Giacomo Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi: Reinventing Dante for Social Criticism

Michiko Hara

Italian Studies Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures McGill University

December 2017

Thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfillment of the degree of Master of Arts

© Michiko Hara 2017

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT – RÉSUMÉ ………………………………………………………….. ii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS …………………………………………………………. vi

INTRODUCTION ………………………………………………………………... 1

1. Historical Context ……………………………………………………………... 5 1.1. Puccini’s Youth ………………………………………………………….. 5 1.2. The Private Life as a Maestro ………………………………………….. 8 1.3. Puccini in the Italian Context …………………………………………... 10 1.4. Puccini, Dante and Italianità …………………………………………… 12 1.5 Puccini’s Political Ideology ……………………………………………... 20 1.5.1. Puccini’s Nationalism …………………………………………… 20 1.5.2. Puccini and Fascism …………………………………………….. 23

2. Gianni Schicchi and Its Enigma ……………………………………………… 27 2.1. From Dante to Puccini ………………………………………………….. 27 2.1.1. Dante’s Gianni Schicchi: A Brief Excursus …………………… 29 2.1.2 The Genesis of Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi ……………………… 35 2.2 Musicality in Gianni Schicchi …………………………………………... 38 2.3. Gianni Schicchi: Epitome of Florentine Society ………………………. 41 2.4. Departures from Dante …………………………………………………. 51 2.5. The Reception of Gianni Schicchi ……………………………………… 55

3. Puccini’s Personal Voice ………………………………………………………. 58 3.1. Gianni Schicchi as an Integral Part of Il Trittico ……………………… 58 3.2. Gianni Schicchi in the Context of Puccini’s Oeuvre …………………... 61 3.3. Puccini’s Authorship ……………………………………………………. 65

CONCLUSION …………………………………………………………………… 69

BIBLIOGRAPHY ………………………………………………………………… 75

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ABSTRACT

Giacomo Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, a one-act opera forming part of his trilogy called Il Trittico, received its world premiere in New York on December 14, 1918. Schicchi is a character that

Dante Alighieri, approximately six hundred years earlier, condemned to Hell in his Commedia, more precisely in Canto XXX of the Inferno, for having impersonated the deceased Buoso

Donati and successfully falsified the latter’s will. Surprisingly, Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi is a comedy with a happy ending and the impersonator Schicchi, one of Dante’s worst sinners, becomes a hero. Why did Puccini, known to be a cosmopolitan xenophile, choose Dante at this particular time? In fact, it is Puccini’s only opera based on an Italian source and the only opera buffa or comedy in his entire oeuvre. Moreover, if Dante was indeed the inspiration for his

Gianni Schicchi, why did Puccini not respect the quintessence of Inferno XXX? Unfortunately, scholarly works that directly address these issues are scarce. With a view to finding answers to the aforementioned questions, the first chapter deals with the historical aspects from the biographical, social, political and artistic points of view. Then, the following chapter focuses on the theme of Gianni Schicchi, i.e. the close reading of the opera’s libretto taking into consideration its musicality and in comparison with Dante’s severe treatment of Schicchi. By then, it becomes clear that: if Gianni Schicchi is a comedy, it is a black comedy reflecting

Puccini’s Nihilism and sarcasm; whereas Dante’s judgment was based on a strict and rigid interpretation of Thomas Aquinas’s theology and his political vision sustaining the aristocracy,

Puccini approached Schicchi more humanly and democratically; and, Puccini thus challenged

Dante’s ideological position. In sum, the opera Gianni Schicchi represents Puccini’s criticism of social injustice and hope for a better society without class struggle. This preliminary conclusion,

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however, is supported solely by circumstantial evidences. In order to substantiate and make it worthy as the final conclusion, the final chapter discusses Puccini’s other operas to find a coherent flow of the theme as well as the question of authorship. Doing so, it becomes evident that the theme of social injustice constitutes the thread throughout his entire oeuvre.

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RÉSUMÉ

Gianni Schicchi, opéra en un acte de Giacomo Puccini qui fait partie intégrale de sa trilogie Il

Trittico, a connu sa première mondiale à New York le 14 décembre 1918. Schicchi est un personnage que Dante Alighieri a condamné à l’enfer dans sa Commedia, et plus précisément dans le Canto XXX de l’Inferno, pour s’être fait passer pour le feu Buoso Donati et pour avoir ainsi falsifié son testament avec succès. Par contre, l’opéra de Puccini est une comédie dotée d’un heureux dénouement qui transforme Schicchi, un des pires pécheurs selon Dante, en un héros. Puccini étant réputé pour être cosmopolite et xénophile, on peut se demander ce qui l’a incité à choisir cette fois-ci Dante ? En effet, il s’agit du seul opéra de Puccini qui est basé sur une source italienne et du seul opéra buffa parmi toutes ses œuvres. De plus, si Dante a été en effet l’inspiration pour son Gianni Schicchi, pourquoi n’a-t-il pas respecté la quintessence de l’Inferno XXX. Malheureusement, la doctrine sur ce point précis est peu abondante. Dans le but de trouver des réponses auxdites questions, le premier chapitre traitera des aspects historiques, soit d’un point de vue biographique, sociale, politique et artistique. Le focus du deuxième chapitre portera sur l’analyse du libretto de l’opéra Gianni Schicchi en prenant en considération sa musicalité et le mettant en contraste avec le traitement sévère auquel Dante a assujetti

Schicchi. À ce stade-là, il nous paraitra clair : que si Gianni Schicchi est une comédie, il s’agira d’une comédie noir reflétant le Nihilisme et le sarcasme de Puccini ; que le jugement de Dante est base sur l’interprétation stricte et rigide de la théologie de Thomas d’Aquin ainsi que sa propre vision politique valorisant l’aristocratie, tandis que l’approche de Puccini envers Schicchi est plus humaine et démocratique ; et que Puccini a ainsi lancé défi à la position idéologique de

Dante. En somme, l’opéra Gianni Schicchi représente le critique de l’injustice sociale de

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Puccini et son espoir pour une meilleure société libre de la lutte des classes. Cette conclusion préliminaire est cependant appuyée uniquement de preuves circonstancielles. Afin de la soutenir davantage et de la rendre digne de la conclusion finale, le dernier chapitre discutera d’autres opéras de Puccini ainsi que « la notion d’autorité ». En ce faisant, il deviendra sans équivoque qu’il y a un fil conducteur à travers ses œuvres, soit le thème de l’injustice sociale.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I cannot begin to describe how indebted I am to Professor Eugenio Bolongaro for his invaluable assistance with my thesis. He graciously agreed to become my thesis supervisor halfway through the process and the enthusiasm that he displayed regarding my thesis topic inspired and encouraged me throughout my work. His multi-dimensional thinking and thorough guidance on drafting taught me how one should develop a more comprehensible and convincing thesis.

I owe special thanks to Professor Gabriella Ravenni, president of Centro Studi Giacomo Puccini in Lucca, Italy, who kindly received me in her office and provided me with insightful information on Giacomo Puccini as well as various sources of reference concerning him. I would also like to thank Professor Matteo Soranzo who gave me my first exposure to Dante and his Commedia during my undergraduate program in Italian Studies. Without his expertise and suggestion about “authorship,” the conclusion of my thesis would have omitted this important facet. Last but not least, I want to express my sincere gratitude to Professor Lucienne Kroha who guided me throughout my studies at McGill University: she was always available for any guidance that I needed and encouraged me to pursue my passion.

Finally, after almost thirty years of legal practice, the high academic standards of McGill

University and the excellent services rendered by its support staff were a great incentive for me to pursue my academic interest, namely: Mr. Lonnie Weatherby, an expert librarian knowledgeable about Italian literature, taught me how to conduct proper library research; and,

Ms. Lynda Bastian, our Graduate Study Coordinator, always helped me and made my student life easier.

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INTRODUCTION

Giacomo Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi is a one-act opera forming part of his trilogy called Il Trittico. It received its world premiere in New York on December 14, 1918 and was immediately well received both abroad and in Italy where it was first performed in Rome on

January 11, 1919. The title of the opera is derived from its protagonist, Gianni Schicchi, a character whose story already had a distinguished, though minor, career in Italian letters since

Dante Alighieri condemned him to Hell in his Commedia, more precisely in Canto XXX of the

Inferno, for having impersonated the deceased Buoso Donati and successfully falsified the latter’s will. Surprisingly, Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi is not a story about eternal damnation but a comedy with a happy ending and the impersonator Schicchi, one of Dante’s worst sinners, becomes a family hero. Perhaps even more surprising is the fact that Gianni Schicchi, Puccini’s eleventh opera, is the only one that is based on an Italian source and the only opera buffa, if not the only comic opera,1 in Puccini’s entire oeuvre.

Why did Puccini, who was known to be a cosmopolitan xenophile, choose Dante at this particular time in his career to depart from his usual practice of finding inspiration from non-Italian sources and instead drew a character from Dante, the most prestigious Italian cultural icon? Moreover, in drawing from such literary giant as Dante, why did Puccini not respect the quintessence of Inferno XXX and rather transformed Dante’s bleak tale into a comedy that saved Schicchi from Hell and let him enjoy the heavenly Florence? Some scholars point out that Puccini always admired Dante but that does not shed much light either on the choice of subject – Schicchi after all is a minor character in the Commedia – or the drastic recasting by the composer of the story told by the poet. Unfortunately, scholarly works that

1 John Louis DiGaetani, Puccini the Thinker: The Composer’s Intellectual and Dramatic Development (Bern; New York: P. Lang, 1987). The author challenges the general conception that Puccini wrote only one comic opera, La Fanciulla del West being also a comedy with its happy ending.

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address this intriguing puzzle are scarce and have failed to achieve a consensus. This is not surprising since each author approaches Gianni Schicchi from a different perspective, whether artistic, political or otherwise, and, therefore, privileges different factors. In fact, it seems that it is only recently that Puccini and his works have begun attracting the sustained scholarly interest that can provide the foundations for a comprehensive interpretation. Most pertinently for our purposes, it should be noted that among the approximately sixty reference works on

Puccini consulted for the purpose of this study, about forty were published since 2000 and fifteen in the 1980s and 1990s notwithstanding the fact that Puccini was the most famous Italian opera composer of the twentieth century.

Given these circumstances, the best way to move the scholarship forward is to proceed systematically and I propose to do so first by reviewing the relevant historical context.

My starting point will be his biographical background that will provide essential insights in the circumstances that would inevitably have influenced Puccini’s intellectual and artistic development as well as, ultimately, his political positioning. However, in discussing the last point, I shall widen the scope of my analysis to encompass the social climate of the period, approximately one hundred years ago, in which Puccini composed Gianni Schicchi. It should be pointed out immediately that Puccini was undeniably Italy’s most important composer at a critical time in the formation of Italian national identity and in the rise of Fascism and, therefore, the question of the political significance of his work is unavoidable. The final step in this preparatory work will be to situate Gianni Schicchi within the context of Puccini’s oeuvre in order to identify, at least preliminarily, the distinguishing traits of this opera and the role that this opera has in the evolution of Puccini’s trajectory. The key issue here will be to consider to

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what extent Gianni Schicchi represents a departure from previous works both in subject matter and in tone. The existing scholarship on this issue, though not extensive, is very helpful.

Once the historical, biographical, political and artistic contexts have been established, it will be possible to turn to the central subject matter of my thesis, namely, Gianni Schicchi itself. I shall begin with a comparative analysis of the three version of the Schicchi story:

Dante’s treatment in the Commedia, the Italian legend recounted by Anonimo Fiorentino, and the opera’s libretto written by Giovacchino Forzano. My primary goal in this analysis will be to define precisely the extent of Puccini’s deviation from Dante and the possible sources (if any) of this deviation.

I shall then proceed to a close reading of the libretto, taking into consideration the opera’s musicality, which I believe is as eloquent as the libretto’s verses, if not more, in revealing Puccini’s intent. Through the analysis of the libretto, I hope to find clues that enable us to develop some solid hypotheses, which, however, will have to be tested by confronting some new questions, such as: are those hypotheses compatible with the underlying theme of the trilogy Il Trittico; and, do they help us understand the progression among the three operas in the order of presentation demanded by Puccini, Il Tabarro, Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi?

After situating Gianni Schicchi within the trilogy, I will return to the issue of this opera’s role within Puccini’s oeuvre more generally and consider to what extent the hypotheses developed in my close reading make it necessary to revise the framework originally postulated.

It is at this point that the issue of “authorship” can be raised in its full complexity and, more specifically, the claim to authority that Puccini was making in taking as his subject matter a character in Dante’s Commedia. In this context, it will be particularly enlightening to compare

Puccini’s gesture with Dante’s own claim to authority in the Commedia in general and in the

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episode of Gianni Schicchi in particular. The scholarship on this aspect of Dante’s ideology and project can provide us with the conceptual tools to understand the significance of Puccini’s gesture and appreciate the vastly different historical context in which the two “authors” were operating. This question of authority should bring to light some important elements that would form part of my conclusion.

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1. Historical Context 1.1. Puccini’s Youth2

Giacomo Puccini was born in Lucca, a conservative Tuscan town in Italy, on

December 22nd, 1858 and died in Brussels, Belgium on November 29, 1924. He was born to a distinguished musician family to which authors often refer as the Puccini music dynasty. The founder of the dynasty was Giacomo Puccini, five generations earlier, who was appointed to a prestigious position of Maestro di Cappella of the Republic of Lucca in 1740. Although all the subsequent generations were successful church organists and/or composers, the family was impoverished by the time Puccini was born. This was mainly caused by the premature death of successive heads of the family and, indeed, Puccini’s own father died prematurely leaving his young wife and seven small children, with the eighth one yet to arrive three month later –

Puccini himself was only five years old.

Despite the family’s difficult situation, his mother Albina never lost faith in

Giacomo. She was ambitious in that she wanted his son not only to follow the family tradition but also to make the dynasty more important, advancing her son’s career far beyond that of a local musician.3 She petitioned Queen Margherita di Savoia, the wife of the King of Italy

Umberto I, asking for assistance to send Giacomo to study music at Conservatorio Reale in

Milano, the most prestigious music school in Italy. In 1880, a monthly scholarship of 100 lire for a year was granted by the Queen. Even by the standards of the time, it was too modest a sum to cover his study away from home and many letters written by Puccini at the time demonstrate how miserable his life in Milan was. After the expiration of the one-year scholarship, his mother spared no effort to continue financing Giacomo’s study.

2 Simonetta Puccini, "The Puccini Family," The Puccini Companion, ed. William Weaver and Simonetta Puccini (New York: W.W. Norton, 1994). 3 Mary Jane Phillips-Matz, Puccini: A Biography (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 2002) 3.

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At the conservatory, Giacomo was mentored by Amilcare Ponchielli, a famous opera composer. After Puccini’s Capriccio Sinfonico (his graduation composition) was successfully performed on July 4, 1883 by the Conservatory student orchestra, Ponchielli encouraged

Giacomo to compose his first opera. Puccini could not afford to hire a librettist but, with his mentor’s help, he finally managed to buy from the Milanese poet Ferdinando Fontana a libretto that the latter had already written using as a source a central European fairy tale. The outcome of the collaboration was Puccini’s first opera Le Villi, which was presented at the prestigious national competition Sonzogno but failed to win a prize. John Louis DiGaetani suggests that

Puccini lost the competition because the new trend verismo was becoming dominant and replacing more traditional romanticism that Puccini had adopted.4 In spite of the failure at the competition, Le Villi captivated some experts’ attention and with the strong support of

Ponchielli, as well as Arrigo Boito and Giulio Ricordi,5 Le Villi was performed at the Teatro

Dal Verme in Milan on May 31, 1884, achieving some acclaim.

Notwithstanding this fairly positive early initial foray in the world of opera, Puccini had to wait for another ten years to enjoy real success. His second opera Edgar, based on a

Flemish medieval story, had its premiere at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan in 1889. It took five years to complete and it was “Puccini’s one unmitigated failure.”6 The librettist was again

Fontana and Puccini found working with him very difficult. As a matter of fact, the negative reviews of Edgar targeted the poor quality of the libretto. Puccini drew two lessons of a

4 DiGaetani 14. 5 Boito was a composer himself and a longtime collaborator of Verdi as his librettist and Ricordi was the head of Casa Ricordi, the most prestigious music publisher in Italy. 6 Arman Schwartz, "Realism and Skepticism in Puccini's Early Operas," in Giacomo Puccini and His World, ed. Arman Schwartz and Emanuele Senici (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2016) 40.

