82. Sogno d'or

Carlo Marsili, the author of the text of this lullaby, was Puccini’s nephew (the son of his sister Nitteti). In 1912, the year the song was composed, Puccini made an effort to establish Marsili as a librettist with Ricordi. So he proposed him as co-author for his own project, Anima allegra (see Carteggi 1958, No. 593), and recommended the opera Il Pergolese by Lamberto Landi, for which Marsili had written the libretto.Note: *See Puccini’s unpublished letter to Carlo Clausetti of 18 November 1912, I-Mr.  Perhaps it was in this context that Puccini set Marsili’s poem to music, so his own fame might increase his nephew’s reputation.
The periodical Noi e il Mondo had been issued since 1 December 1911; publication ceased in 1931 and it appealed to a broad public.Note: *See Olga Majolo Molinari, La Stampa Periodica Romana dal 1900 al 1926 (Rome: Istituto di studi romani, 1977), II, 491-92. Strangely enough, the song and its publication were not known to Puccini scholars for decades, despite a hint of its existence by Lucio D’Ambra (though chronologically completely inaccurate). It was recovered from obscurity by Julian Budden and publicly performed in 1994 as a direct result of his initiative.
In the first half of November 1912, Puccini was travelling constantly (see Schickling 1989, p. 428), so the composition of Sogno d’or may, of necessity, have originated in the second half of that month. Puccini later used this music, almost identically, in the second act of La Rondine (83), where it serves as the basis of the drinking song, “Bevo al tuo fresco sorriso.” There, the tempo indication is “Andantino un poco mosso, dolcemente,” and the music is in E flat major.