30. Fuga

The annotations in manuscript 30.B.1 lead one to suppose that this was a work required for the examination at the end of Puccini’s second year of study at the Milan Conservatory (1881-1882). If he had already used the fugue several months earlier during his lessons, as indicated by 30.A.2, this could confirm the anecdote recounted in the early Puccini biographies: that Puccini repeatedly presented the same works to his teacher, who did not realize it.