Giacomo Puccini | Collection of 21 photographs of the composer, many signed and inscribed, from the collection of his confidante Sybil Seligman

Giacomo Puccini.

Remarkable collection of twenty-one photographs of the composer, many signed and inscribed, from the collection of his close confidante Sybil Seligman

comprising eight photographic portraits signed (“G. Puccini”; GiacomoP”: “Giacomone”) and inscribed (“alla cara Sybil il cacciatore Vecchio amico”; “…per Sybil che è tanto buona”), various sizes, three on postcards, two mounted on card, Torre del Lago, Boscolungo, Milan, Viareggio, Rome, 1905-1924, where indicated, a few small tears to one photograph; and thirteen unsigned photographs, including four with Sybil Seligman at Puccini’s villa at Abetone in the northern Appenines

together with: apparently eight photographic portraits of Sybil Seligman, including a fine large photograph by Nadarz of Paris, various sizes, London, Paris and elsewhere, no dates

and also including: a photograph signed and inscribed to Sybil Seligman by Gabriele d’Annunzio, showing the writer on a horse, jumping over a wall (Rome, 16 March 1908); an autograph letter signed by d’Annunzio to Sybil Seligman, no place or date; a photographic postcard portrait of the soprano Gilda Dalla Rizza, signed and inscribed to Sybil Seligman, Rome, 1921; a photographic portrait of Elvira Puccini, inscribed “ultimo ritratto di Elvira Puccini”; a 4-bar pencil manuscript “Exercise in harmony. By Sybil Seligman”, signed by Arthur Sullivan, 1 page, c.12 x 20cm, St. Moritz, 1 August 1896, splitting along central fold, a few small tears; two cabinet-style photographic portraits of Sir John Simon (1818-1897); a photograph by Barsotti of Florence of Puccini’s tomb; and a number of other unidentified photographs (c.63 items in all)

Of Puccini’s many intimate female friends, his long-term English confidante Sybil Seligman, née Beddington (1868-1936), daughter of a fabulously wealthy Jewish merchant, was undoubtedly one of the most important. Introduced to Puccini in 1904 by her singing teacher Paolo Tosti, Sybil would be close to the composer during the last twenty years of his life, translating dramas and literature for him, supplying Native American songs for his opera La Fanciulla del West, and providing him with his beloved Abdulla cigarettes.

Not the least notable aspect of this visual record of an important friendship are the photographs of Sybil herself, some of them probably hitherto unknown. Sybil was also a close friend of Caruso, two photographs of whom are also included in this collection (one together with Sybil). Her youngest sister Violet was once proposed to (unsuccessfully) by Arthur Sullivan, who is also represented here; her elder sister Ada was Oscar Wilde’s closest confidante, his famous “Sphinx”.

PROVENANCE:

From Sybil Seligman by descent to the present owner