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lifetime from this failure: never again a grandiose historical opera;7 and, never again a librettist whom he could not control.8

After the failure of his second opera, Puccini’s life became so strenuous that at one time he considered immigrating to Argentina, where his only brother Michele had settled in

1889. Michele was struggling and Giacomo thought that he could help improve his younger brother’s life as well as change his own. Michele was the child born after the death of their father and Giacomo adored him as if he were his own son. However, this immigration plan never materialized. Michele died in 1891 in most miserable and tragic conditions: a fugitive in

Brazil, as a result of a duel, and afflicted by yellow fever.9 Giacomo never fully recovered from this tragedy.

In light of the foregoing, there are a few facts that I want to underscore about

Puccini’s youth. First of all, without the mother’s ambition, tenacity and faith in his son, the grand maestro Puccini would never have existed. Second, Puccini suffered poverty and developed a certain inferiority complex while studying in Milan. At the time, Milan or Milano la Grande was the financial capital of Italy and the wealth enjoyed by its population was obvious. In contrast with his own modest life, Puccini once exclaimed in his letter to his mother: “How rich the Milanese are!”10 Last but not least, we should note his Tuscan origin that would have an important impact on his career; in those days, Lucca was often referred to as

“a miniature Florence.”11

7 Ibid. 8 DiGaetani 2-4. 9 Ibid. 19; Puccini 32-38. 10 Phillips-Matz 30. 11 Ibid. 5.

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1.2. The Private Life of a Maestro

Puccini had his first real success in 1893 with his third opera Manon Lescaut and over night he acquired an international reputation. DiGaetani attributes this success to the fact that Puccini controlled every detail of the opera,12 which, moreover, told a simple and easy-to- relate-to story: in Puccini’s own words, it was “nothing more than a story about a nice girl with a big heart.”13 He had not forgotten the bitter lessons taught by Edgar’s failure! It is worth noting that during the three years spent to create Manon Lescaut, Puccini worked with a total of six librettists so that in the end, when the score was finally published, no name was printed for the libretto since it would have been ridiculous to list so many authors.14

Despite his growing international fame as the greatest Italian opera composer of his time and a significant improvement of the financial situation, Puccini’s life was never an easy one. In 1884, a few months after the death of his mother Albina, he started a serious relationship with Elvira Gemignani, his future wife, who was then his piano and voice student.

Elvira was a married woman but they started living together in 1886, the year when their only child Antonio was born. They finally legalized their status in 1904 after her husband died.15

From the beginning, their relationship was a stormy one; Puccini was a womanizer who was in eternal search of an ideal woman, perhaps a mother figure. One day in 1908, Elvira’s excessive possessiveness literally went beyond control and ended in a tragedy. Jealous as usual, but this time wrongfully so, she accused one of their housemaids, Doria Manfredi, of having an affair with her husband. Doria, an innocent victim, took poison and killed herself. Then, not only did her family sue Elvira but also she was convicted and jailed for harassment. Puccini had to pay

12 DiGaetani 2. 13 Schwartz 40. 14 DiGaetani 69. 15 Puccini 22-23; DiGaetani 14-16.

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the penalty to have her released and considerable damages to Doria’s family to settle the case.

He was so distressed, as he wrote to Sybil Seligman, a former lover who had become his lifetime confident, that it took him a long time before he was able to go back to work.16

Andrew C. Davis describes the composer’s tormented life as “Puccini’s masochistically inflicting pain and suffering on his own marriage.”17

In addition to liaisons that made his life truly melodramatic, Puccini had a great passion for speed and hunting, though he also loved his quiet life in his villa in Torre del Lago near Lucca. He enjoyed driving the newest cars around the villa as well as fishing and speed boating on the lake. In 1903, he had a serious car accident while Madama Butterfly was being composed: he and Elvira were gravely injured. After the accident, he was diagnosed with chronic depression and developed paranoia about aging. Sybil’s son Vincent, who had accompanied the mother to see Puccini since his childhood and who had seen numerous letters from Puccini to Sybil, once testified that he had never seen a man who, in spite of so many triumphs, was as unhappy as Puccini.18

Puccini was a fundamentally solitary person. Although he enjoyed friendly conversations with his intimate circle, he was extremely introverted and hated public appearances. While Puccini’s negative outlook on life may have a variety of causes, it is reasonable to assume that the social disparity that he witnessed in youth (including the miserable and tragic death of his beloved brother in South America) must have had an important impact on him. Tragedy seems to have haunted him: after his brother, his mother died in 1884, at the young age of fifty-four and right after Giacomo’s graduation from the

16 Mary Jane Phillips-Matz, "Puccini's America," The Puccini Companion, ed. William Weaver and Simonetta Puccini (New York: W.W. Norton, 1994) 216-17. 17 Andrew C. Davis, Il Trittico, Turandot, and Puccini's Late Style (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2010) 232-33. 18 Ibid. 229-36.

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conservatory. According to his biographers and based on his own letters to her, she seems to have been the only person to whom Puccini could open his heart in youth. The pressures and difficulties in his personal and professional circumstances left scars that his subsequent success could not heal. It seems that Puccini did not believe in his own intelligence and he thought that he had more heart than mind.19 Davis refers to a letter that Puccini wrote in 1903 to Luigi

Illica, a librettist and one of his collaborators: “If only you knew about my suffering… My temperament is so different from everyone else’s! Only I understand myself, and this gives me grief; but my pain is constant, and it gives me no peace.”20 The letter eloquently demonstrates how his desperate state of mind was afflicted by bottomless solitude, introversion and helplessness.

1.3. Puccini in the Italian Context

Puccini lived through the founding period of the modern Italian state and national identity. He was three years old at the time of the Unification of Italy in 1861. As a consequence, he lived at the heady days of Italian nationalism and enjoyed great success as a composer throughout the struggle to unify the country not only politically but also socially, economically and culturally. His opera Gianni Schicchi was composed during the First World

War and premiered in 1918 right after the peace treaty that did not reward Italian aspirations and ambitions as one of the victorious powers. Italian nationalism was being stirred by public figures like D’Annunzio and Mussolini who began to speak about a “mutilated” victory, paving the way to Italian Fascism.

Historians of Italy agree that, until Unification or at least until the Risorgimento, Italy as a nation or a people was merely a vague concept that might have been discussed among

19 DiGaetani 1. 20 Davis 234.

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intellectuals but had little meaning for most of ordinary people who would describe themselves as Italians, if at all, simply to refer to the fact that they lived on the Italian Peninsula. This reality was reflected in the famous letter written by the Austrian diplomat and statesman Prince

Klemens von Metternich (1773-1859) to the British Foreign Minister Lord Parlmerston:

“L’Italie est une simple expression géographique.”21 In addition to the Church, the language was the only catalyst that could provide a certain sense of commonality and allegiance among

Italians, especially vis-à-vis the other neighboring nations. However, the language of Italian literature and culture was accessible only to well-educated nobles and intellectuals. It is a historical fact that one of the difficulties that confronted the Italian army in the First World

War, i.e., more than fifty years after the Unification, was a communication problem: Italian soldiers could neither easily communicate with each other nor understand their commanders’ orders. Well after the Unification, the famous project articulated by Massimo d’Azeglio (1798-

1866), a Piemontese politician and poet, “We have made Italy, now we must make Italians,”22 still remained unrealized.

These brief observations make clear that Puccini emerged and worked as an artist in a period in which Italy was confronting the sequels of the Unification and struggling to forge its national identity, be it politically, socially or culturally.23 Each of the fragmented constituents of the new nation had its own objectives, expectations and agendas. Furthermore, a new and unprecedented divide began to emerge between the North, the regions of the Peninsula in which the project of the Unification had won most support, and the South, the regions that took part in

21 Yves Clavaron, Le Génie De L'italie : Géographie Littéraire De L'italie À Partir Des Littératures Américaine, Britannique Et Française, 1890-1940 (Paris: Connaissances et savoirs, 2006) 9; Charles L. Killinger, The History of Italy (Westport, CN: Greenwood Press, 2002), 8. 22 Alexandra Wilson, The Puccini Problem: Opera, Nationalism and Modernity (Cambridge, UK; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007) 11; Killinger 1. 23 Emanuele Senici, "Introduction: Puccini, His World, and Ours," Giacomo Puccini and His World, ed. Arman Schwartz and Emanuele Senici (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2016).

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the Unification process more reluctantly and often with different objectives in mind. After the

Unification, Northern Italy became wealthier and continued to industrialize and its social structure grew more similar to other developed European nations, while Southern Italy stagnated, remained mainly agricultural and maintained a more traditional social structure.

Such a reality not only constituted a major obstacle for the new government but also aggravated conflicts and caused social disorder. By any standards, it would seem that building a cohesive national identity would be almost an insurmountable challenge. In response, the government adopted a plan to meet this challenge in three steps: first, the diffusion of Italian as the national language; second, the development of patriotism with a view to replacing the Church with the

State; and, third, the promotion of Italian art as an expression of italianità [Italian-ness].24 It is against this backdrop that the political significance of Puccini’s work must be evaluated and, among the three policy priorities outlined above, the most pertinent one is clearly the last one: italianità. And the question then is: how did Puccini respond to this cultural imperative?

1.4. Puccini, Dante and Italianità

It is not difficult to imagine that a grand cultural project designed to crystallize Italian national identity would find in Dante an irresistible figure. After all, it was Dante who had refined his Tuscan vernacular, about six hundred years earlier, conferring on Italian the prestige and dignity of a literary language on a par or, in his view, even preferable to Latin.25 Dante’s

Commedia was an unequalled summation of late-Medieval European thought and sensibility which could be attributed to the unique genius of the Italian nation, invested with national pride

24 Wilson 11. 25 Beatrice Arduini, "Reading Dante in Ninteenth-Century Italy," Dante in the Long Nineteenth Century : Nationality, Identity, and Appropriation, ed. Aida Audeh and N. R. Havely (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2012).

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and marshalled to justify political as well as cultural ambitions. In sum, Dante was the ideal icon.

Andrea Ciccarelli and Stefano Jossa offer comprehensive and complementary analysis of the emergence of Dante as the pillar of Italian cultural nationalism.26 We learn from them that until the Enlightenment, it was actually Petrarch and Boccaccio, rather than Dante, who represented the Italian literary tradition. However, for the promoters of the Unification, neither Petrarch’s Canzoniere nor Boccaccio’s Decamerone (their respective masterpieces) could be easily enlisted to provide nationalistic inspiration. In contrast, although Dante did not necessarily have a vision of nationalism in the modern sense, his patriotism for Florence could be paralleled with Italian nationalism. This reinterpretation of Dante began to have some currency among intellectuals and critics in the late eighteenth century and that was precisely the value that the new post-Unification leaders found in Dante, i.e., his patriotism and his exemplary life as a champion for his patriotic ideal. Alexander Wilson notes that the Società

Dante Alighieri, one of the most influential and capillary Italian cultural institutions, was founded in Rome in 1889 as an initiative to promote not only the Italian language but also italianità.27

The cult of Dante, if one may call it so, continued to be more and more popular after the Unification and even under the Fascist regime. Dante became an archetype of Italian civilization and the emblem of the independence of Italy to such an extent as he was often compared to Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-1882), the hero of Unification.28 Likewise, under

26 Andrea Ciccarelli, "Dante and the Culture of Risorgimento: Literary, Political or Ideological Icon? ," Making and Remaking Italy: The Cultivation of National Identity around the Risorgimento, ed. Albert Russell Ascoli and Krystyna Clara Von Henneberg (Oxford: Berg, 2001); Stefano Jossa, "Politics Vs. Literature: The Myth of Dante and the Italian National Identity," Dante in the Long Nineteenth Century: Nationality, Identity, and Appropriation, ed. Aida Audeh and N. R. Havely (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2012) 36-39. 27 Wilson 11-13. 28 Ciccarelli 86-88.

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Fascism, both Dante and Garibaldi were used in the régime’s propaganda.29 It is clear that in this context, invoking Dante as a source could not be an innocent act, but the question then becomes: what message did Puccini intend to deliver by confronting Dante in an opera like

Gianni Schicchi?

Giulio Ricordi, who had a quasi monopoly as a music publisher in Italy, was one of the initial promoters of Puccini at the industrial level and, therefore, one may reasonably assume that without his involvement, Le Villi might not have seen the light of day since it was off the mainstream enjoyed by verismo.30 It is interesting to learn that it was not necessarily the opera but rather the young composer Puccini himself that might have attracted Ricordi’s attention. In those days, i.e., in 1880s, Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) and Ricordi, who was also the former’s promoter, started looking for Verdi’s successor as leading Italian composer and cultural figure.31 Verdi, another symbol of nationalism, willingly or not,32 was over seventy years old when Le Villi was first performed in Milan. Of course, Ricordi saw talent and potential in Le Villi,33 but why did he decide to invest in Puccini? Should or could it have not been rather one of the winners of the Sonzogno competition? The answer is to be found in the very reason Puccini’s opera did not win the prize: the verismo style, which Puccini rejected, represented neither italianità nor toscanità [Tuscan-ness], which, practically speaking, were synonymous because italianità was founded on the cult of the Tuscan tradition represented by

Boccaccio and Petrarch, and above all Dante – Wilson calls toscanità “generic Italian-ness”.34

29 Wilson 33-39; Ciccarelli 94. 30 DiGaetani, 14. 31 Phillips-Matz, Puccini: A Biography, 3; Wilson 22-25. 32 Julian Budden, The Operas of Verdi, 3 vols., vol. 1 (London: Cassell, 1984), 91-93.: There is a common perception that one of Verdi’s first opera, Nabucco, mirrors his nationalism, based on which his image as a national icon was created. In reality, the libretto was initially prepared for another composer who did not complete the mandate. It seems that Verdi was commissioned by La Scala by haphazard to compose Nabucco. 33 DiGaetani 36. 34 Wilson 29.

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On the other hand, veristi represented southern cultures like the Sicilian and Neapolitan.

Wilson also affirms that in the eyes of the ruling class of Italy, which consisted mainly of

Northern Italians, Sicily and Naples were as exotic as, and more problematic than, India or

Japan35 and, as a consequence, the veristi were unsuitable as national icons and excluded as candidates to succeed Verdi in that role.

And yet, apart from being himself Tuscan, how did Puccini express italianità in his oeuvre? To which extent do his operas represent, or do they really reflect, italianità? The question becomes imminent when one realizes that his first opera Le Villi is stylistically more

Wagnerian than Italian36 and the libretto is based on a foreign fairy tale. Looking to his subsequent production, one is struck by the fact that Gianni Schicchi is Puccini’s only opera based on an Italian source. It is also remarkable that only four of his twelve operas had their premieres in Italy. Indeed, throughout his career, Puccini was often criticized for his internationalism and xenophilia that were almost automatically interpreted as anti-nationalism or the lack of italianità at best. Did Ricordi simply misjudge Puccini or is there a way to reconcile this apparent contradiction between his Italian-ness and international-ness?

The accusation of cosmopolitanism based on the sources and the premiere performances of Puccini’s operas can be readily dismissed. The choice of foreign sources may be merely a question of medium and, therefore, it does not automatically define the author’s ideology. In this respect, we should recall that about one third of approximately thirty operas composed by Verdi are based on foreign sources and approximately seven had their premieres outside of Italy. Even Nabucco, which became a preferred vehicle for nationalist propaganda, is the story of the return of the Jewish in exile from Babylon to Jerusalem. However, Italians

35 Ibid. 29-30. 36 Jeremy Tambling, Opera and the Culture of Fascism (Oxford; New York: Clarendon Press ; Oxford University Press, 1996) 36.

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saw in Nabucco a metaphor of their own fate as a people subjected by a foreign oppressor.

With respect to the premieres in foreign countries, Emanuele Senici’s observation helps us better grasp the reality. While Puccini was pressed to make his operas more Italian, Italy was eager to find its position at the international level and increase its power from the political and economic points of view, especially vis-à-vis France, Great Britain and the U.S.A. Since opera was considered as the Italian art par excellence, Puccini’s international success well served the national policy.37 Wilson compellingly points out that while Puccini’s opponents despised his internationalism, his supporters praised it as a “proof of the health and even the hegemony of

Italian culture.”38

It is reasonable to say that Puccini’s music style, even in his later works, was more

Wagnerian than Verdian in that it was more symphonic and sexual and that he adopted in his operas one of Wagner’s trademark devices, the leitmotif.39 But again, this should not imply that

Puccini’s music was not Italian,40 rather that he strove for originality and a personal style. If he had felt constrained to faithfully follow his predecessors, his art would have been quickly reduced to a work of repetition. Davis qualifies Puccini’s approach as being “newer, less conventional and more international,” developing a unique style that synthetized elements from the Italian tradition, the German symphonic tradition, the French harmonic and orchestral traditions as well as Wagnerian chromaticism. It is important to note that according to Davis, the Tuscan heritage remained nonetheless one of Puccini’s distinctive features: Puccini’s opera

37 Senici 14-18. 38 Wilson 157. 39 Davis 20; DiGaetani 3-4. 40 Verdi’s later operas were also influenced by his fierce rival, Wagner.

