Sources
6. Messa
6.A.1
Carta VII recto
)(Critica, 19-20, No. B 1): First page of a double leaf, 4° (33 x 24 cm)with 20 staves; p. 2 is comprised of the manuscript detailed in Appendix III.9; pp. 3 and 4 are blank.
This is a fragment of the beginning of the Kyrie in full score, but only the first bar is written out and four further measures were left blank.
Diagonaly across the entire page, Puccini wrote: "FINUCCI da Mano [meaning unclear]" and "Merda [Shit)"; the reason for this expression of Puccini's displeasure is unknown.
This leaf certainly was written when Puccini began notating the full score, i.e. in the first half of 1880 (perhaps in June of that year).
First half of 1880.
6.B.1
182 pages (paginated in another handwriting), 2° with 20 staves. On the cover, in another handwriting: Messa / a 4 Voci con Orchestra / di / Giacomo Puccini / 12 Luglio Lucca 1880"; inside, Puccini wrote: "Messa a 4 con Orchestra / di / Giacomo Puccini / 1880".
The individual movements are paginated separately at the upper right, partly by Puccini and some in another handwriting.
In the Gratias agimus section of the Gloria, staves for two additional horns, a harp, as well as some other augmentations of the instrumentation were added in pencil (see NOTES). At the end of the Credo, Puccini wrote: "Giacomo Puccini / adi 8 Luglio [18|78".
At the beginning of the Sanctus e Benedictus, he wrote: "Giacomo Puccini / 1880". In the Benedictus there are also pencilled augmentations of the instrumentation (see NOTES).
In the Agnus Dei, the original title "Agnus Dei duetto Tenore] e B[asso]. con coro" is crossed out and replaced with the autograph heading "Madrigale" written above it (probably when Puccini decided to use this music in Act 2 of Manon Lescaut, see 64). At fig. 2-4/+8 in 6.E.3, 12 bars were indicated as a cut with Puccini's autograph indication "taglio" and the counter indication marked "Senza taglio [without the cut) (V.G.)" in another handwriting (see NOTES).
Attached: 1 double leaf, 4° oblong format with 41 staves, paginated in another handwriting I/A-4/A (the correct order should be: 3/A, 4/A, 1/A; 2/A is blank). 10 bars.
This is an instrumental version of a verse of the Gratias agimus in a completely different orchestration with the Tenor part in the violoncelli, most probably originating from the reworking of the score in 1893 (see NOTES).
1878, 1880, 1893
6.C.1
Location:Missing: Copyist’s full score (photographic reproduction in US-Wc with the call number M 2010.P95A2).
178 pages, 4° with 20 staves, and a few blank pages. The single movements are paginated separately in another handwriting.
The first page bears the autograph title: “Messa a 4 Voci con Orchestra / di Giacomo Puccini”; then, in another handwriting, the indication “ / di Lucca / Scritta l’anno 1879 / Eseguita il 12 Luglio 1880, giorno / di S. Paolino primo Vescovo / di Lucca [from Lucca / Written in 1879Note: *This year, of course, is incorrect, so this non-autograph addition might have been written many years later, when the person responsible for this annotation lacked better information. / Performed on 12 July 1880, the festival of Saint Paolino, the first bishop / of Lucca]”, at the bottom, again in Puccini’s hand: “Lucca 1880”. On the last page, Puccini wrote vertically in the right margin: “Giacomo Puccini 1880 Lucca”.
This is the photographic reproduction of the copyist’s score acquired by Dante Del Fiorentino in 1951 in Lucca from the Vandini family. Since the US-Wc catalogue indicates this as: “Copyright Dante Del Fiorentino; 11 Sep 1951”, it was obviously the basis for 6.E.1 (see NOTES).
Traditionally, the Luccan musician and Puccini’s friend of long standing, Guido Vandini (1869–1925), was thought to have made this very professional-looking copy of the score.Note: *Inaccurate information provided by Puccini’s heirs resulted in Hopkinson’s attributing this to Guido’s brother Alfredo, who was not a professional musician; see Hopkinson 1968, pp. 75–76.In fact, he could not have been the copyist, for he was by far too young when it was produced. This manuscript was probably made as a fair copy of the score, with the non-autograph text on the first page added later, to facilitate the copying of the instrumental and vocal parts for the first performance (see 6.C.3). Everything suggests that this manuscript was produced in view of that performance, because it does not reproduce Puccini’s shorthand omissions of the repetitions found in 6.B.1, but includes them written out in full. Furthermore, it does not contain Puccini’s later additions made in 6.B.1 (see NOTES).
Evidently this is the manuscript which was offered for sale in the catalogue of the Luccan “Libreria Antiquaria di Alberto Pellicci” of May 1927 (see Niccolai 1999, p. 36 and Riproduzione 2). However, it is not clear where this copy was preserved between 1880 and the early 1950s. It may have been in the possession of the unknown copyist, and later (through the antiquarian Pellicci) purchased by the Vandini family, who, shortly after Guido Vandini’s death, may not have been aware of his precise participation in the early modifications of the autograph (see 6.B.1 and NOTES), and erroneously thought this score was copied by Guido Vandini himself.
Not known.
6.C.2
Full score.
204 paginated pages (5 of which are title pages and 20 are blank), 4° with 20 staves. In addition, the double leaves and pages of the individual movements are paginated separately.
