[Giacomo Puccini] | Paolo Tosti and Giovacchino Forzano. Collection of autograph letters to Puccini’s confidante Sybil Seligman, 1896-1924

[Giacomo Puccini] Paolo Tosti and Giovacchino Forzano.

Collection of autograph letters signed by Tosti and Forzano to Puccini’s confidante Sybil Seligman

Paolo Tosti. Series of c.73 autograph letters signed (“Pipinos”; “Paolo Tosti”), in Italian and French

expressing his affection for her, discussing some of his songs and her veiled and suggestive voice, describing his intense desolation at her departure, explaining that every day after lunch he wanders the streets of London like a lost soul, MENTIONING PUCCINI (“…E tormentato in casa, e non ha l’energia di prendere una forte decisione…”), his triumphs in Liverpool, and Madama Butterfly, complementing her on her Italian, which she writes with the same ease and correctness with which she flirts, making arrangements for her lessons, informing her that he saw Sullivan in Nice looking very flabby, one letter with two bars of music, several letters with drawings of penises (one also with drawings of people and animals, labelled “Extase”), indulging in flirtatious banter, asking her forgiveness, apologizing for speaking too frankly, hoping that his beautiful drawings do not offend her ‘almost virginal modesty’, and noting that he has the character of a dog and can’t change that

…Enfin , ma chère, que voulez vous, j’ai un caractère de chien – et je ne puis pas changer!! Et même si je voudrais changer, vous ne voudriez pas!!...Je t’aime…

over 140 pages, mostly large 8vo, many on printed stationery (“12, Mandeville Place, W.”; “Claridge’s Hotel, Brook Street. W.” etc.), with two autograph letters by Tosti to Sybil’s husband David, five autograph letters to Sybil and David, in English and French, by Tosti’s wife Berthe (one written as a postscript to a letter of Tosti’s), and one other, the letters in plastic sleeves in a lever arch file, London, Rome, Paris, Nice and elsewhere, 1896-1916, where indicated

Giovacchino Forzano. Series of fourteen autograph letters signed ("Forzano"), in Italian

ABOUT PUCCINI AND HIS 3-ACT PLAY SLY, reporting that he had hoped "Il Maestro" would be interested in setting it as an opera, but he fears that he is working on Turandot instead, begging her to translate his play for the London stage and later asking her to be frank about its success there and expressing his wish that, if not Sly, then other plots might appeal to Puccini; Forzano gives regular reports on Puccini's visits and travels, his holiday at Bagni di Lucca (where he worked on Turandot), describing his moods and his dissatisfaction with Torre del Lago, relates a long gossipy story about Mascagni in Naples, reports his exhaustion from working as the stage director for the premiere of Boito's Nerone (1924) at La Scala, and discusses his own plays Madonna Oretta (1918), Lorenzino, Fior di cielo ("dramma cinese") and Pietro il grande

53 pages, 4to and 8vo, Viareggio, Montecatini, Milan etc., 29 June 1920 to 16 June 1924 and others undated; together with letters to Sybil by Carlo Zangarini (1874-1943), Gaetano Bavagnoli, Martin Holman, Gladys de Guy (6), Carlo Nasi (2), D’Annunzio (2, and a postcard), Elvira Puccini (mentioning Madama Butterfly) and others (c.45 items in all); and also: 16 letters (1921-1938) by various correspondents, including Franca Leonardi, to Sybil’s son Vincent; and some miscellaneous correspondence (mostly carbon typescripts) relating to Vincent Seligman’s book Puccini among Friends

The addressee of these apparently unpublished letters was one of Puccini’s most intimate friends, Sybil Seligman (1868-1936), who had been introduced to the composer in 1904 at the home of his old friend Paolo Tosti (1846-1916), a composer of light-hearted songs and singing master to the Royal Family. Sybil’s relationship with Puccini had begun as a passionate love affair, later developing into a deep and genuine friendship. She was, Puccini himself noted, ‘the person who had come nearest to understanding my nature’.

Giovacchino Forzano (1884-1970) wrote the librettos for Puccini's Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi (1918). He was adept at devising his own plots rather than adapting pre-existing ones, his play Cristoforo Sly being devised from just a few lines in Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. Puccini toyed with the idea of setting the libretto for some time, and did not commit publicly to composing Turandot until January 1921.  Although Puccini decided against Sly, it was very successful as a stage play in Italy and (not least through Sybil's efforts) reached London when Matheson Lang performed the title role at the New Theatre on 31 August 1921.

PROVENANCE:

From Sybil Seligman by descent to the present owner

LITERATURE:

Mosco Carner, Puccini. A critical biography (second edition, 1974), pp.148ff.