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maintained the fundamental quality of the Tuscan tradition with its ability to touch the heart and appeal to the basic emotions (love, pity, etc.) of an Italian (and international) audience.41

There is a further and final charge that Italian nationalists would bring against

Puccini and that is based on the attributes associated with the romanità [Roman-ness] which would become one of the leitmotifs of Fascist rhetoric. A few scholars attempt to define the fundamental difference between Verdi and Puccini in the following terms: the latter lacks a patriotic impulse and moral substance.42 It is even said that this transition from Verdi to

Puccini reflected the shift from a masculine to a feminine voice: while masculinity valued patriarchy, effeminacy was characterized by hysteria and the lack of stability.43 In this vein,

Puccini and his operas were often criticized for effeminacy, especially by his contemporaries.

However, Puccini’s presentation of himself, preserved in photographs or as statues, tells a different story: they represent a handsome man, often times slightly leaning back with confident and purposeful facial expressions. This image exactly corresponds to the manly ideal of the time. We face again contradictory traits of Puccini. Was his masculinity a fabricated image artfully created to counterbalance the “effeminacy” of his opera?

There can be little doubt that the media or his entourage, if not Puccini himself, attempted to craft a public persona. In this respect, we cannot ignore the fact that his rise to fame coincided with the beginning of the era of mass-communication and commodification of art, supported by a great advancement in terms of modern technologies, such as phonography and photography.44 Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that Puccini’s photographic images and statues were designed to emphasize or even make up virility for promotional uses,

41 Davis 10-11 & 20. 42 Phillips-Matz, Puccini: A Biography, 4. 43 Tambling 113. 44 For example, Caruso’s first record was launched in 1902, two years after the premiere of Tosca and two years before Madama Butterfly.

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regardless of whether commercial or political. Still, not everyone was convinced or reassured by these images: the Futurists (the most influential cultural movement at the time) were contemptuous of Puccini and accused him precisely of lacking masculinity.45 And yet, at first sight, Puccini and the Futurists shared certain affinities: an admiration for modern technologies such as fast automobiles, and Puccini’s fascination for hunting might have been paralleled with the Futurist glorification of wars. Also, Puccini, like the Futurists, did not really care about following tradition in life as well as in art. He was not a churchgoer even though one of his best friends in his later days was a parish priest, Father Dante, who was much younger than him.46 To put simply, he was fundamentally a liberal free spirit and anti-conformist.

So, why were the Futurists so hostile to Puccini? They despised what they considered to be the composer’s bourgeois mentality and sensibility. The movement’s forerunner Marinetti once compared Puccini’s opera with “pink candy-floss.”47 Likewise, in

Giacomo Puccini e l’opera internazionale published in 1912, a young futurist Fausto

Torrefranca (1883-1955) hostilely attacked Puccini’s integrity as a person and as a musician.

His invectives targeted Puccini’s weakness, sickness, decadence, intellectual incapacity and lack of originality, all of which, according to Torrefranca, derived from his effeminacy.

Puccini’s internationalism and fame outside of Italy, which was considered by his supporters a great contribution to the nation, were, on the contrary, a source of shame for Torrefranca who

45 F. T. Marinetti and Günter Berghaus, "The Foundation and Manifesto of Futurism," in Critical Writings (New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2006).: Italian Futurism was a radical and avant-garde cultural and political movement. Its founder Filippo Tommaso Marinetti (1876-1944) published The Foundation and Manifesto of Futurism in 1909, declaring his credo for belligerence, strong contempt for anything traditional and extreme misogyny despising anything with a slightest feminine connotation. 46 Phillips-Matz, Puccini: A Biography, 253-61. 47 F. T. Marinetti and Günter Berghaus, Critical Writings (New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2006), 226 & 465.; see note 3

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felt that the intellectual mediocrity of the composer’s works was damaging Italy’s reputation.48

In brief, the critic regarded Puccini as representing the very “antithesis of italianità”49 and challenged his status as a national icon.50

The Futurists’ assessment was not shared by all Italian intellectuals. The famous patriotic writer Edmondo De Amicis (1846-1908) was among those who had great esteem for

Puccini and one of the reasons for his admiration was a very different assessment of how the composer scored on the scales of romanità. De Amicis saw in Puccini an athlete and described him as an emperor and even a god.51 Such a diversity of opinions, even among patriotic nationalists confirms that Puccini was a complex figure as well as a man of controversy. While he and especially his oeuvre might be characterized by tendency to privilege a certain feminine voice and perspective, Puccini also embodied certain aspects of the virile romanità that Fascism would later exploit.

In the end, then, the italianità represented by Puccini might differ from the ideal that the builders of the new nation sought to attribute to Dante and his aesthetics might have more affinity with that of Petrarch and Boccaccio. Still, his work displayed an authentic italianità, characterized by lyricism, sensitivity and sensuality with an overall quality that was clearly recognized by national and international audiences. In the end, then, Ricordi saw right when he selected Puccini as successor to Verdi and the best candidate for a new national icon.

48 Alexandra Wilson, "Torrefranca Vs. Puccini: Embodying a Decadent Italy," Cambridge Opera Journal 13, no. 1 (2001). 49 Ibid. 31. 50 Phillips-Matz, Puccini: A Biography, 4.; The author is of the view that the alleged lack of patriotism caused a delay in serious attention to his operas until fifty years ago, especially in the shadow of the two giants, Verdi and Wagner. In fact, one of the first scholars responsible to change this trend seems to be John Louis DiGaetani often cited herein. Likewise, the contribution of the Centro Studi Giacomo Puccini since 1996 should have an important impact on the advancement of Puccinian studies. 51 Wilson, "Torrefranca Vs. Puccini: Embodying a Decadent Italy," 29-30.

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1.5. Puccini’s Political Ideology

The debate about Puccini’s italianità (or lack of it) is the final analysis that is less of a controversy about the composer’s location within a national operatic tradition than about the political significance of his work at a time when nationalism and eventually Fascism were the key issues confronting the Italian nation. Having dismissed some of the crudest accusations made against him as an artist insufficiently committed to the national cultural project, we can now turn more directly to the political question and examine Puccini’s relation to the key political movements of the time, a relation which, not surprisingly, is as complex and controversial as his relation to italianità.

1.5.1. Puccini’s Nationalism

Was Puccini a nationalist regardless or beyond the fact that he was used to promote nationalism? Or, was he totally apolitical as some suggest? We have already mentioned that some authors refer to the lack of a patriotic impulse and moral substance in his work, especially in comparison with Verdi and Wager.52 Even if true, this kind of observations does not automatically entail that Puccini lacked a political ideology or patriotism. That Puccini had strong political views is attested by many of his letters. A particularly interesting statement is provided by Renzo Cresti who cites a letter written by Puccini to a friend, in which the composer makes the rather explosive comment: “Io abolirei Camera e deputati, tanto mi sono uggiosi questi eterni fabbricanti di chiacchiere. [I would abolish the parliament and its members whose endless chatter annoys me.]”53 Puccini’s frustration over the inefficiency of a

52 Phillips-Matz, Puccini: A Biography, 4. 53 Renzo Cresti and Chiara Calabrese, Giacomo Puccini E Il Postmoderno : Vita E Opere Di Puccini Viste in Una Nuova Prospettiva (Fucecchio: Edizioni dell'Erba, 2007), 103.: The letter was addressed to his friend Ferruccio Pagni in 1898.

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parliamentary system which, in his view, was endlessly delaying the formation of the new, is patent.

Mary Jane Philips-Matz’s comparison of the reactions to the First World War between Puccini and his old friend Arturo Toscanini54 gives us a further clue to appreciate

Puccini’s politics and his nationalism or patriotism. During the war, Toscanini’s patriotism reached its height and he devoted his time to the Italian war effort, conducting in the battlefield and organizing public fundraising to support the war. In contrast, Puccini remained silent and kept neutrality. Puccini did not even help his friend Toscanini in his fundraising activities.

This lack of support at a critical time was the very reason for a break between the longtime friends, a break that it took some years to remedy.55 In Puccini’s failure to help Toscanini’s effort for the war, one may recognize one persistent trait: the composer’s reluctance, not to say refusal, to be involved in public affairs regardless of their nature.

And yet, Cresti also points to events that may seem to contradict this apolitical tendency. Puccini donated his copyright on the production of Tosca in Paris to wounded

French soldiers and also offered the box-office receipts from the performance of Manon

Lescaut in Turin to the humanitarian association Famiglia del Soldato [Soldier Family].56 This demonstrates that he was not indifferent to the tragedy of the war but, as usual, he was not ready to take public stance and, furthermore, his intervention seems to be driven by humanitarian motivations more than by patriotism. In this regard, it is interesting to note

Phillips-Matz’s assessment: none of Puccini’s actions was “heroic” but he did his best in a discrete way and without attracting public attention to help wounded soldiers and people in

54 He was one of the most influential Italian conductors of the 20th century. 55 Phillips-Matz, Puccini: A Biography, 236-43. 56 Cresti and Calabrese 103-04.

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need, using his connections and personally writing numerous letters, petitions and recommendations to authorities while remaining in his hermitage in Torre del Lago.57

According to DiGaetani, Puccini was a “doubter” who could not see a bright future for Italy. Despite his serious concern about the situation, he did not have simple solutions or answers to offer. DiGaetani is of the view that Puccini’s negativism was largely responsible for the reputation of being apolitical, which accompanied Puccini and which the critic considers erroneous.58 Ben Earle offers another interesting point of view based on the composer’s cosmopolitan outlook: Puccini despised the kind of “organic nationalism,”59 which Fascism would eventually champion. Finally, Wilson’s characterization of Puccini’s nationalism is worth noting: the composer was proud of his Italian roots but his patriotism was not bellicose, chauvinistic or fanatic unlike that of prominent nationalists or Fascists, such as Torrefranca,

D’Annunzio and Mussolini.60

It is clear that Puccini did not embrace nationalism like Futurists and Fascists. He may not have cared much about his status as a national icon and successor to Verdi.

Nonetheless, Puccini was unquestionably concerned about the future of his country and, therefore, a patriot. But he was also a doubter, nihilist, humanist, cosmopolitan and fundamentally liberal, and therefore, demonstrated his patriotic concerns and sentiments in more subtle ways, as a man and above all as an artist. DiGaetani usefully observes that Puccini was not an intellectual in the philosophical sense but he was nevertheless intellectual in the sense of being an artist who questioned the world around him. He was a product of the time: in childhood he had witnessed the Risorgimento and as an adult he reflected upon the aftermath of

57 Phillips-Matz, Puccini: A Biography, 247-48. 58 DiGaetani 204. 59 Ben Earle, "Puccini, Fascism, and the Case of Turandot," in Giacomo Puccini and His World, ed. Arman Schwartz and Emanuele Senici (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2016) 164. 60 Wilson, The Puccini Problem: Opera, Nationalism and Modernity, 125-32.

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the Unification which fell far short of the Risorgimento’s hopes and aspirations. Confronted with this difficult foundational time for his country, Puccini became “a serious thinker” but his thoughts (including his political thoughts) are to be found not in public pronouncements but in more subtle aspects of his oeuvre.61

1.5.2. Puccini and Fascism

While the issue of Puccini’s political ideology is complex and could only be settled through a close reading of his artistic production, a more narrow and perhaps pressing political question is Puccini’s relation to Fascism. At first sight, Puccini’s traits, as discussed so far, seem to be incompatible with Fascist values. The effeminacy, decadence and bourgeois mentality alleged by his opponents, even when disproved in whole or in part, paint a picture that does not fit well with the Fascist ideals of aggressive, domineering manliness and impulsive self-assertion. Nonetheless, some authors and a few of his personal friends affirm that he was indeed a Fascist. One of the principal sources of such conviction lies in Puccini’s own statements found either in personal letters or intimate conversations that were later recollected by friends. Among them, there is a “famous” letter to a friend, from which many authors draw the conclusion.62 It is true that in this letter Puccini states: “sono fascista” [I am a

Fascist]. But in fact was he? Considered in the wider context of the letter itself and of

Puccini’s conduct, the statement becomes a great deal less unequivocal than it might at first appear. The letter explains that it is because he believes that a strong government, like the one promised by Mussolini, is indispensable to solve the social disorder and build a new nation.

Moreover, this letter must be read with another one addressed to another friend several days

61 DiGaetani 5-6. 62 The letter was written by Puccini in 1924 and addressed to his friend musicologist Guido Marotti.

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earlier, revealing that he nevertheless doubts that Mussolini or the Fascists would succeed: “ma lo temo” [I fear they might].63

Stefano Biguzzi characterizes the essence of the former letter as a bourgeois artist’s nostalgia per ‘l’ancien regime’.64 Furthermore, he describes the letter a “political manifesto,” reflecting the hopes and fears not only of Puccini but also of a majority of Italian musicians to see the social order established, even it meant an end to political freedom. Biguzzi further argues that for Puccini, as for many other Italians of the time, Mussolini was merely the successor in line of strong prime ministers, such as De Pretis, Crespi and Giolitti, who tried to supplement the weakness of the young nation with a strong leadership. This is a compelling reading of Puccini’s letter. Biguzzi’s position is concurred by Jeremy Tambling, according to whom the politics of nostalgia reflected the average middle-class liberal Italians’ disillusionment over the failure of the successive governments since Unification.65 Puccini’s

Fascism was unenthusiastic at best and characterized more by passive acquiescence than ardent support.

On the other hand, it was in the interest of the Fascist propaganda machine to associate Puccini’s image of success and international recognition with Fascism. In pursuing this appropriation of Puccini, the régime could count on three apparently unequivocal circumstances: the Inno a Roma [Hymn to Rome] composed by Puccini; the personal meeting with Mussolini which Puccini meeting requested and obtained; and, Puccini’s membership in the Partito Nazionale Fascista [National Fascist Party – “PNF”]. However, each of these circumstances bears some re-examination. The Inno a Roma was originally purported to

63 http://pietroacquafredda.blogspot.ca/2016/12/mussolini-quando-commemoro-puccini-in.html 64 Stefano Biguzzi, L'orchestra Del Duce: Mussolini, La Musica E Il Mito Del Capo (Torino: UTET libreria, 2003) 90. 65 Tambling 115.

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celebrate the Italian victory in the First World War. In April 1918, the City of Rome commissioned Fausto Salvatori to write the ode. Only a year later, was Puccini asked to compose the music so that it could be performed at the celebration of Rome’s anniversary as the Eternal City. As Michael Kaye clearly affirms, only after Mussolini had risen to power, did the hymn become “unwarrantedly” associated with Fascism, thus sometimes being referred to as Inno al Duce [Hymn to the Duce].66 In contrast, Puccini himself is reported to have called it une bella porcheria [a real obscenity].67

A personal meeting with Mussolini did take place at the request of Puccini on

December 1, 1923 but it was not friendly, as Mussolini wanted the public to believe.68 Why did Puccini want to meet with Mussolini? According to the reports he made to his friends,

Puccini wanted to submit three proposals, all related to the promotion of Italian opera nationally and internationally. When Mussolini heard the first proposal, his response essentially consisted of two words, “no money!” which the Duce repeated at least three times without discussing the merits of Puccini’s idea. Thus the meeting came to an abrupt end within a few minutes and Puccini could not even put forward the other two proposals.69

The final piece of evidence is Puccini’s membership in the PNF, which is considered by some as hard evidence of his allegiance to Fascism. However, it is again Mussolini’s speech on Puccini’s “application” for the membership that created a false impression or at least ambiguity. The truth was that it was an honorary membership announced to Puccini by a simple telegram70 and no evidence of his application has yet been found. Puccini was already

66 Michael Kaye, "The Nonoperatic Works of Giacomo Puccini," in The Puccini Companion, ed. William Weaver and Simonetta Puccini (New York: W.W. Norton, 1994) 300-01. 67 Biguzzi 91.; see also note 11 thereto. 68 Earle 159-60. 69 Ibid. 160-62. 70 The text of the telegram dated April 29,1924 was kindly provided by Prof. Gabriella Ravenni, President of the Centro Studi Giacomo Puccini.

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fatally ill when he received the announcement and there is no evidence that he felt honoured or celebrated it in any way.

