[G. Puccini]—Giovacchino Forzano. 14 long letters by Puccini's librettist to Sybil Seligman, 1921-1924

[Giacomo Puccini]—Giovacchino Forzano

Series of fourteen long autograph letters by Puccini's librettist Forzano signed ("Forzano"), to Puccini's confidante Sybil Seligman, c.1920-1924

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, reporting his play's successful run in Turin and Milan, begging her to translate it 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 with Adami and Simoni (where he worked on Turandot), describing his moods and his dissatisfaction with Torre del Lago, relates a long gossipy story about Mascagni in Naples, partly concerning the operetta Sì, reports his exhaustion from working as the stage director for the premiere of Boito's Nerone (1924) at La Scala, discusses his own plays Madonna Oretta (1918), Lorenzino,Fior di cielo ("dramma cinese") and Pietro il grande, begging her to exert her influence in London on "Iggins" (ie Henry Higgins, the director of Covent Garden), the actor Matheson Lang, and agents like Charles Cochran, 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 and others, c.40 items in all

Giovacchino Forzano (1884-1970) wrote the librettos for Puccini's Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi (1918), and several for Mascagni and Giordano. He was one of Puccini's more resourceful librettists; a playwright himself, he was adept at devising his own plots rather than adapting pre-existing ones. He was also a prominent director of both films and operas, including the premieres of Nerone (1924) and Turandot (1926) and later films like Camicia nera (1933) and Ragazza che dorme (1941). Mosco Carner observes that "his collaboration with Puccini resulted in two libretti more coherent in conception and of a higher literary quality than the majority of the composer's previous texts. It was a pity that this association, despite later efforts to continue it, terminated with the Trittico" (Carner, Puccini, (1974), p.215.

Just as Forzano had fashioned his libretto for Gianni Schicchi from a brief passage in Dante's Inferno, so he devised his Cristoforo Sly from 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. It was eventually set as an opera by Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari in 1927.

LITERATURE:

For a photograph of Puccini with Forzano, see A. Marchetti, Puccini com' era (1973), p.442