The first title page is headed: “Messa / a / quattro voci / con / orchestra / di / G. Puccini”. On all of the title pages, there is the stamp of “Angelo Spinelli — Maestro di Musica” and the indication “Giacomo Puccini 1880” (except for the Kyrie, which has no separate title page). Furthermore, at the end of the Credo, Puccini’s autograph dating is copied from 60.B.1.
Angelo Spinelli (1863–1933), the copyist of this manuscript, was a secretary and teacher at the Pacini Institute. It was probably written early in 1892, after Puccini had given the parts of the Messa, but not the full score (see 6.C.3), as a present to the Pacini Institute by the end of 1891, along with several manuscripts of music by his ancestors.
Spinelli’s copy seems to have been made as a kind of documentation of Puccini’s autograph score, since it reproduces that autograph almost exactly (including the number of bars per page, Puccini’s shorthand omissions of the repetitions etc.), and certainly was never intended for performances.
First half of 1892
6.C.3
P.I.235
)Complete parts for the Kyrie, Gloria, and Credo.Note: *The information in Mostra 1974, p. 16, No. 4, is misleading.
Without a doubt, these are the (incomplete) original parts for the first performance, consisting of: 5 parts each for sopranos and contraltos; 4 for the tenors (of which in the Gloria and the Credo one part is indicated as the “Tenore concerto [tenor soloist]”); 4 for the basses; an additional part of the Incarnatus for Tenor solo; 3 parts each for Violins I and II; 2 parts each for Viola, Violoncello, and Double bass; single parts for the wind instruments and the timpani.
For the Gloria and the Credo, there is one part each for a “Violino principale”, comprising the Violin I part with the main other instruments indicated on the staff above. That probably means that the performance was conducted by the concert master.
Most of the parts for the Credo are dated “1878”; numerous parts for the Kyrie and Gloria (written by different copyists) are dated “1880”. Puccini’s autograph timpani part for the Kyrie is also included in this collection of material (see 6.B.2).
The total number of these parts also provides information about the strikingly small number of performers utilized for the première, i.e. 24 strings and (at most) a chorus of 36 singers.
1878 and 1880
6.D.1
| Copied source | Portion | Bibliographic reference | Page number |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6.A.1 |
Niccolai 1999
Michela Niccolai, La Messa a 4 voci di Giacomo Puccini e la musica sacra a Lucca nella seconda metà dell'Ottocento. Master's thesis, Università degli studi di Siena, 1999. |
Riproduzione 1 |
6.D.2
| Copied source | Portion | Bibliographic reference | Page number |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6.B.1 | cover |
Marchetti 1968
Leopoldo Marchetti (ed.), Puccini nelle immagini. Torre del Lago, Museo di Torre del Lago, 1968 [first shorter edition: Milan, Garzanti, 1949]. |
No. 22 |
6.D.3
| Copied source | Portion | Bibliographic reference | Page number |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6.B.1 | beginning of the Sanctus |
Marchetti 1968
Leopoldo Marchetti (ed.), Puccini nelle immagini. Torre del Lago, Museo di Torre del Lago, 1968 [first shorter edition: Milan, Garzanti, 1949]. |
No. 23 |
6.E.1
First edition of the piano-vocal score:
Messa di Gloria for Tenor, Baritone and Bass Solo, Mixed Voices (S. A. T. B.) and Orchestra.
Copyright 1951 (in later copies, additional copyright 1952).
Mills Music (later in conjunction with Ricordi), New York, 1952.
PN 90061, 80 pages, 4°.
This edition is based on 6.C.1.
6.E.2
First edition of the full score:
Messa per soli, coro a 4 voci miste e orchestra (opera postuma [sic]).
Copyright 1951.
Ricordi, Milan, and Mills Music 1974 [?].
PN 132184, 199 pages, 2°.
Catalogued in MRL about December 1973/January 1974.
Including information (not always convincing) about certain deviations from the “manoscritto autografo” (= 6.B.1) and corrections of obvious mistakes in the autograph. The later pencilled entries in the Gloria Puccini made in 6.B.1 are not considered or mentioned.
Available only on rental, as are the parts (PN 132185/186).
6.E.3
Second edition of the piano-vocal score:
Messa di Gloria per soli (T., Bar., B.), coro a 4 voci miste e orchestra.
Copyright 1951.
Ricordi, Milano, and Mills Music 1974 [?].
PN 132187, 109 pages, 4°.
Catalogued in MRL like 6.E.2.
Musically nearly identical with 6.E.1.
6.E.4
Critical edition of the full score:
Messa a 4 voci, per soli TBar, coro SATB ed orchestra / Giacomo Puccini, herausgegeben von Dieter Schickling.
Carus Verlag, Stuttgart, 2004.
PN CV 40.645, XIV + 234 pages, 2°.
Based on 6.B.1 but also considering 6.C.1, 6.C.2, and 6.C.3. This is the first critical edition of the Messa.
Piano-vocal score, study score and parts with the same plate number are also available.
6.E.5
Messa a 4 voci con orchestra SC6. Herausgegeben von Dieter Schickling.
Edizione Nazionale delle Opere di Giacomo Puccini, Opere musicali, III: Musica vocale, 2.
Carus Verlag, Stuttgart, 2013.
PN CV 56.001, VI + 226 pages.
Based on 6.E.4.