Whether one agrees with Cresti that it is “unimaginable” that Puccini was a Fascist or with Earle who simply points out that most Italians were Fascists when Mussolini took power, the fact is that Puccini was used by the Fascism. Mussolini did not miss Puccini’s death as a propaganda opportunity: he addressed a commemorative speech on the great composer in front of the Chamber of Deputies and adorned the coffin with a huge bouquet of chrysanthemums. As Wilson correctly points out, Puccini could not avoid being politicized in the name of nationalism, no matter what his personal and political ideology and true allegiance to the regime might be.71

In considering the political significance of Puccini’s work in general and, for our purposes, Gianni Schicchi in particular, we are drawn to the following conclusion: Puccini’s work and success was a tool for nationalist propaganda and it lent itself to such use insofar as the composer refused to take a clear public position on political matters. Even in private conversations, Puccini was reluctant to develop a sustained political reflection which, on the other hand, is present but in an artistically mediated form in his work. Another way to put this would be to say that Puccini’s directly political pronouncements are equivocal and often banal, demonstrating that politics in the narrow sense (particularly politics in current events) was not one of his key concerns. Politics in the larger sense, however, i.e., the examination of power relations and even class relations, does play an important role in many of his works and most notable in Gianni Schicchi, as we shall see.

71 Wilson, The Puccini Problem: Opera, Nationalism and Modernity, 3.

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2. Gianni Schicchi and Its Enigmas 2.1. From Dante to Puccini

If we reflect on Puccini’s trajectory as an artist, the first question that Gianni Schicchi raises is the choice of Dante as a source, a noticeable departure from his earlier oeuvre. It is surprising that at this particular time in his career (i.e., when his reputation was already well established nationally and internationally) Puccini turned for the first time and only time to an

Italian source, and to no lesser a literary authority and monumental historical figure than Dante.

Was the composer abandoning his longstanding cosmopolitan and non-conformist stance and finally succumbing to the wave of nationalism that made Dante a hero? We can begin to answer this question by examining in some detail how the remarkable decision to select a story from the Commedia actually came about.

There has been some considerable debate among scholars and friends within

Puccini’s close circle about the circumstances of Puccini’s interest in Gianni Schicchi. Some say that Puccini had been thinking for several years of Dante as a source for a next subject while others are adamant that the Schicchi story was suggested by the young dramatist

Giovacchino Forzano (1884-1970).72 The latter’s own account is as follows: he was an admirer of Puccini since he was a student; later he had an opportunity as a journalist to interview

Puccini and told him that it was his dream to write an original libretto for him; and, finally he was commissioned to write the libretto of the second opera of Il Trittico,73 namely, Suor

Angelica, which was indeed Forzano’s original story and represented a first step away from foreign sources. This was the first collaboration between the composer and Forzano who then became the librettist of the third component of Il Trittico, Gianni Schicchi, as well. In my view,

72 Michele Girardi, Puccini: His International Art (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000) 416. 73 Giovacchino Forzano, Come Li Ho Conosciuti (Torino: Edizioni Radio Italiana, 1957) 11-27.

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the question as to who actually proposed the subject is largely irrelevant. In the first place, it is perfectly possible to reconcile the two versions of the genesis of the libretto: Forzano might well have proposed the specific subject which found an easy welcome in Puccini since the latter had been thinking for some time about choosing Dante as a source. Secondly, we know that after the unsatisfactory outcome of his first two operas, Puccini became obsessive about controlling his librettists and, therefore, even if the subject was initially suggested by Forzano, there can be no doubt that every word of the libretto was approved by Puccini, as in the well- documented case of Manon Lescaut. Indeed, many authors as well as Forzano himself confirm how happy Puccini was about the final version of the libretto although he was extremely demanding during the process of its writing.74

In relation to the reasons for Puccini’s interest in Dante, there is no question that the cultural climate at the time played a role.75 Nunzio Salemi confirms, quoting the data from

Annali del teatro italiano, that one hundred sixty-eight theatrical or operatic works were created based on the Commedia between 1901 and 1920, whereas there were almost none in the nineteenth century.76 For the purpose of illustration, we may mention among these works at least three operas on the story of Paolo and Francesca in Canto V of Dante’s Inferno, namely:

Paolo e Francesca by Luigi Mancinelli (1907), and two Francesca da Rimini, one by Franco

Leoni (1913) and the other by Gabriele D’Annunzio and Riccardo Zandonai (1914). Moreover, there are at least two stage plays created on the basis of the Gianni Schicchi story during the

74 Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco and Harvey Sachs, "From a Lifetime of Music: Puccini, Schoenberg, Stravinsky & Others," granstre Grand Street 9.1 (1989); André Gauthier, "La Genèse De Gianni Schicchi Dans Le Triptyque," Gianni Schicchi, Puccini, ed. Bruno Poindefert (Paris: Avant-scène, 1985); C. E. J. Griffiths and Giovacchino Forzano, The Theatrical Works of Giovacchino Forzano: Drama for Mussolini's Italy (Lewiston: Edwin Mellen Press, 2000) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bb_P1icHmVU. 75 Leonardo Pinzauti, "Il <> Di Giacomo Puccini," in Trittico, ed. Teatro Comunale di Firenze (Firenze: 1988). 76 Nunzio Salemi, "Saggi - L'altro Gianni Schicchi," Nuova rivista musicale italiana 37.1 (2003): 8.

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same period.77 It is clear, therefore, that Puccini’s choice did not take place in a vacuum but in a context in which Dante was clearly on the agenda (after all, D’Annunzio’s Francesca da

Rimini was a major cultural event) and even Gianni Schicchi had drawn some attention. While for the moment the evidence remains circumstantial, it is difficult to imagine that Puccini would not be influenced, consciously or unconsciously, by such a widespread cultural trend.

Still, these observations justify Puccini’s interest in Dante and Gianni Schicchi but give us no indication about what is ultimately the most important question: what was Puccini’s take on Dante? We know that Puccini was satisfied with the libretto of Gianni Schicchi, but which aspect of the libretto pleased him? In the absence of any direct statement by Puccini on the subject, the only alternative is to look for the answer through the close reading of the libretto. However, such a close reading can best proceed from an analysis of the source: we need to reflect on the story that Dante tells about Gianni Schicchi, in order to be able to consider how Puccini reinterprets or even reinvents the story to suit his own ends.

2.1.1. Dante’s Gianni Schicchi

In his Commedia,78 Dante structured his Inferno as a pit with nine descending circles.

The deeper the circle, the graver the sin committed by those who inhabit it. The hierarchy of sins is the following (from the lest to the most grievous): indolence; lust; gluttony; avarice and prodigality; wrath and sullenness; heresy; violence; fraud; and, treachery. The eighth circle, the one for fraud, is often referred to as the Malebolge and is subdivided into ten pouches: falsifiers are found in the tenth, i.e., the deepest pouch of the Malebolge and this means that they are the

77 Gildo Passani’s comedy Gianni Schicchi premiered in Milano on September 21, 1918, and Roger Martin du Gard’s French comedy Le Testament du père Leleu, staged in 1913-14. 78 Robert Hollander, "Princeton Dante Project (2.0): Princeton University," (Princeton, NJ1999) http://etcweb.princeton.edu/dante/index.html

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worst sinners except for traitors.79 It is here, in his Canto XXX, at the bottom of the penultimate circle of Hell that Dante places Gianni Schicchi who is condemned to eternal damnation for having impersonated the late Buoso Donati and successfully falsified his last will and testament. Both Schicchi and Donati are historical figures: the former is identified as

Gianni Cavalcanti who lived in Florence in the latter part of the thirteenth century,80 the latter is said to have been a distant relative of Dante’s by marriage – Alighieri’s wife was Gemma

Donati.81 Although Dante spends only eight tercets on Schicchi and another impersonator

Myrrha, he is not a negligible character in the grand scheme of the Commedia: first, Dante identified only a total of one hundred sixty-two characters by name in the Inferno and the number is reduced to about sixty if classical figures are excluded; second, only twenty-three of these sixty characters are Dante’s Florentine contemporaries;82 and, third, Schicchi is the only

Florentine condemned by Dante as a falsifier.83

In the aforementioned eight tercets, i.e., lines 22 to 45 of Canto XXX, Dante starts by describing the punishment imposed on Schicchi: he is biting Capocchio, another falsifier or alchemist condemned to the same pouch in Canto XXIX, and dragging the latter on the rocky ground. What did Schicchi do to deserve such a punishment? Dante simply describes him as a demon (folletto) who got the queen of studs (la donna della torma) by impersonating Buoso

Donati and falsifying his will.84

79 Guy P. Raffa, Danteworlds a Reader's Guide to the Inferno (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007) 12. 80 Bernard Delmay, I personaggi della Divina commedia: Classificazione e regesto (Firenze: L.S. Olschki, 1986) 167-68; Richard H. Lansing and Teodolinda Barolini, The Dante Encyclopedia (New York: Garland Pub., 2000) 150-51. 81 Jean-Michel Brèque, "Quand l'enfer propose un scénario," L'avant-scène opéra, no. 190 (1999): 126. 82 Thomas G. Bergin, "Themes and Episodes: On the Personae of the Comedy," in American Critical Essays on the Divine Comedy, ed. Robert J. Clements (New York: New York University Press, 1967) 118-19. 83 Rodney J. Lokai, "Gianni Schicchi E Il Cavallo Di Troia," Linguistica e letteratura. 27.1-2 (2002). 84 Hollander: http://etcweb.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/dante/campuscgi/mpb/GetCantoSection.pl

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Dante’s verses are almost too laconic to justify the condemnation of Schicchi to the bottom of Hell. His rather summary liquidation may be explained by the fact that a character similar to Schicchi is said to have been popular in an Italian folklore known throughout the

Peninsula, with slight variations from one region to another. Dante’s contemporary readers would have recognized the story of Schicchi or a similar version and, therefore, providing more detail might have been considered superfluous. An early fourteenth-century commentator of the Commedia, commonly known as Anonimo Fiorentino [Anonymous Florentine], attested to the circulation of the Schicchi story, and there is a virtual consensus among scholars that

Puccini’s librettist Forzano relied on the version of Anonimo Fiorentino to complement Dante and write the libretto. Forzano was probably let to Anonimo Fiorentino by the work of Pietro

Fanfani, an Italian philologist and editor of ancient texts, who in 1866, i.e., about fifty years before the libretto was written, published Anonimo Fiorentino’s entire comments on the

Commedia, including the Schicchi legend.85

In Anonimo Fiorentino’s gloss, reproduced by Fanfani, Buoso Donati is fatally ill and wants to see a notary about his last will. His son Simone is aware of his father’s wishes but does nothing and just waits for his death. Once the father is dead, he is worried that the father might have left a will. As a matter of fact, there is a rumor among the neighbors that he got a will arranged during his lifetime. Simone seeks advice from Schicchi who is famous for the talent to impersonate anybody in voice and in gestures. Schicchi tells Simone to get a notary and explains that in the meantime he will put on Buoso’s nightgown and cap to be ready to dictate a will. He does not neglect to mention that he will not do it for free. Simone agrees.

The notary arrives and Schicchi, already in bed, perfectly impersonates Buoso. He starts

85 Pietro Fanfani, Commento alla Divina Commedia d’Anonimo Fiorentino del secolo 14, Ora per la prima volta stampato, A cura di Pietro Fanfani, vol. 1 (Bologna: G. Romagnoli, 1866) 632-45.

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dictating the will with negligible amounts of bequests to religious orders and Simone shows his satisfaction. Then, he makes generous bequeaths to himself. Although he names Simone the residuary legatee, it is not clear what and how much was left to him. Simone is enraged to the point that he almost collapses at the end but he is powerless for the fear of the consequences of his own criminal act.

If we accept that the story of Anonimo Fiorentino was in substance the one that Dante was working with (and we have no reason to doubt it), we may wonder why Dante treated

Schicchi so harshly. The punishment seems disproportionate and suggests that there is something in Schicchi’s story, which, though evident to Dante, does not justify his placement in the eighth circle of Hell. Although a thorough analysis of the question goes beyond the scope of this study, a brief discussion will be helpful when we deal with Puccini’s deviation from

Dante in his Gianni Schicchi.

Scholars propose different grounds – theological, political or personal – for Dante’s severe judgments of the impersonator. In terms of theology, scholars are unanimous that Dante was an ardent follower of Thomas Aquinas and it is widely accepted that he relied on the latter’s theology to write the Commedia. We know that in the orthodox theological tradition, as represented by Aquinas, alchemy was regarded as a sin against God since it transformed the nature created by Him and alchemists were regularly condemned by the Church. Impersonation was seen as a form of alchemy of nature and such a fraud was a typical attribute of the devil,86 which explains why Dante called Schicchi “demon” in Canto XXX. A number of authors also point out that some of Dante’s verdicts are severer than Aquinas’s teaching would warrant,

86 Christopher Paul Baker and Richard Harp, "Jonsons Volpone and Dante," Comparative Drama 39.1 (2005); Robert M. Durling, "Dante among the Falsfiers," in Lectura Dantis Inferno, ed. Allen Mandelbaum, Anthony Oldcorn, and Charles Stanley Ross (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998), 393.; Allan H. Gilbert, Dante's Conception of Justice (New York: AMS Press, 1965) 73-111.

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including the one imposed on Schicchi.87 This last observation induces one to consider factors other than theology that might have influenced Dante’s final judgment. Many authors have stressed that the important motif in Dante’s oeuvre is politics, more particularly the conflicts between the pope and the emperor and between the Guelf and the Ghibelline.88 The Commedia is a prime vehicle for his political polemics,89 which has been seen as being the cause for

Dante’s extremely severe and sometimes almost “fanatical” judgments90 to which his personal situation as an embittered exile certainly contributed.

Taking in consideration these political and personal factors, Fabian Alfie suggests that Cantos XXIX and XXX of the Inferno reflect Dante’s resentment against his contemporary

Florentine aristocracy and the frauds committed by the corrupt nobility. His view is certainly plausible but it cannot easily apply to the Schicchi episode since in this case the one punished is not a member of aristocracy, i.e., the Buoso Donati figure in the story, but Schicchi whose origin is not clear and whose skill as an impersonator is not consistent with an aristocratic upbringing and outlook. Focusing on Schicchi more specifically, Alfie asserts that the character’s sin is not really impersonation but its consequence, i.e., breaking the line of genetic inheritance. He contends that by pairing him with Myrrha, whose impersonation resulted in breaking the bloodline of her family, Dante made it clear that the motif of our tercets was the

87 E.g.: Joan M. Ferrente, "Dante and Politics," in Dante: Contemporary Perspectives, ed. Amilcare A. Iannucci (Toronto; Buffalo: University of Toronto Press, 1997); Teodolinda Barolini, Dante and the Origins of Italian Literary Culture (New York: Fordham University Press, 2006) 102-21; Ugo Dotti, "L'inferno e il giudizio umano e politico di Dante," Giornale storico della letteratura italiana 171 (1994). 88 Since the beginning of the thirteenth century, many territories in the Peninsula were divided into two factions: the Ghibelline, supporters of the emperor, and the Guelf allied with the papacy. In Florence, after the Ghibellines were defeated and expelled by the Guelfs towards the end of the century, internal conflicts divided the latter into two factions, the Blacks for the papacy and the Whites for the emperor. Dante was an active member of the latter. Because of their alliance with the emperor, eventually the line between Ghibellines and the White Guelfs became blurred. See: George W. Dameron, Florence and Its Church in the Age of Dante (Philadelphia, Pa.: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005) 14-17. 89 Ferrente, 180-82.; Mario Vinciguerra, Alighieri Dante, and Casa di Dante in Roma, Il Canto XXX dell'Inferno (Torino: Società editrice internazionale, 1959) 5-17. 90 Dotti 4.

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sterility of Florentine high society. In Alfie’s interpretation, Cantos XXIX and XXX denounce the decadence of the thirteenth-century Italian aristocracy whose vainglorious pride in noble birth, Dante condemns as a falsification of true nobility. Alfie further argues that Schicchi thus acquired a noble lineage through la donna de la torma [the queen of studs] that he stole from the Donatis.91 This might constitute another reason why Dante punished Schicchi so severely: he exemplifies the falsification that not only divested a noble family of its fortune but also rendered it sterile, a falsification to which the heir of that family (i.e., the son) was himself an accessory. In a similar vein, Margherita Pampinella Cropper opines that Schicchi and Myrrha are allegories of matta bestialitade [mad brutishness] who made the Florentine ruling class neglect human law and forget its identity and political mandate.92 Finally, we should note the humanistic ground proposed by Mario Pigazzini: Dante was the father of humanism for whom the respect for personal identity was of primordial importance; without identity, there could be no subjectivity, and without subjectivity, no civilization.93

All these interpretations point to two fundamental elements in Dante’s treatment of

Schicchi: firstly, impersonation was associated with fraud, the perversion of nature and destruction of identity and, therefore, a deeply immoral act; and secondly, the fraud orchestrated by Donati’s son and performed by Schicchi has serious political and personal implications insofar as it undermined the aristocratic social order which Dante was keen to rescue from contemporary corruption and decadence.

