Autograph musical manuscript sketchleaf for the composer's opera, Tosca. Signed and dated 9 November 1898.
One large leaf. Folio (378 x 260 mm). Notated on 4 systems of 3 staves each in dark brown ink on 12-stave music paper.
With autograph titling "Tosca" at head and inscribed "Finito l'atto lo a di 4 9embre 1898 G. Puccini" at lower right corner.
13 measures in condensed score from Act I, commencing 4 measures before figure 75. "The passage occurs towards the end of Act I, when Scarpia, in a monologue over a characteristically obsessive pattern of alternating chords, accompanied by bells, organ, drum beat to simulate cannon fire and growling bassoons, gloats at the prospect of capturing Angelotti and enjoying Tosca's favours. Puccini's note of the date of completion of Act I indicated that he discarded drafting material at the conclusion of each section of the opera. The opera as a whole was not competed until October 1899." Christie's London 1 December 2004 catalogue description
Worn, browned, and creased; edges frayed and with small tears; some spotting; small ca. 1 cm hole, not affecting music; vertical tear through signature, with no loss.
Tosca, to a libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa after Victorien Sardou, was first performed in Rome at the Teatro Costanzi on 14 January 1900.
"None of Puccini’s operas has aroused more hostility than Tosca, by reason of its alleged coarseness and brutality; yet its position in the central repertory has remained unchallenged. Not only is it theatrically gripping from start to finish: it presents the composer’s most varied and interesting soprano role, hence its perennial appeal for the great operatic actress. In contrast to Sardou’s heroine, against whose ignorance and simplicity the playwright can never resist tilting, Puccini’s Tosca is a credible woman of the theatre, lacking neither intelligence nor humour, and capable of genuine dignity." Julian Budden in Grove Music Online
"Tosca is still one of the operas most vividly present in the collective imagination. Its vitality is derived above all from Puccini’s technical skill. The composer stuck faithfully to his intention to represent a reality, real surroundings and characters, putting the music at the service of the drama. Imaginative tone colour, melodic inventiveness and motivic elaboration have their origin in economy and lead on to still bolder achievements in structure which bring him in line with the developments in European opera of the time. Combining the late 19th-century sensibility of the play by Sardou with modern modes of expression, ardently admired by Arnold Schoenberg and Alban Berg, though no less passionately deplored by Mahler, Puccini, in the best way possible, ushered in the 20th century." Michele Girardi in Grove Music Online
Autograph working manuscripts from Puccini's major operas rarely come on the market.
Item #39771
Price: $24,500.00 other currencies