4. Credo

The date of completion (8 July 1878), documented in the autograph 6.B.1, suggests that this piece was finished in great haste to make possible the performance on 12 July 1878, together with Puccini’s own Mottetto (2) and works by other students of the Istituto musicale “Giovanni Pacini“ (for an account of the performance see La Provincia di Lucca of 13 July 1878: “Il ‘Credo’ è di nuova fattura del sig. Puccini ...”).
Two years later, Puccini used the Credo as a part of his Messa (see 6).