91 Fabian Alfie, Dante's Tenzone with Forese Donati: The Reprehension of Vice (Toronto: Buffalo : University of Toronto Press, 2011) 75-81. 92 Margherita Pampinella Cropper, "Myrrha: Incestuous Passion and Political Transgression (Inferno, 30)," Forum Italicum 46.1 (2012). 93 Mario Pigazzini, Freud va all'inferno: Il viaggio dell'uomo da Dante a oggi passando per Freud: Canti XXIII- XXX (Emuse, 2009) 250-51.

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2.1.2. The Genesis of Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi

Puccini’s Il Trittico is composed of the three one-act operas, Il Tabarro, Suor

Angelica and Gianni Schicchi. The first two are tragedies: Il Tabarro ends with a murder and

Suor Angelica with a suicide. The third opera Gianni Schicchi, however, is an opera buffa.

Why did Puccini conclude Il Trittico with such an unexpected twist? What is the coherent link of the three operas? One of the seemingly most plausible hypotheses builds on the idea that

Puccini always wanted to create an opera based on Dante’s Commedia.94 Il Trittico is then interpreted as replicating the structure and the spirit of the Commedia with the three operas, which, in the order of the presentation conceived by Puccini, represent Inferno, Purgatorio and

Paradiso. If we reflect on the three operas, the dark helpless life in Il Tabarro is indeed nothing but a life in hell, the ending of Suor Angelica may suggest the existence of the purgatory which will purify the protagonist’s sinful but contrite soul, and Gianni Schicchi, ironically derived from Dante’s Inferno, is blessed with an happy ending in the paradisiacal

Florence.

However, if we rely on Forzano’s version as well as the view expressed by a majority of scholars, the choice of the Schicchi episode from the Commedia was not Puccini’s and as a consequence this hypothesis loses some of its appeal. According to Forzano, whose recollection is the only primary source available on the subject, Puccini was desperately looking for the third opera’s subject while he was composing Suor Angelica. And it is Forzano himself who suggested a comedy on Gianni Schicchi from Dante’s Commedia in order to complete Il

Trittico. Apparently, the idea immediately caught Puccini’s interest.95 Julian Budden endorses

94 Michele Bianchi, "Il 'caso Trittico': Vitalità della morte e declino della vita," in Giacomo Puccini: L'uomo, il musicista, il panorama europeo: Atti del Covegno internazionale di studi su Giacomo Puccini nel 70° anniversario della morte, ed. Gabriella Biagi Ravenni (Lucca, Italia: Libreria Musiale Italiana, 1997). 95 Forzano 14-15.

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Forzano’s recollection: until Forzano’s proposal, Puccini was not only uncertain about the third theme of Il Trittico, but he was not envisaging anything of Italian origin. Moreover, he was considering a comedy after the two tragic operas in order to help himself emotionally through a difficult time both socially and in his private life.96 On the basis of this testimony, it seems unlikely that the Commedia was the motif of Il Trittico from the beginning. It is, however, possible and even likely that in the process of working together, Forzano and Puccini gradually developed the idea of using the Commedia as a general point of reference for Il Trittico. Yet, this point of reference remains rather generic and loose in relation to the two first operas whereas in Gianni Schicchi the relation to the Commedia is absolutely central.

Forzano’s libretto follows closely Anonimo Fiorentino’s plot,97 though the librettist fleshes out the story considerably, adding many refinements and complexities. A brief comparison of the two versions will make this point clear. In the original version, Schicchi and

Simone, who is Buoso’s son, are the only characters. Simone is the initiator of the crime and

Schicchi is a worse villain since he takes advantage of Simone’s evil intentions and steals a significant part of Buoso’s estate. In the opera, Simone is Buoso’s cousin and he is just one of the relatives, i.e., seven cousins, nephews and their spouses who are Zita, Ciesca, Marco, Nella,

Gherardo, Betto and Rinuccio. Among those new additions, the young nephew Rinuccio and his beloved Lauretta are real creations of Puccini-Forzano and are indispensible to the refreshed plot of the opera.

Gianni Schicchi opens with the relatives weeping around a bed. We are soon told that the deceased is Buoso Donati. The mourning continues until Marco starts whispering

96 Julian Budden, Puccini: His Life and Works (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2005) 374-75; see also Mario Morino, "Momento Del Gianni Schicchi," Musica d'oggi: Rassegna di vita e di coltura musicale (1959). 97 Giovacchino Forzano et al., Gianni Schicchi (1950).

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about a rumour running in the village of Signa in the suburbs of Firenze: Buoso left his last will in which he bequeathed all his estate to the monastery of Santa Reparata. In a panic, the relatives start looking for the will everywhere, hoping that it is still in the house because otherwise their fate is sealed. Finally, Rinuccio finds it in the bedchamber. The rumor was right: Buoso has left everything to the monks. The greedy relatives are in despair and

Rinuccio’s heart is broken because he was hoping to receive his part of the inheritance so that he could marry Lauretta. Rinuccio suggests to his uncles and aunts that the only person who might save them is Lauretta’s father Schicchi. The others vigorously object to his idea, openly displaying their hatred and disdain for Schicchi since he is a newcomer from the country and does not belong to Florentine nobility.

Schicchi suddenly appears on the stage with Lauretta whom Rinuccio discreetly sent for as soon as he had found the will. Initially, Schicchi refuses to help the snobbish Donatis satisfy their greed. However, Lauretta’s sincere plea melts his heart; she is in love and wants to marry to Rinuccio. His scheme is almost identical to the one that was concocted in the

Anonimo Fiorentino’s version but with a few very significant divergences: Schicchi leaves some assets to each of the Donatis; he does not commit the crime of impersonation for his personal gain; and, most importantly, his action will result in the union of the two families through the marriage of Rinuccio and Lauretta. In the final scene, we see the happy young couple admiring the beautiful Florence through the window of Buoso’s bedchamber that will be their new beautiful home. In essence, the libretto operates a dramatic reversal: Dante’s evil- doer is turned into a benefactor. Given such reversal, it may be suggested that Gianni Schicchi is a parodic treatment of the story in Dante’s Inferno: Puccini and Forzano are closely imitating an episode of the Commedia for comic effect or in ridicule. As we shall see, however, my close

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reading of Gianni Schicchi does not support a parodic interpretation. The objective of the opera is not to ridicule Dante’s version but rather to dissimulate a serious message (and a criticism of

Dante’s ideological position) in the guise of a light and, sometimes, even buffoonish comedy.

2.2. Musicality in Gianni Schicchi

The exchanges between the opera composer and his librettist are one of the best vehicles for identifying the critical passages in the text of the libretto and even the opera as a whole. In the case of Gianni Schicchi, we confront yet again a difficulty since, to the best of our knowledge, no meaningful correspondence or other type of evidence of the exchanges between Puccini and Forzano is available. Until recently, the absence of written records between Puccini and his librettist had been explained by the fact that they lived in proximity to each other and, therefore, it was easier for them to discuss the subject in person rather than by correspondence. However, an interview with Forzano recorded by Rai98 became available to public rather recently and on this occasion the librettist proudly showed a stack of documents supposedly originating from Puccini while they were working together on Gianni Schicchi.99 It is extremely unfortunate that Forzano apparently lost those documents after the interview.100

Since this kind of information cannot guide our interpretation, it will become extremely important to read the libretto taking into consideration the opera’s musicality, which is as eloquent as the libretto’s verses in revealing Puccini’s intent.

From the point of view of musicology, Davis divides Puccini’s trajectory into three phases: early, mature, and, late. The early works are Le Villi and Edgar that we discussed before; Manon Lescaut, La bohème, Tosca and Madama Buttefly represent the mature period;

98 Italy’s national broadcasting company. 99 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bb_P1icHmVU 100 The source of this information is the aforementioned Prof. Ravenni.

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and, the late works consist of the remaining operas starting with La Fanciulla del West.

However, Davis emphasizes the importance of the very last two works, namely, Il Trittico and

Turandot, for their “experimental compositional approach.”101 In other words, Puccini’s last two operas are marked by “a musical stylistic plurality” consisting of “apparently incompatible styles.”102 Moreover, the scholar argues that, among the three operas of Il Trittico, Gianni

Schicchi is musically “the most complex and least conventional.”103 It is noteworthy that according to Davis, this style has the effect of engaging the spectators’ attention in a deeper way. The more obvious and superficial aspects of the work are neglected as the spectator is invited to become more personally engaged in the opera and incited to respond to it at a more self-conscious and intellectual level: this is the “distancing effect” – as this device is known in the theatrical sphere – that was first introduced in Italy by Pirandello.104 Davis attributes this

“distancing effect” to the way in which, in Gianni Schicchi, Puccini carefully integrates different musical characteristics even within the same scenes, especially contrasting a modern, unfamiliar or new style based on dissonances with familiar or traditional romantic melodies.

Following Davis’s analysis, we can appreciate that the normative style of Gianni Schicchi is non-Romantic. As a matter of fact, upon the drawing of the curtain, the audience is immediately caught by unusual music that might be characterized in plain language as destructive or dissonant. Thereafter, this unfamiliar non-Romantic tonality is unexpectedly interrupted, from time to time, by Romantic style melodies, a contrast which produces an uncomfortable feeling in the audience. Those who do not go beneath the surface might hastily judge this contrast as a lack of coherence and, therefore, a shortcoming in the composition.

101 Davis, 3;. See also: A. Wilson, "Golden-Age Thinking: Updated Stagings of Gianni Schicchi and the Popular Historical Imagination," Cambridge Opera Journal 25.2 (2013): 198-99. 102 Davis 8. 103 Ibid. 138-39. 104 Ibid. 21.

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However, Davis considers this effect as a deliberate and meaningful musical choice on the part of Puccini: non-Romantic music expresses insincerity of the greedy, oppressive and hypocritical Donatis, while the Romantic style is exclusively reserved for the young couple

Rinuccio and Lauretta, the characters which Puccini himself favours and wants the audience to favour as well.105

Burton D. Fisher, a former opera conductor, reaches a similar conclusion though he focuses on another aspect of Puccini’s musical choices. The opera is dominated by the major keys but Puccini turns to the minor keys in order to underscore the Donatis’ hypocrisy.

According to Fisher, this effect is especially obvious in the “mourning” motif of the relatives lamenting over Buoso’s death.106 Susan Greene praises Puccini’s music style adapted from his own tragic operas to “the spirit of sheer comedy” in Gianni Schicchi and finds that the music’s razor-edged clarity sets the composer’s favorite characters from the “flawed” ones, i.e., the young couple from the Donatis.107 All of these interpretations are supported by the notable fact that the young lovers are the only ones for whom Puccini wrote arias – surprisingly enough, even the protagonist Schicchi did not receive such an honor from the composer. DiGaetani comments on this aspect: at this stage of his career, Puccini considered that only naïve and innocent characters merited arias.108

In the context of this opposition between positive and negative qualities signaled by contrasting musical styles, it is interesting to note that Puccini did not allocate a specific or well-defined music style to Schicchi himself. This may be explained by the fact that different facets of his personality are reflected in different scenes and these facets do not exclude deceit,

105 Ibid. 138-47. 106 Giacomo Puccini et al., Puccini’s Il Trittico: Il Tabarro, Suor Angelica, Gianni Schicchi (Miami, FL: Opera Journeys, 2005) 96. 107 Susan Greene, "Comedy and Puccini's Operas," The Opera Quarterly 2.3 (1984): 109-10. 108 DiGaetani, 157.

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thus lending to his character a level of moral ambiguity. The characterization proposed by

Michal Glover-Friedlander is suggestive: Schicchi’s musical themes have a common trait, namely, a combination of hellish sounds and rhythmic quality like fanfare.109

While I am not a musicologist and this study is not intended to discuss the highly technical aspects of Gianni Schicchi’s musicality, I am confident that the foregoing discussion of the basic musical characteristics of the opera provides key elements to guide the analysis of the libretto and open a space for interpretation that the text of the libretto alone would not have warranted.

2.3. Gianni Schicchi: Epitome of Florentine Society

The opening scene of Gianni Schicchi is important on many levels. We have already noted how it introduces a much more elaborate narrative than that provided by Anonimo

Fiorentino and the musical plurality of style which, by defeating expectations, invites a deeper engagement on the part of the audience. Having thus laid the foundations, we can now turn to the specificity of the scene and the themes and arguments that it broaches.

The music that raises the curtain is explosive and dissonant but at the same time somewhat cheerful. What occupies the center of the stage is the corpse of the wealthy

Florentine Buoso Donati lying in his bed. The stage direction in the libretto says that in the background, we should see through a window the tower of Arnolfo, a symbol of Florence.

Buoso’s body is surrounded by relatives of noble origin: Zita, Simone, Ciesca, Marco, Nella,

Gherardo, Betto and Rinuccio. They are all gravely mourning in words but the ambiguous music mixed of some kind of reluctance and lightness betrays their real sentiment. All of them, except for Rinuccio, try to compete with each other claiming that his or her grief will last

109 Michal Grover-Friedlander, Operatic Afterlives (Brooklyn; Cambridge, Mass.: Zone Books ; Distributed by MIT Press, 2011) 92.

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longer, for days and days, for months, for years and for life. The tone changes as soon as Betto whispers about the rumor: “Si dice che…, si dice che… Lo dicono a Signa… [They say that…, they say in Signa…]” that Buoso left everything to a monastery in his last will. The weeping ends abruptly; they are suddenly too busy worrying about their own fate and the tune changes to that of incertitude. Then, in a much softer voice, they look up at Simone, the most senior member of the family, for an idea. In a dignified manner, he tells only the obvious: “Se il testamento è in mano d’un notaio, chi lo sa?.... Forse è un guaio! Se però ce l’avesse lasciato in questa stanza, guaio pe’ frati, ma per noi: speranza! [If the will is in the hands of a notary, who knows?... maybe we are in trouble! If it is in this room, it is too bad for the monks but for us there is hope!]” Everybody repeats in chorus: “Guaio per frati, ma per noi speranza! [Bad luck for the monks but hope for us!]”

The opera’s running time is between 55 and 60 minutes. The opening scene, which lasts less than 6 minutes, already gives us a good indication as to what kind of people the

Donatis are. Their tears are not sincere: they are more concerned about their share of inheritance, even in mourning for their “beloved” relative; and, they don’t have any respect toward the monks. Moreover, Simone’s statement suggests that they would not hesitate to manipulate the situation, if necessary. Thus, they start furiously looking for the will all over in

Buoso’s bedchamber. Here, the music is quite suggestive in that its onomatopoetic sound creates two different effects: on the one hand, it emphasizes the characters’ chaotic state of mind; and, on the other hand, it agitates the spectators drawing them into the frenzy. Finally, it is Rinuccio who finds the will: “Salvati! [We are saved!]” Before handing it over to his uncles and aunts, he asks their permission as a reward to marry Lauretta if they all become rich. This is the first moment in the opera that we hear a Romantic style harmonious melody; Puccini

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accorded it to Rinuccio expressing his love for Lauretta. Happy with the prospect of being rich and hasty in unsealing the will, they immediately concur: “Ma sì! ma sì! [Of course! of course!]” But the best reply comes from Aunt Zita: “Se tutto andrà come si spera, sposa chi vuoi, magari…. La versiera! [If everything goes as we hope, you can marry anybody, even a witch.]”

The will is addressed to the senior family members: To my cousins Zita and Simone.

It starts well; perhaps the rumor was without foundation. With a great expectation filled with greed, they all go back into the mourning mood, impatiently waiting for Zita to open the document. Here, interesting enough, Puccini grants a rather solemn music to the Donatis weeping for Povero Buoso [Poor Buoso], as if they were sincere. Then, with triumphant fanfare, Zita finally unseals the will with all the others tightly surrounding her. For a moment, we hear only cheerful laugher supported by a peaceful lyric melody. Then, after a few moments of silence, the happy tone transforms into howls, though it should be stressed that

Puccini continues overlapping the characters’ howls, with the same triumphant tune.

