72. Scossa elettrica. Marcetta brillante

Puccini probably composed what he termed as this “brilliant little march” in the first half of 1899. There is no substantiation for the dubious earlier dating in 72.B.1. It was certainly commissioned for the “Esposizione di Como” and the World Conference of Telegraphers (the “Telegrafisti”), held at Lake Como from 31 May to 12 June 1899. Ricordi engraved the plates used for 72.E.1 and mentioned it in the Gazzetta musicale of 17 August 1899 (pp. 410-411).
On 12 November 1901, Puccini informed his Luccan friend Guido Vandini that he had sent him “la marcetta Scossa Elettrica” orchestrated by Maestro Serrao. Puccini requested that Vandini give it to the concert band in Lucca (the “banda di Lucca”), have it copied by Maestro Giorgi and returned to Puccini immediately thereafter (see Pintorno 1974, No. 77). In the archives of the Filarmonica Pisana, there is a copy of Serrao’s instrumentation with the title “Giacomo Puccini / Scossa Elettrica / Marcia brillante / Riduzione per Banda di G. Serrao”.
A program in I-Lmp proves that there was a performance of Scossa Elettrica on 18 December 1910 played by the Banda Comunale di Lucca. In the announcement of that concert in the daily L’Esare of 18 December 1910, and in the weekly Gazzetta di Lucca of 17/18 December 1910, the piece is listed with a date for the composition as “1881”, which is certainly erroneous.