Il Tabarro, Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi – presented together under the title Il Trittico (The Triptych) – at the Vienna State Opera.

German soprano Lotte Lehman (1888-1976) began her career in 1910 at the Hamburg Opera and moved to Vienna in 1916 quickly becoming the city’s favorite singer, until her immigration to the United States in 1938.

One of the most beautiful and glamorous opera singers of the early twentieth century, Bohemian soprano Maria Jeritza (1888-1982) was most active at New York’s Metropolitan Opera and Vienna’s Staatsoper. “Along with the brilliance of her voice, she was admired for the passionately dramatic quality of her acting and her magnificent stage presence,” (A Concise Biographical Dictionary of Singers).

Our letter discusses Jeritza’s performances as Giorgetta in Tabarro as well as her performance in Tosca. Puccini observes that “in the second act she does some admirable things,” possibly referring to her innovative

choice to sing the famous second-act aria “Vissi d’arte” while lying down. After first witnessing this in a rehearsal, “Puccini came rushing on the stage, hugged her and said ‘Cara, carissima, thank you, oh thank you so very much for the wonderful idea you had.’ Jeritza told him it was an accident. Puccini’s response was, ‘Never mind, promise me that whatever happens you will always sing it in this accidental way,’” (“Tosca: Pittsburgh Opera Education,” Leahy, pittsburghopera.org/uploads/Study_Guide_for_Tosca_2017.pdf). After playing Tosca in Vienna in December 1920, Jeritza brought her performance to the Met a year later.

A practicing solicitor, Henry Vincent Higgins (1855-1928) is best remembered as managing director of Covent Garden.

Penned on all four sides of a folded sheet. Normal wear and in fine condition; an amazingly rich letter.

Unique ALS to His Lover Mentioning Five Operas and Two Great Sopranos