55. Capriccio sinfonico

The Capriccio Sinfonico was Puccini’s final composition required for his studies at the Milan Conservatory. His hectic work on this piece and its extraordinary importance for him is demonstrated by the quantity of surviving sketches and drafts, often repeatedly involving the same passages, which were ultimately altered for the definitive version of the full score.
On 20 June 1883 Puccini wrote: “Lavoro accanitamente per ultimare il mio pezzo che ora è a buon punto [I am working like a dog to complete my piece, which now is almost done]” (Marchetti 1973, No. 10), signifying that he certainly must have begun composing this work much earlier. Eight days later (on 28 June 1883), it still was not completely finished (see Approdo musicale 1959, p. 35), but already scheduled for one of the public concerts of works by the Milan conservatory’s graduating class. Two orchestra rehearsals and the general rehearsal took place on 10, 12, and 13 July, the first performance on 14 and a second one on 16 July.Note: *See Carteggi 1958 No. 5, note 2, and Sartori 1964, pp. 69 and 71, note 10 (with quotations from the contemporary press).  The success of the Capriccio Sinfonico was remarkable, and Puccini felt it immediately (see Marchetti 1973, No. 18, certainly written the night of the first performance).
Franco Faccio, the conductor of the first performance, was one of the most prominent conductors in Italy. As the head of the orchestra at La Scala, he intended to play the Capriccio Sinfonico in one of his next concerts. However, it seems that apart from the world premiere he only performed it twice: on 6 July and on 26 October 1884 in Turin (see Magri 1983, pp. 22-23).
Earlier, the Capriccio Sinfonico had become Puccini’s second published composition, issued in a reduction for piano four-hands (55.E.1) dedicated to Prince Carlo Poniatowski (1808–1887), a Florentine nobleman of Tuscan, Polish, and Austrian descent and an ardent devotee of music.Note: *On Poniatowski, see Vittorio Spreti, Enciclopedia storico-nobiliare italiana, vol. 5 (Milan: Enciclopedia Storico-nobiliare italiana, 1932), p. 442.  Marchese Raffaello Mansi from Lucca had recommended Puccini to the prince, who agreed to meet the composer in mid-December 1883 (see Quaderni 1985, pp. 193-194). Puccini’s published dedication may have been made to thank the Prince for some form of patronage.
For the coda of the Capriccio Sinfonico, Puccini used a passage from his song Ad una Morta!, certainly written slightly earlier (see NOTES to 41). That is the first known example of one of Puccini’s frequent self-borrowings.
Later in his career, Puccini reused the music from the Capriccio Sinfonico several times. The most notable opportunity was for the Allegro vivace of the Capriccio, which is identical with the beginning of La Bohème, even the instrumentation. Two subjects from the slow main section of the Capriccio were used in the funeral music of Edgar.Note: *Act 3 after fig. 5 of the definitive version; in the first and second version of the opera they already appear at the beginning of the second act (see 62).  There are also reminiscences of the Capriccio Sinfonico in Le Villi (60): e.g. in the first part of the Intermezzo at the beginning of the second act, as well as in the sketches for that opera.Note: *See 60; see also Cesari 1994, pp. 689-691, and Cesari in Biagi Ravenni and Gianturco 1997, p. 452.
In March of 1893, Puccini used his original autograph manuscript for a detailed revision (see 55.B.1) for a performance in Venice on 9 April 1893, which proved to be controversial with the critics.Note: *See the Gazzetta musicale of 16 April 1893, p. 270, and of 23 April 1893, p. 295.  Much later, Pier Adolfo Tirindelli, the conductor of that performance and the director of the Venice Conservatory, commented on his association with Puccini in an interviewNote: *See John Alan Haughton, “How Puccini Got His Start,” Musical America, 20 September 1919, p. 5.  without mentioning the Venetian performance. However, Tirindelli’s recollections are, in general, extremely unreliable. After the Venice performance, the work apparently was never performed again in Puccini’s lifetime.