Letters and Documents
- Gara, Eugenio, with assistance of Mario Morini. Carteggi pucciniani. Milan:
Ricordi, 1958. xxii, 744p. ML410 .P89 A3.
More than 900 letters from, to, and about Puccini; well annotated, sometimes
censored. Without index.
1445.Puccini: 276 lettere inedite: Il fondo dell’Accademia d’Arte a Montecatini
Terme. Ed. Giuseppe Pintorno. Milan: Nuove Edizioni, 1974. 223p. ML410
.P89 A36.
A collection of letters from 1899 to 1924, many of them short and without
musical reference, but others with useful comments on opera publications and
performances. Chronology, glossary of persons, name index.
1446.Pucccini com’era.Ed. Arnaldo Marchetti. Milan: Curci, 1973. 495p. ML410
.P89 A35.
A good selection of 473 letters, to and from, with commentary. Some facsimi-
les and other illustrations. Content is both musical and otherwise, including
the first publication of three letters from Puccini’s lover, Josephine von Stängel.
Name index.
1447.Letters of Giacomo Puccini: Mainly Connected with the Composition and
Production of His Operas.Rev. ed. Ed. Giuseppe Adami. Trans. Ena Makin.
London: Harrap, 1974. 341p. ISBN 1-245-52422-3. ML410 .P89 A2.
Originally Giacomo Puccini epistolario(Milan: Mondadori, 1928). Adami
was librettist for three of the operas, so many of these letters (those to Adami)
concern genesis matters. A running commentary puts the missives into con-
text, and the translator adds interesting footnotes. Index of addressees, general
index.
Biographies
- Carner, Mosco. Puccini: A Critical Biography. 2nd ed. London: Duckworth,
- xvi, 520p. ISBN 0-7156-0795-2. ML410 .P89 C3.
First edition, 1958; this edition is really a somewhat augmented reprint. A fur-
ther revised reprint was also issued: New York: Holmes & Meier, 1992. It is a
respectable biography, with footnotes and quotations from the letters. Criti-
cized by Fairtile and others for an armchair Freudian interpretation of certain
operas. There are plots and program notes, with occasional technical observa-
tions. Bibliography of about 60 titles, name and title index. - Casini, Claudio. Giacomo Puccini. Turin: UTET, 1978. xi, 595p. No ISBN.
ML410 .P89 C339.
Primarily a life story, and a good one; well documented and thoughtful. Com-
ments on the operas are sometimes original, but there is no technical analysis.
Worklist (with casts of premieres), bibliography of about 150 items, index. - Girardi, Michele. Puccini: L’arte internationale di un musicista italiano.
Venice: Marsilio, 1995. 512p. ISBN 88-317-5818-7. ML410 .P97 G52.
276 Opera