The relatives’ howls gradually turn into weeping, but this time it is not for the loss of

Buoso but for the loss of their own fortune. So, the rumor was true. Simone, angry, repeats the insult toward the monks: “Noi vedremo i frati ingrassare alla barba dei Donati! [The monks will become fat in defiance of the Donatis!] The others follow; even Rinuccio laments that his happiness is stolen by the monks: 110 “La mia felicità sarà rubata dall’Opera di Santa

Reparata!” Again, the sharpest words come from Zita who calls monks “tordi grassi [fat pigs]”. Even better; inflamed by fury, the truth escapes from her mouth: “Chi l’avrebbe mai detto che quando Buoso andava al cimitero, si sarebbe pianto per davvero! [Who would have

110 At this stage, Puccini is not yet distinguishing Rinuccio musically from the other members of the Donatis to underscore his sincerity.

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thought that one day when Buoso was dead, one would really weep!]” This is indeed an irony; she says that nobody had expected that they would really cry over Buoso’s death. However, by now, we know that they are not those who would easily accept their bad luck. Very strangely,

Puccini ends their fury by turning their chorus into an almost victorious unison, probably to color their undefeatable greed. Thus, they start wondering if there is a way to

“cambiarlo…girarlo…addolcirlo…” [change, rearrange, or attenuate (the will)]. Simply put they are ready to falsify the document, if possible. This entails that, in Puccini’s version, not only all the Donatis are as guilty as Anonimo Fiorentino’s Simone but also that the idea of falsification did not originate from Schicchi. Here, Puccini’s dark and low-pitched sound is extremely eloquent to highlight the Donatis’ guilty conscience.

This initial presentation is more than enough to understand how corrupt the Donatis are: hypocrite, greedy, impious and immoral. However, as soon as the name Schicchi is pronounced by Rinuccio, we discover another trait of the Donatis. In a panic, the young man suggests that the only person who could save them from disaster is Schicchi, the father of his sweet Lauretta. Zita immediately reacts with rage: “Di Gianni Schicchi, della figlia, non vo’ sentirne parlare mai più! E intendi bene!... [Gianni Schicchi and his daughter, I don’t want to hear about them, never again! Do you understand?]” And Simone: “Un Donati sposare la figlia d’un villano! [A Donati to marry a peasant’s daughter!]” Zita takes over: “D’uno sceso a

Firenze dal contado! Imparentarsi colla gente nova! [A dumper from the countryside to

Florence! No way for us to become related to a newcomer!]” Filled with contempt for the newcomer Schicchi, these words voice prejudices, arrogance and class-consciousness.

Rinuccio’s fresh voice intervenes to interrupt them with the famous aria Avete torto:

“Avete torto!.... Ogni malizia di leggi e codici consce e sa…. Viene dal contado? Ebbene? E

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che vuol dire? Basta con queste ubbie grette e piccine!” [You are all wrong! Schicchi is a clever man and knows all the trick of law. Why does it matter that he comes from the countryside? Enough of these narrow-minded and petty prejudice!] The aria continues with a beautiful yet dynamic cabaletta:

Firenze è come un albero fiorito, che in piazza dei Signoria ha tronco e fronde, ma

le radici forze nuove apportano dalle convalli limpide e feconde; e Firenze

germoglia ed alle stelle salgon palagi saldi e torri snelle! L’Arno prima di correre

alla foce canta, baciando piazza Santa Croce e il suo canto è sì dolce e sì sonoro

che a lui son scesi i ruscelletti in coro!.... Così scendano i dotti in arti e scienze a far

più ricca e splendida Firenze!.... E di Val d’Elsa giù dalle castella ben venga

Arnolfo a fare la torre bella! E venga Giotto del Mugel selvoso e il Medici

mercante coraggioso! Basta con gli odi gretti e cosi ripicchi! Viva la gente nuova

et Gianni Schicchi!

In essence, Rinuccio sings: “Florence is like a flowering tree that grows in Piazza della

Signoria but its roots are nourished by the new streams from the surrounding valleys… The

Arno River collects the streams and kisses Piazza Santa Croce while those streams bring talents in art and science to enrich Florence. Welcome Arnolfo from the Val d’Elsa to build a new beautiful tower, Giotto from the Mugello woods and the courageous merchants Medicis! No more prejudices and long live the newcomers and Gianni Schicchi!” This is the first aria in an opera that contains only a few. It makes a strong statement interrupting not only the discordant voices of hypocrisy, greed and class arrogance, but also a farcical opening that threatened to sink into more buffoonery. Why did Puccini compose such a beautiful aria, which combines powerful music with an inspired lyrical language? Some authors suggest, and I tend to agree,

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that in his aria Rinuccio incarnates Puccini’s own voice,111 and there can be no doubt that this aria establishes the core theme of the opera.

The message is clear: to Rinuccio, Gianni Schicchi represents the new blood that is vital for the prosperity of Florence. He is compared to Arnolfo, Giotto and the Medicis, all of whom played indispensible roles in the Florentine Renaissance. There are many anachronisms in this otherwise eloquent aria (e.g., Schicchi was believed to live in the thirteenth century at which time the Arnolfo Tower which Rinuccio mentions had yet to be completed) but these discrepancies are not careless mistakes. On the contrary, this playing with time allows Puccini to speak not only about the past but also about the future. Rinuccio is identifying what it would take to rejuvenate Florence and pave the way to the Italian Renaissance of which in fact the city will be a key centre. In singing the aria, Rinuccio presents himself and his wife as the vehicles for that glorious future, to whom Puccini lends his own lyrical and one could say “patriotic” voice.

At this point, almost 20 minutes, about one-third of the opera, have elapsed. Schicchi has not yet appeared on the stage, which implies that Puccini wanted to accord almost as much weight to the Donatis as to Schicchi. When the protagonist finally arrives in Buoso’s residence, he is accompanied by his daughter Lauretta. Schicchi immediately detects something odd:

“Quale aspetto sgomento e desolato! [The Donatis seem anguished and dismayed!]” Knowing how hypocritical they are, he says to himself: “Buoso Donati, certo, è migliorato! [Buoso must be recovering!]” In reality, we know that their dismay is at their disinheritance. It is interesting to note that Puccini underscores his entry is with a rather orthodox melody. This is the first instance of a general strategy: throughout the opera, the tone of Schicchi’s discourse turns to a

111 e.g., see: Jean-Michel Brèque, "L'opéra-bouffe transcendé," Gianni Schicchi, Puccini, ed. Bruno Poindefert (Paris: Avant-scène, 1985) 128.

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buffoonish one only when he impersonates Buoso. This suggests that Puccini wanted to portray him as a decent man and that some stage directors’ tendency to simply portray him as a buffoon is a misinterpretation.

Zita immediately insults Schicchi by telling him to leave with his daughter since she will never let one of the Donatis marry a girl without a dowry. Surprisingly again, Schicchi maintains his dignity and keeps telling Lauretta, desperately in love for Rinuccio, not to lose her pride. He is ready to leave. He even rejects Rinuccio’s prayer to look at the will in order to find a solution for them: “A pro di quella gente? Niente! Niente! [For such people as these? I will do nothing! Nothing!]” And yet, what retains Schicchi is Lauretta’s beautiful aria: “O mio babbino caro, mi piace, è bello bello…. E se l’amassi indarno, andrei sul Ponte Vecchio ma per buttarmi in Arno! [Oh my dear daddy, I love him, he is so handsome…. If I cannot marry

Rinuccio, I will throw myself into the Arno River!]” Touched by his daughter’s sincere cry from the heart, Schicchi finally relents: “Datemi il testamento! [Give me the will!]” These circumstances manifest Puccini’s intention to make absolutely clear that the idea of falsification does not originate in Schicchi and that he is not motivated by his own gain, but rather by love for his daughter.

After long reflection, Schicchi seems to have found a solution. He tells Lauretta to go to the terrace so that her innocence will not be compromised and then sends for a notary.

After making sure that nobody else knows about Buoso’s death, he discloses his scheme to the

Donatis and enthusiastically proclaims: “O gente! Questa matta bizzarria che mi zampilla nella fantasia e tale da sfidar l’eternità! [Listen! This crazy and eccentric idea bursting out of my fantasy is good enough to challenge the eternal!]” Suddenly, he is the Donatis’ hero and they frantically acclaim him: “Schicchi!! Schicchi!!!” They even call him Nostro Salvator [Our

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Savior]. Perhaps, the Donatis did not understand the significance of Schicchi’s last words but it is clear to us and to the audience (who would be familiar with the story) that Puccini was referring to Schicchi’s fate in Dante’s Inferno.

The Donatis are ecstatic over the prospect of seeing the monks’ misfortune and the

“love” uniting the family. Naturally, Schicchi knows that the family “love” will not last for long. While waiting for the notary to arrive, the Donatis start dividing the estate among themselves until they reach the most valuable properties: the mula; the residence in Florence in which they are presently gathering; and, the mills in Signa in the suburbs of Florence. Simone wisely proposes that the decision be left in the honest hands of Schicchi. As we will soon see, his real motive is to bribe Schicchi to favor him with those properties. But he is not alone; all the others, too, whisper in his ear how much they are willing to pay him to get them. To the happy Donatis, Schicchi gives a warning, Addio Firenze: the law of Florence prescribes that the act of impersonation for the sake of falsifying a will is a crime and the impersonator and his accomplices shall have their hands cut off and be exiled:

Addio Firenze, addio cielo divino, Farewell to Firenze and its heavenly sky,

io ti saluto con questo moncherino, I wave you good-by with this stump,

e vo randagio come un Ghibellino! I will wander around like a Ghibelline!

Despite the rather lyrical and almost sweet music, this tercet constitutes a dark and sadistic message and another clear reference to Dante’s destiny of exile.

The notary arrives. Schicchi is lying in bed, the very same bed from which the

Donatis just removed Buoso’s corpse, wearing Buoso’s nightgown and cap. Dictating “his” will to the notary, Schicchi perfectly incarnates Buoso by mimicking his voice and gestures.

He starts with the instruction for his very modest funeral. The heirs praise his modesty and

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“good heart.” Why a good heart? Because sparing funeral expenses would leave more to be distributed among themselves. He then leaves an insignificant sum to the monks. The notary interjects that it seems too little, to which Schicchi replies: “Chi crepa e lascia molto alle congreghe e ai frati fa dire a chi rimane: eran quattrin rubati! [If one dies and leaves a lot to the Church, people would say that it is stolen money!]” The negligible bequest to the monks was in Anonimo Fiorentino’s version of the story, but the justification provided by Schicchi is a brilliant invention of Puccini-Forzano. As a matter of fact, our Buoso might be the thief

Buoso112 that Dante condemned to the Malebolge and transformed in a snake in Canto XXV of the Inferno. Although the identity between the two Buosos has been debated inconclusively among scholars,113 it seems plausible that Puccini-Forzano wanted to insinuate that our Buoso actually was a thief and in this way emphasize the corruption of the Donati’s family. This insinuation deepens Puccini’s criticism of the Florentine privileged class and its connection with the Church which profited from generous bequests made out of guilt over the illegal and/or immoral means by which a fortune was acquired.

Now the time has come for Schicchi to start distributing Buoso’s estate. He keeps the heirs happy by dictating a bequest to each of them, i.e., farms and pieces of land as they previously divided among themselves. But it takes only a moment before they are struck by two thunderbolts. Buoso, impersonated by Schicchi, leaves the three most important assets, the mula, the Signa property and the house in Florence, to his loyal and affectionate friend Gianni

Schicchi. The Donatis first think that there was some kind of mistake: “Come? Come? Com’è?

[What? What? Why?]” Buoso-Schicchi answers curtly that he does what he wants in his will and he knows well what Schicchi wants. The Donatis continue to protest against his trick but,

112 Unlike Buoso Donati in Canto XXX, Dante did not identify the surname of Buoso in Canto XXV of the Inferno. 113 Guy P. Raffa, The Complete Danteworlds: A Reader's Guide to the Divine Comedy (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009) 89; Grover-Friedlander, 90.

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in the presence of the notary, Schicchi simply reminds them of the consequence: “Addio,

Firenze, addio, cielo divino… [Good-by Florence, good-by divine heaven…]” After the notary has left, they accuse him of being “ladro, ladro, ladro, furfante, traditore, birbante, iniquo…

[thief, thief, thief, scoundrel, traitor, rogue, devil…]” But it is too late and Schicchi chases them out: “Gente taccagna! Ora la dote c’è!... Vi caccio via! È casa mia! [You misers! Here is the dowry! Get out! This is my house!]” It is noteworthy that Puccini devoted only approximately seven minutes, i.e., barely more than ten percent of the duration of the entire opera, to the episode of Buoso-Schicchi’s dictation of the will.

Peace is back in the final scene and we see Lauretta and Rinuccio alone in Buoso’s bedchamber that still looks like a battleground with traces of the uproar. Rinuccio sings to

Lauretta: “Guarda, Firenze è d’oro! Fiesole è bella! [Look, Florence is radiant! Fiesole is beautiful!]” Admiring the radiant Florence and the beautiful Fiesole in the window, they tell us in a sweet duet that the house now belongs to them forever. Why is that so? We realize that, moved by the daughter’s pleading, Schicchi did it all simply to be able to provide a dowry for

Lauretta so that she could marry her Rinuccio, even if that meant placing himself at the risk of losing a hand and being exiled from Florence. Schicchi did not get anything for himself and ultimately, the entire Buoso’s inheritance remains in the hands of the Donati family through

Rinuccio. The greedy relatives even got their fair share, which had been denied to them by

Buoso. In the final analysis, no apparent harm was done by Schicchi’s action, except perhaps to the monks who could not profit from Buoso’s guilty conscience. Above all things, the brave action of Schicchi finally made it possible for two families belonging to different classes be united, perhaps suggesting that with the injection of new blood like the Schicchi’s, class antagonism may disappear or at least abate.

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2.4. Departures from Dante

Authors are unanimous about the fact that, in telling of the Schicchi’s story, Dante takes the side of the Donatis. This is not surprising given Dante’s politics and his support of the

Florentine aristocracy. On the other hand, it has become clear through the close reading of the libretto that Puccini’s sympathy lies with Schicchi. This is the most obvious departure from

Dante. DiGaetani points out that while Dante supported the aristocracy and did not welcome newcomers, Puccini’s mentality and lifestyle reflected middleclass and bourgeois values.114

We have seen how the composer suffered poverty throughout his youth, especially in the rich and prosperous Milan where he witnessed strident social inequality. It is not surprising that, even after his successes, he would maintain more affinity for people of humble origin rather than for the privileged upper classes. Different class sympathies are perhaps the most obvious divergence but certainly no the only one between Dante’s and Puccini’s treatment of the

Schicchi story.

Despite the manifest animosity between the Donatis and Schicchi, there is at least one trait shared by them, namely, the lack of respect towards the Church. In the discussion of

Puccini’s personal life, it was already mentioned that the composer was not very religious, to say the least; it is understandable, therefore, that one would find anti-clericalism in Gianni

Schicchi. Clearly, this is another departure from Dante’s deeply religious vision. As noted by

DiGaetani, the contrast between Dante’s devotional life and Puccini’s cynical attitude towards the Church is indeed remarkable.

A third key element of divergence identified by DiGaetani is the different approach to the law.115 In the early modern era, the fraud of impersonation was one of the worst criminal

114 DiGaetani, 162. 115 Ibid.

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acts and it is on this basis that Dante justified his severe treatments of Schicchi. By contrast,

Puccini let Schicchi use his ruse in order to obtain the best results and a practical solution in the circumstances. In this respect, one should not forget the reality that the law tends to favour the privileged class and it often became a question of survival for marginalized people to circumvent the law. From this perspective, the Schicchi story told by Puccini is double edged:

Schicchi circumvents the law by impersonating the deceased and dictating a fraudulent will, but at the same time also uses the same law to prevent the Donatis from impugning the fraudulent will. Puccini, then, seems to support a pragmatic approach to the law, which is quite different than Dante’s.

In view of these key differences, Greene eventually comes to the conclusion that

Puccini is more human than Dante.116 Naturally, this should not mean that Dante was inhuman but rather that Puccini lived in a very different world, a more secular, humanistic and “modern” world than Dante. No longer haunted by a religious outlook or obsessed with sin and eternal damnation, Puccini’s world was more sensitive to human, all too human predicaments, and in that world even a rogue like Schicchi may have qualities and human feelings.

Given all these differences between Puccini and Dante, one may well ask what exactly are the affinities in the treatment of the Schicchi story. An interesting approach to this question is to meditate on the fact that both Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi and Dante’s Commedia are indeed comedies, i.e., literary or theatrical works with a happy ending,117 which in both

Puccini’s and Dante’s case is a paradisiacal vision. However, even more telling is the fact that while both texts fall formally in the category of comedy, they are very unusual comedies.

