Sources
72. Scossa elettrica. Marcetta brillante

Not Known

72.B.1

Location:

Collezione Bergonzi, Parma (previously listed in Sotheby’s auction of 18 May 1995, catalogue p. 129, No. 241).


4 pages, 2° (37.5 × 26 cm) with 12 staves and the autograph heading: “Scossa Elettrica / Marcetta Brillante / GPuccini”. At the end, there is the autograph dedication: “Caro Ciospo / Eccoti la porcherietta / uso Torre del Lago — / che i Telegrafisti al suono / di questa marcetta arrivino / presto alla pensioneNote: “Dear Ciospo, here you have the little mess in the custom of Torre del Lago — may the telegraphers, at the sound of this small march, soon reach retirement”. / ciao a presto / Tuo aff / GPuccini”, then dated (in a different handwriting): “Marzo 1895”.

According to Sotheby’s catalogue, the annotations on two visiting cards included with the manuscript claim that a certain Luigi Sbragia gave it to the composer Mario Persico who indicated on the second card that Sbragia was the librettist of his opera Morenita (first performed in 1923 in Naples) and that Sbragia was the “Cioppa” (as he was called by his friends) mentioned by Puccini. However, Puccini’s autograph dedication doubtless reads “Ciospo”, i.e. Puccini’s long-time friend Luigi Pieri (see the numerous letters to Pieri published in Carteggi 1958). Pieri worked at the post and telegraph office in Milan. It is possible that he negotiated the commission for the composition.
The manuscript agrees exactly with 72.E.1 and certainly served as the model for it. The first 6 bars (E flat major, 2/4) were printed in Fellerer 1937b, p. 689.

72.B.2

Location:

Last in GB-TWmacnutt 


1 leaf, 2° with 14 staves headed “Scossa elettrica G. Puccini” (added in a different handwriting). The musical notation is in black and red ink; nearly all the notes in the left hand and the additions are in red, but perhaps only some of the music is in Puccini’s handwriting.

This is a very neat fair copy with only a few corrections, diverging slightly from 72.B.1. The most conspicuous difference is that the piece is in E major (not E flat major as in 72.B.1). The last three staves on the last page (with the leaf upside down) were used to jot down two monophonic melodies consisting of 7 bars in G major, 3/4, and 17 bars in D minor, 3/4 (quoted in part in Kaye 1987, p. XVI). They are probably not in Puccini’s handwriting, nor do they belong to this piece; they remain unidentified (however, see also Appendix III.12).

Not Known

72.D.1

Copied source Portion Bibliographic reference Page number
72.E.1 Morini 1979

p. 24.

72.D.2

Copied source Portion Bibliographic reference Page number
72.B.1

pp. 1 and 4

 Marchesi 2003

p. 92.

72.E.1

Scossa elettrica. Marcetta brillante per pianoforte di Giacomo Puccini.
Onoranze dei Telegrafisti a “Volta” nel Centenario della Pila. Proprietà del Comitato dei Telegrafisti per le Onoranze a Volta.
Officine G. Ricordi, Milan, 1899.
Without PN, 4 pages, 4° (3 pages of music).
Published as the musical supplement to: I Telegrafisti a Volta. Numero unico. Tipografia Pietro Cairoli, Como, 1899.

Copies
I-Baf

72.E.1b

Trascrizione e adattamento di Carlo Pirola.
Copyright 1998.
Edizioni Vidale, Milano, 1998.
PN E. V. 743, 19 pages, 4°.

This is a minor revision of the original version for banda by G. Serrao (see NOTES). Below the score, Puccini’s original piano version is printed as the "guida originale".

72.E.2

In Giacomo Puccini. L’opera completa per pianoforte, a cura di Marco Sollini.
Boccaccini & Spada Editori, Pavona di Albano Laziale-Rome, 2000.
PN BS 1324, pp. 6-9.

72.E.3

In Works for Piano by Giacomo Puccini, edited and annotated by Michael Kaye.
Master Music Publications, Boca Raton, Florida, 2004.
PN M 3768, pp. 6-9.

72.E.4

Critical edition:
Composizioni per pianoforte. Edizioni critiche di Virgilio Bernardoni.
Edizione Nazionale delle Opera di Giacomo Puccini, series Opere musicali, vol. II/2.2. 
Carus Verlag, Stuttgart, 2024.
PN CV 56.004, pp. 34-37.

Nota