86. [Calmo e molto lento]

In the autumn of 1916, the Associazione della Stampa Subalpina (Turin) asked Puccini for permission to use some performances of La Bohème (67) to benefit the families of fallen and wounded Italian soldiers (“Famiglia del Soldato”), to be advertised and promoted in a special publication ( a “Numero unico”). Puccini agreed in a letter of 19 November 1916, which he sent along with the untitled manuscript of the composition (“Le mando quattro battute per il numero unico [I am sending you a few measuresNote: *In this colloquial context, “quattro” in Italian is not restricted to “four." for the special publication]”).
According to Magri 1983, the letter and the autograph of the composition were destroyed by a fire in the archives of the Associazione della Stampa Subalpina in spring 1917, but are preserved in the facsimiles published in the Numero unico (see 86.D.1).
Magri 1999 postulates that this piece is really the Elegia mentioned in Puccini’s letter of 4 November 1914 (to Adami [?]; see Adami 1935, p. 93), about which nothing else is known.