Dante’s Inferno, the first of the three parts which compose the Commedia, is arguably not a

116 Greene 112-13. 117 http://www.treccani.it/vocabolario/commedia/

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comedy at all given that the vision of Paradise, i.e., the happy ending, is in fact specifically denied to all who inhabit hell. The stories of the Inferno, therefore, and thus the Schicchi story, are tragic insofar as they lead to eternal damnation. What about Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi? If

Dante’s work, with its tragic components, must be characterized “high comedy,” Puccini’s opera with comical and almost vaudevillian touches seems teeter on the edge of “low comedy.”

Are Dante and Puccini at the opposite end of the comedic spectrum? This is where the discussion of Puccini’s musicality becomes essential. Remembering the “distancing effect” produced by the musical stylistic plurality adopted by Puccini, and the deeper engagement of the spectator that this effect invites, we can go below the surface of the libretto, and discover a much more serious and darker side of the opera.

The curtain opens with the dead body on the stage. Later, the characters unceremoniously get rid of this corpse without any respect or remorse in order to make space for Schicchi. The latter puts on the deceased clothing and lies down in his bed without any hesitation. Then, Schicchi reminds the greedy relatives of the cruel law and uses it in order to pursue his fraud. There is a grotesque cruelty in these scenes which is reminiscent of scenes in

Dante’s Inferno and which leads Luca Andrea Giordano to argue that the opera exceeds the comical dimension, especially due to its grotesque aspects.118 DiGaetani goes further and qualifies Gianni Schicchi as a black comedy driven by social criticism and akin to the works of

Brecht, Beckett and Behan.119 These comparisons may at first seem extraordinary (possibly because of the way in which the opera has been usually performed) but are vindicated by a close reading of the libretto and especially of the last scene of Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi when the lyrical vision of Florence elevates and redeems all the dark buffoonery we have witnessed.

118 Luca Andrea Giordano, Il Trittico pucciniano: Un affresco drammaturgico tra realismo e finzione (Scafati: Artemide, 2010) 156. 119 DiGaetani 152.

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Greene adds an interesting dimension to our discussion of the deeper meaning of

Puccini’s opera.120 She agrees that Gianni Schicchi is not just a simple comedy but unlike

Giordano and DiGaetani, who point to the grotesque and dark elements in the opera, she arrives at that conclusion by focusing on Puccini’s sense of irony that is expressed and enforced by the mixture of words and music. Greene argues that Puccini is so ironic that he borrows characteristics of the commedia dell’arte to laugh himself at the social taboo presented on stage.

A few examples immediately come to mind to illustrate what Greene is referring to: the Donatis’ deep mourning betrayed by the lightness of the music at the opening; the rather solemn music covering their mourning after the will is found; and, finally, the triumphant fanfare used not only to celebrate Zita’s opening of the will but also to overlap the relatives’ howls when they learn of their disinheritance. Greene concludes that Gianni Schicchi does not represent a good- natured humour but rather jars our senses to make us think about our own human weakness.121

In the end then, reflecting on the affinity between Dante and Puccini makes it possible to understand the more serious and deeper significance of Gianni Schicchi, which is arguably Puccini’s most enigmatic opera. Rather than a clownish farce, Schicchi becomes a vehicle for a serious social commentary in which Puccini distances himself from the kind of aristocratic culture that Dante had come to represent. When one considers that Puccini reserved not more than seven minutes for Schicchi to dictate the will whereas in contrast Anonimo

Fiorentino’s version consists almost entirely of the narrative of the will, one is driven to conclude that Puccini’s focus was somewhere else than on the act of impersonation skilfully committed by Schicchi (an act that had lost its grave significance, to which Dante accorded so much importance). Rather, Puccini was smiling at his own creation, tuning Dante on his head

120 Greene 104 & 09-10. 121 Ibid. 112.

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and using it as a weapon to beat the arrogant high society represented by the Donatis and ideologically supported by Dante.

2.5. The Reception of Gianni Schicchi

Up to now, the discussion has been focusing on the questions that Gianni Schicchi raises from a contemporary, twenty-first century perspective which, therefore, informs the interpretation so far developed. We should also ask, however, how Gianni Schicchi was received by critics and spectators at the time of its creation, i.e., Puccini’s contemporaries, and consider what that reception can contribute to our contemporary understanding and appreciation of Puccini’s work.

The world premiere of Gianni Schicchi took place at the Metropolitan Opera in New

York on December 14, 1918; the opera was then performed in Italy for the first time on January

11, 1919 at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome. It is said that Puccini wanted the world premiere in

Italy but, in the aftermath of the war, Italian theaters were not yet adequately equipped and many singers had not yet returned from the war.122

According to Phillips-Matz, the reviews and reactions were mixed.123 However, her observations apply primarily to the American audience that had the pleasure of seeing it before

Italians. Furthermore, the majority of reviews accessible today are positive, independently of whether the critic is American or Italian. Upon the American premiere, The New York Times,

New York Tribune and The North American124 all published very positive reviews of Il Trittico, but especially Gianni Schicchi, calling the latter a genuine comedy and praising it for the

122 Dario Oliveri, "Gianni Schicchi Ossia Il Commiato Delle Maschere," in La Lupa/Gianni Schicchi, ed. Teatro Politeama Garibaldi (Palermo: 1998). This explanation raises a question as to why the world premiere could not be delayed until January 1919. 123 Phillips-Matz, Puccini: A Biography, 252-53. 124 Philadelphia based newspaper.

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brilliant and rich music. However, as Arman Schwartz rightfully puts it, Americans were swayed by the beautiful landscape of Florence that they saw with nostalgic eyes, a landscape that had been destroyed during the war together with the life of over one million citizens.125

Not surprisingly, Gianni Schicchi had an even greater impact in Italy.126 In addition to the fact that its musical genuineness and originality were appreciated as much as in America, what Italians found in the opera was not so much the revival of the beauty of Florence but a hope for the rebirth of Italy: not only the proud rediscovery of the ancient glory but also the high aspirations about building of a new nation. Thus, Sebastiano Luciani wrote in Il Tempo on

January 12, 1919, the day following the Italian premiere: Gianni Schicchi represented so much

Italian thoughts (“così italiana di pensiero”) that he saw Boccaccio, Pulci and Ariosto smiling together in the opera.127 The critic of Il Corriere della Sera talked about his unconditional admiration for the opera.128 Giannotto Bastianelli in La Nazione equally expressed his admiration and called it a true work of art (“vera e compiuta opera d’arte”).129

More importantly, for our purposes, Schwartz confirms that Gianni Schicchi was

Puccini’s first opera to inspire so much political interpretation.130 Notwithstanding Puccini and what he might have had in mind creating Gianni Schicchi, it is clear that the opera had the effect of exalting Italians’ patriotic sentiment. Wilson refers to the ultra-nationalistic publication Idea nazionale that acclaimed it as a national masterpiece. She continues by saying that even those who had previously been hostile towards Puccini praised Gianni Schicchi

125 Arman Schwartz, Puccini's Soundscapes: Realism and Modernity in Italian Opera (Firenze: Leo S. Olschki Editore, 2016) 100. 126 Pinzauti 71-80.; Schwartz, Puccini's Soundscapes: Realism and Modernity in Italian Opera, 99-101.; Silvia Toscano, "Anatologia Della Critica," in La Lupa/Gianni Schicchi, ed. Teatro Politeama Garibaldi (Palermo: 1998) 75-78. 127 Lucio Lironi, "Schicchi: Da Una Bolgia Al Trittio," ibid., 76-77. 128 Ibid. 77. 129 Ibid. 77-78; Pinzauti 79. 130 Schwartz, Puccini's Soundscapes: Realism and Modernity in Italian Opera, 102.

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because they thought that the opera could be an efficient tool for Italian nationalism.131 We may assume that the above-cited Bastianelli was one of these new converts since he was a

Florentine futurist who had been known to be anti-Puccini.132 Schwartz claims that such Italian response signals a turning point, not merely for Puccini’s career but also for Italy, anticipating the era of D’Annunzio and Mussolini,133 i.e., the era of chauvinistic nationalists, according to the characterization previously quoted from Wilson.

In summary, Italians acclaimed Gianni Schicchi insofar as they saw it as exalting nationalism and re-evoking the ancient glory, through its comical ambiance and unique music.

This reception is understandable: it was what the Italian critics and public needed and what they wanted to see in the darkening post-World War I social climate. It is, however, significant and disappointing that no contemporary seems to have noticed the underlying theme, i.e., the harsh social criticism spiced with nihilism and sarcasm. In the social climate of the time, the more challenging message of the work passed unnoticed – an important lesson in how ideological blinkers can affect the response to works of art. On the other hand, the shortcomings of the original reception also disclose an opportunity: Gianni Schicchi is a rich work that a new generation of critics and opera audiences can discover anew in the light provided by a more contemporary perspectives. It is to that project that this study hopes ultimately to contribute.

131 Wilson 181-82. 132 Leon Botstein, "Musical Language, and Meaning in Opera: Puccini and His Contemporaries," in Giacomo Puccini and His World, ed. Arman; Senici Schwartz, Emanuele (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2016) 191. 133 Schwartz, Puccini's Soundscapes: Realism and Modernity in Italian Opera, 101-02.

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3. Puccini’s Personal Voice

The analysis of Gianni Schicchi which we have developed in the preceding chapters enables to reasonably draw certain conclusions and help dissipate some of riddles surrounding one of Puccini’s most enigmatic work. The opera is neither a parody of Dante’s Commedia nor a simple comedy. If the term “comedy” is appropriate at all, it is a black comedy hiding serious social criticism and an allegory about the darker side of human nature. Unlike Dante who was proud of his noble blood and whose values were rigidly tied to theology and/or class- consciousness, Puccini voices more democratic outlook and a pragmatic intent on finding practical solutions to human predicaments. Also, the real theme of Gianni Schicchi is not the sin of fraudulent impersonation but class struggle in which Schicchi incarnates Puccini’s own affinity with those who make their ways in society through intelligence and cleverness, as well as a good heart, in contrast to the privileged upper classes whose arrogance and hypocrisy is condemned and rewarded with sterility. While I am confident in these conclusions, I also propose to test them further by considering whether they are compatible with the underlying theme of Il Trittico as a whole and this will involve explaining what connection between the three operas which compose it, namely, Il Tabarro, Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi itself – a connection, it should be noted, that is far from being immediately obvious. Finally, I will also briefly discuss a few other works of Puccini which enable to substantiate further my interpretation of Gianni Schicchi.

3.1 Gianni Schicchi as an Integral Part of Il Trittico

Il Tabarro is the first of the three operas which compose Il Trittico. The narrative is drawn from the play La Houppelande by the French author Didier Gold and the libretto was written by Giuseppe Adami. It is a story of the couple Michele and Giorgetta who live in a

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barge on the Seine in Paris. It is Puccini’s only veristic opera involving jealousy and infidelity at the bottom of society. In the final scene Michele stabs Giorgetta’s lover to death. Despite the “typical” bloody love-triangle plot, Puccini’s real focus, according to DiGaetani, is on social problems and marginalized people who are victims of the system. Il Tabarro is a clear expression both of Puccini’s awareness of the twentieth-century social problem and of his pessimism. DiGaetani goes as far as to characterize the opera as Marxist to the extent it is a reflection of the social injustice created by European capitalism. He remarks that Puccini instructed Adami to emphasize “the oppressed classes, the poverty of the characters, and the severity of their lives.”134

The second component of Il Trittico is Suor Angelica. As previously mentioned, it is an original story by Giovacchino Forzano who wrote the libretto. Of noble origin, Suor

Angelica is confined to a secluded convent by her family in atonement for her sin: she bore an illegitimate son and became the shame of the family. One day, the Princess, her aunt, arrives at the convent. She tells her that Suor Angelica’s sister will soon marry and Suor Angelica has to renounce the claim to her inheritance. She refuses to cave in since she cares about the future of her son whom she had to entrust to the care of her family, but when the Princess coldly announces that he is dead, she signs the renunciation in despair. Then, hoping to see her son in

Heaven, she takes poison to commit suicide. When she is about to expire, she realizes that she has committed a mortal sin that condemns her to Hell, eternally preventing her from seeing the son. Then the Virgin Mary and the son miraculously appear to her in a vision and finally she dies.

Even merely on the basis of this quick sketch, it is clear that in this opera Puccini is denouncing the prejudice and the greed of the privileged: Suor Angelica is a marginalized

134 DiGaetani 139-42.

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victim of a class whose pride determines that her existence is a shame and a hindrance. The darkness of the music, the oppressive atmosphere and the Princess’s merciless insolence reinforce the negative representation of the ruling class, its despotism, cruelty and intransigence, social and religious. According to DiGaetani, Puccini gave a series of directions to Forzano in order to incorporate those essential ideas in the story. The harshness of the religion portrayed in the opera confirms Puccini’s anti-clericalism and his resentment towards the Roman Catholic Church that was an ally of the privileged. Even more striking is Puccini’s message that it is not God or the Church that saved Suor Angelica’s soul at the end of the opera, but “her fantasy of salvation,” or a hallucination in the agony of guilt.135

Despite the absence of an obvious narrative connection or coherence among the three opera, it is clear that not only Il Tabarro but also Il Trittico as a whole should be considered as

Puccini’s social manifesto. While Il Tabarro deals with the misery infecting the lowest strata of society in the twentieth century, Suor Angelica more directly denounces the abuse by the ruling class, and Gianni Schicchi presents the possibility of a different future redeemed by the breaking down of rigid class divisions (the very phenomenon that Dante identified as a cause of social disorder). We have already conceded that this convergence of themes was most probably not contemplated from the beginning of the Trittico project. However, this does not entail that it was a pure coincidence that “social injustice” became the common thread between the three operas. Rather, this concern with social issue is a key component of Puccini’s own contribution to the narratives and expresses his personal voice. The instructions to the librettists of Il

Tabarro and Suor Angelica constitute the best testimony, and Forzano also tells us in his interview that Puccini was extremely demanding with respect to the libretto of Gianni Schicchi and he received from Puccini’s many instructions on changes and additions. From a different

135 Ibid. 93-99.

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angle, one may see that Puccini was determined to incorporate his voice in the plot, regardless of whether it was a tragedy or a comedy.

This socio-political interpretation of Il Trittico runs counter the popular view that labeled it as “apolitical” and emphasized the sensual and “decadent” elements in Puccini’s oeuvre in general. Some of his critics even point out that Puccini himself called “sugary music” the style of many of his works.136 To confront these charges, answer them and at the same time vindicate a very different view of Gianni Schicchi and Il Trittico, it is useful to consider where the thematic undercurrents that we have uncovered find an echo in other operas by Puccini.

Could Gianni Schicchi prove to be the gateway to new interpretive possibilities for the composer’s entire oeuvre?

3.2. Gianni Schicchi in the context of Puccini’s Oeuvre

Since he had no real control over Le Villi and Edgar, the first opera that can be qualified as Puccini’s own is Manon Lescaut (1893). As we have already mentioned, Manon

Lescaut’s libretto was a laborious affair: based on Abbé Prévost’s French novel Histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut,137 the composition of the libretto involved six writers. The core of the original story consists of a confession by the Chevalier des Grieux, a

French nobleman, about youthful adventures driven by his unconditional passion for Manon. In

Prévost’s novel, Manon is depicted as a beautiful young girl who is charming and vivid but at the same time superficial, frivolous and insatiable. She is also immoral in the sense that she does not hesitate to be unfaithful to her lover des Grieux and take advantage of wealthy men.

Overall, the protagonist of the novel is the nobleman rather than Manon who functions as the catalyst for the principal theme: the folly of youthful passion.

136 Phillips-Matz, Puccini: A Biography, 3. 137 Antoine François Prévost, Histoire du Chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut (Paris: Livre de Poche, 2010).

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In contrast, the protagonist of the Puccini’s opera is Manon herself, who, in addition to the general traits attributed to her by Prévost (i.e., beautiful, charming, vivid but superficial, frivolous and insatiable) is also in the composer’s own words “a nice girl with a big heart.”138

Comparing the two versions of the story, it is evident that Puccini shifted the central concern from des Grieux to Manon. Puccini displaced Prévost’s original theme with one of his own and, as a result, Manon Lescaut became a story of a naïve girl who dies in Louisiana where she was deported from France with other prostitutes. The ending of the opera is especially telling: a fugitive from justice, Manon dies in the desert under the delusion that Grieux abandoned her.

Her last aria starts as follows: “Sola, perduta ed abbandonata in landa desolata [Alone, lost and abandoned in barren land].” And she dies in grief: “Le mie colpe travolgerà l’oblio… ma l’amor mio non muor. [My faults will be forgotten… but my love will never die.]” These words suggest that, perhaps for the first time, Manon fully appreciates des Grieux who is moved by his love to accompany her to the place of deportation in America. In essence, Manon

Lescaut is the story of a marginalized woman whose tragic fate is the result of the blindness of youth but also of the fact that she has no second chance at life because she, unlike her lover, is not from a wealthy and socially distinguished family. We should note that, while the opera ends with the tragic death of Manon, in the novel des Grieux returns to France to receive a generous inheritance from his father. The omission of des Grieux’s return to France from

Puccini’s treatment underscores and confirms the fact that the opera is about Manon, and that her plight as a young woman abandoned by society is the core of the work.

After Manon Lescaut, Puccini composed La Bohème (1896) which is based on

Scènes de la vie de bohème by another French author Henri Mürger. In this case, the libretto was written by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. The world presented in this opera is sugar-

138 See note 13.

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coated by the sentimental portrayal of bohemian artists and, more specifically, of the love story between the poet Rodolfo and Mimi, a humble seamstress. However, the reality of the situation is unquestionably grim: in the modest attic room in which they live, the artists are besieged by deadly cold and hunger. DiGaetani characterizes the opera as a “proletarian tragicomedy”139 and points to Puccini’s insistent directives to the librettists about incorporating sad and happy aspects of life. We should remember that Puccini himself suffered poverty in childhood and witnessed his mother’s humiliating efforts for the family’s survival. Indeed, his life in Milan as an indigent student may well have been as miserable as that of the bohemians in the opera.

Although Mimi’s death from tuberculosis might contribute to the sentimentality of the ending, the truth is that she dies in desperate poverty without even being able to see a doctor. As

DiGaetani rightfully underscores, Mimi was not an exception in nineteenth-century Europe since average working class women could barely afford to keep themselves above the poverty level. He further convincingly comments that in creating Mimi, Puccini was surely overlapping the image of his brother Michele who had tragically died in South America. 140 The melodramatic component of the opera is therefore not “decadent,” or an end in itself, but a strategy for survival in the face of marginalization, deprivation and even personal trauma.

Fourteen years after La Bohème,141 Puccini created for the Metropolitan of New York

La Fanciulla del West (1910) based on the American David Belasco’s stage play The Girl of the

Golden West – the librettists were Guelfo Civinini and Carlo Zangarini. This time, the story is a little less simple: during the gold rush in California, a stranger comes into a saloon in a mining town and presents himself as Dick Johnson. His real name is Ramerrez, a bandit who is fugitive from justice. Dick and the lady owner of the saloon Minnie fall in love with each

139 DiGaetani 112. 140 Ibid. 103-07. 141 In the meantime, Puccini had created Tosca (1900) and Madama Butterfly (1904).

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other; Minnie is extremely popular among the miners and they all owe to Minnie’s generosity in one way or another. Having traced Ramerrez’s footsteps, the sheriff arrives in the camp.

Minnie learns about Dick’s true identity, but decides to hide and save him. Nonetheless,

Ramerrez is arrested and brought to the place of execution. Minnie pleads with the miners to show their mercy; she says that they owe her too much to deny her love. The miners yield to her pleas, Ramerrez is released and Minnie leaves the camp with Ramerrez so that they can start a new life together.

The opera does not fall into Puccini’s usual pattern. It has a happy ending and it is a woman who saves her lover. How can it be relevant to our subject? It is true that the outline of the opera does not provide any clue. Listening carefully to the opera, however, one will notice one short passage sung by Dick: “Sono sei mesi che mio padre morì… [I was six months old when my father died…]” He pleads with Minnie who is leaving him after she has learned about his true identity:

Una parola sola! Non mi difenderò... sono un dannato!... Sono Ramerrez: nacqui

vagabondo, era ladro il mio nome da quando venni al mondo… Ma fino che

visse, mio padre, io non sapevo. Quando, or sono sei mesi che mio padre morì...

Sola ricchezza mia, per la madre e i fratelli, alla dimane, l’eredità paterna: una

masnada di banditi da strada!

Ramerrez blames himself but in his abnegation paints a telling picture: “I was born damned; when I was born I was already a vagabond and burglar; I never knew my father; the only inheritance received from the father was a gang of street bandits.” Isn’t this Puccini’s own story? The composer was only five years old when his father died. His beloved brother

Michele in fact never knew his father at all and died destitute and a fugitive. Even though

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Puccini grew up to be exceptionally successful thanks to his mother’s devotion and his own talents and efforts, he knew very well how easily one could fall in the trap of misery and marginalization without any hope to escape form a condition for which one is not responsible.

The sentimental aspect of the story is not the element of social injustice but rather the notion that love, in this case Minnie’s love for Ramerrez and the miners’ love for Minnie, could overcome a fate that neither human law nor divine will would forestall.

These short analyses of the three major operas by Puccini enable us to appreciate that the underlining theme of social injustice in Il Trittico is not an isolated case in the composer’s oeuvre. Composed in 1918, Il Trittico can be considered a continuation and further elaboration of concerns that were already present in 1893 when Manon Lescaut was created. The extent to which this concern for social justice can be seen to inform all of Puccini’s oeuvre is a question beyond the scope of this discussion but suffice it to say that the observations so far made suggest that, at the very least, this would be an important and novel line of enquiry.

3.3. Puccini’s Authorship

Placing Gianni Schicchi in the context of Puccini’s oeuvre and biography has confirmed that, regardless of the interpretation of his contemporaries, subsequent debates and popular beliefs still prevailing today, our interpretation of the opera can be justified as a further and more pointed development of a recurrent theme into the composer’s work, namely, the denunciation of social injustice. However, this conclusion raises a further issue. If it is conceded that Puccini’s goal in Gianni Schicchi was to focus more than he had ever done previously on a socio-political message, how does this choice converge with the equally important choice to enter in an explicit dialogue with Dante? In other words, what did the

Dantesque intertext contribute to the political message, and the political message to the

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commentary on Dante? Or was the relation between these two choices fortuitous and without significance? The latter option seems unlikely given that Puccini not only took an episode from the Commedia but insisted on making many implicit references to Dante in the opera, the most resounding of which is in the closing statement of the opera. In his final Prospero-like monologue Schicchi addresses the audience in these terms:

Ditemi voi, signori, se i quattrini di Buoso potevan finir meglio di così!

Per questa bizzarria m'han cacciato all'inferno … e così sia;

ma, con licenza dei gran padre Dante, se stasera vi siete divertiti, concedetemi

voi.

[Tell me please, isn’t it better if Buoso’s money could be used this way? For this

oddity, they chased me in Hell… too bad; anyway, with the great father Dante’s

permission, please admit me that you enjoyed yourselves this evening.]

In the libretto, Puccini wrote precise instructions about this statement: it is spoken and not sung;

Schicchi takes his nightgown off and holds his nightcap in his hand; and, after the statement,

Schicchi solicits applause from the audience.

What does this final moment mean? First, by making it a spoken statement and by stripping the nightgown and cap from Schicchi, I think that Puccini wanted to make sure to distinguish between the Schicchi who is a fictional character and the Schicchi who is the author’s messenger to the audience and a critic of Dante himself. But then, can we see in these words Puccini’s desire to challenge Dante and through this rather bold move assert his own authority as an artist? Dante is the “great father” and the final monologue invokes his indulgence, and yet the audience is by now fully aware of the reversal: Dante’s cautionary tale

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of eternal damnation is turned into an amusing “bizzarria” – the rhetorical gesture of humility teeters on the edge of irreverence.

How does an author claim “authority”? How does an author become a source of

“authority”? These are complex questions and in the case of Dante these questions raise complex theological, philosophical and doctrinal issues. Albert Russell Ascoli’s recent work142 has insightfully untangled these issues and his work can help us grasp better what role cultural authority played in Puccini’s multifaceted and ultimately ambiguous evocation of Dante in

Gianni Schicchi. One of the key contributions made by Ascoli is the compelling argument that

Dante is in fact the father of the modern notion of “author.” In a literal sense and tracing the term back to its origin, God was the original Author and the ultimate authority: His words guaranteed the truth and were therefore commanded faith and obedience. The Scriptures manifested His words and accordingly were the only unquestionably authoritative writing.

Against such a backdrop, Ascoli explains how Dante made himself the first “author-human” in opposition to “Author-God” as defined by Roland Barthes.143

The essence of Ascoli’s thesis is as follows: Dante followed a comprehensive plan with a view to conferring on himself “authority”; and his entire career from Vita Nova onward can be seen as preparing the formidable assertion of authority in the Commedia. Dante enlisted key figures such as Virgil and Aristotle, who possessed high cultural prestige at the time, as the foundation of his own authority and by engaging with them he succeeded in forging for himself the stature of the first author-human whose words were worthy of faith and obedience, not only in literary but also political and spiritual spheres. As explained by Molly Nesbit and Donald E.

142 Albert Russell Ascoli, Dante and the Making of a Modern Author (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008). 143 Roland Barthes, "The Death of the Author," in Authorship From Plato to the Postmodern: A Reader, ed. Sean Burke (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1995).

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Paese, this original concept was transformed little by little with a result that “authorship” is now conceived to be “a work created with human intelligence, imagination and labour and therefore reflecting the author’s personality,” a definition first provided in French legislation of the nineteenth century.144

Given this historical trajectory, it is clear that authorship did not have the same significance for Dante and Puccini. As much as Dante was conscious about the issue given that it was his lifelong project, probably for Puccini it was not a core objective in creating Gianni

Schicchi. Nonetheless, it is difficult to disregard his intent to challenge Dante’s authority: his judgments in the Commedia, more particularly his treatment of Schicchi; and, his fundamental value reflected therein. Based on the twentieth-century definition of authorship, Puccini was well justified to do so and claim his own authorship with his ingenuity and as an artist.

144 Molly Nesbit, "What Was an Author?," ibid.; Donald E. Paese, "Author," ibid.

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CONCLUSION

Contradicting his reputation as a cosmopolitan xenophile, Giacomo Puccini, who was nearing the end of his career, suddenly chose Dante’s Commedia as a source of one of his most intriguing operas. Dante was a hero of Italian nationalism that at the time was sweeping the country. And yet while, it is true that Puccini cared for Italy and worried about its future, one thing is certain: he was not a nationalist, or at least not the kind of nationalist who would worship Dante as a national icon. Puccini had a great respect for Dante’s literary achievement but was not interested in turning him into a mythical, larger-than-life figure. The evidence examined in this study leads to the conclusion that the choice of Dante and Schicchi was influenced by the social climate and the struggle of the newly born nation Italy to forge its national identity, a struggle in which the elevation of the figure of Dante to the status of a national symbol played an important role. Indeed, Italians saw mainly nationalistic value in

Gianni Schicchi and this reception illustrates the desperate social climate of those days.

However, Puccini did not merely adopt Dante but also challenged explicitly Dante’s ideological position in the Schicchi episode of the Commedia. In fact, in his opera, Puccini completely reverses the political meaning of the Schicchi story and suggests that Dante’s aristocratic, late- medieval values should be replaced by bourgeois pragmatism, common sense, and openness to social mobility.

It is my contention that the opera Gianni Schicchi is the conclusion of Puccini’s social manifesto and his preoccupation with social justice against entrenched prejudice of the upper class is one of the prevailing themes pursued throughout his career. Gianni Schicchi was the second last of his twelve operas and the very last one that he completed in life. While it would be unreasonable to suggest that Puccini consciously planned his career to end as it did,

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there is a clear continuity in the Trittico that is a reflection of a longstanding preoccupation nourished in youth through the observation of social disparity, to which he was personally exposed. In these circumstances, it is not surprising that he developed a keen sensitivity to social injustice. In fact, despite certain stylistic uniqueness of Gianni Schicchi’s music within

Puccini’s trajectory, the opera does not represent a dramatic new departure at the thematic level.

Puccini addressed different aspects of social injustice in all his operas, with the two exceptions for the obvious reasons discussed above, be it class struggle, discrimination, abuse of power, oppression or poverty and misery suffered by the marginalized. Likewise, he repeatedly dealt with the mercilessness of God and the apathy of the Church especially towards ordinary people: as we have seen, even in the happy ending La Fanciulla del West, the message is clear that Dick, born to be a bandit, was saved not by the authority but by the compassion of fellow citizens. In Il Trittico, this central theme and source of artistic inspiration achieved direct expression in three narratives with a strong social message: the bottomless misery of marginalized people in Il Tabarro, the powerlessness of a woman victimized by the despotism of aristocracy and the Church in Suor Angelica; and the bitterness of class struggle in Gianni

Schicchi.

My argument has been that within the structure of the trilogy, Gianni Schicchi forms the conclusion of Puccini’s social manifesto, principally on the following grounds. First, it is obvious that class struggle is the cause of most, if not all, of social injustice. Without class struggle, the problems dealt with in Il Tabarro and Suor Angelica, as well as all the other operas that we discussed, would become groundless. In this sense, therefore, in the third opera

Puccini finally tackles the fundamental problem. Second, in Gianni Schicchi, Puccini suggests that it is possible to overcome social injustice and predicts the reversal or collapse of social

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classes. Given his well-documented pessimism, it is difficult to believe that the Italian composer really thought that the easy solution presented in his opera was realistic. It is more likely that he realized that the social class system based on birth was being replaced by the one dictated by capitalism. Yet, as an expression of the bourgeois class to which he belonged,

Puccini also believed that under the new system there would be better social mobility and, therefore, even the marginalized would have a better chance of fighting back against their social

“destiny.” This last point constitutes the most significant departure from Dante’s commitment to class stability.

From this perspective, it becomes possible to argue that in Anonimo Fiorentino’s version of the story, Puccini must have seen values and morals that clashed with his own. This created an interesting creative situation. Puccini had a great respect for Dante and his work and, given his own non-conformist tendencies, Puccini admired Dante’s courage in denouncing his powerful adversaries, and even papal authority. At the same time, Puccini could show his own courage by challenging Dante and exposing the latter’s pre-modern social ideology. A strict interpretation of theology may dictate the condemnation of an impersonator to Hell, but in reality the “victims” of Schicchi’s deceit, i.e., the Donatis, were greedy, immoral and prejudiced hypocrites that represented the degenerate aristocracy of the time – and that is the aspect of the story that interested Puccini. The opportunity to condemn the role of religious dogma in supporting the powerful and perpetrating social injustice was an added bonus for the anticlerical composer. On the basis of the evidence we have examined, it seems warranted to conclude that what most attracted Puccini to the Schicchi story and sustained the composition of the opera was precisely the heady mix of simultaneously paying homage to, and challenging,

Dante, the most sacrosanct cultural icon in Italian Culture.

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Ultimately, in Gianni Schicchi, Puccini asks Dante and us which is better: being blindly faithful to the rule within a rigid or discriminatory social system; or, being more human and flexible to find an equitable solution under the circumstances? There is no doubt, as

Greene suggested, that Puccini’s perspective was more human-centred than Dante’s, naturally reflecting the twentieth century social environment – perhaps it would be more appropriate to say that Puccini was a modern humanist and liberal. Notwithstanding his resentment against the Church and his compassion for marginalized people, he was never hostile to the ruling class on principle.145 Rather, he never discriminated against anybody on the basis of birth and/or class. His social manifesto may be better described as a humanist manifesto, or perhaps as the political manifesto of “Puccini the Thinker”146 who systematically avoided public appearances and statements, and who was often criticized for being apolitical. We can now see, however, that Puccini was not apolitical and that he eloquently expressed his feelings and thoughts on the life of the polis, as well as life in general, through his oeuvre. Though Puccini might not have considered himself the successor of Verdi and a national icon, Puccini died as a national hero: upon his death in Brussels, eighty thousand people gathered on the streets to mourn “a triumphant hero”; the Queen of Italy sent personal condolences to his bereaved; Mussolini sent a huge bouquet; and, the coffin was adorned with a wreath of orchids from the King of Italy. A state funeral took place in the Duomo of Milan, as it had been done for Vittorio Emanuele II, the first King of Italy himself. The streets of Milan were filled with mourners, buildings were draped with black silks and ribbons and La Scala remained closed. Ironically, for someone who never sought the limelight and wanted in life to be a prominent public figure, Puccini was

145 Davis 232-33. Puccini’s most serious extramarital affair was with German baroness Josephine von Stängel. Likewise, it bears re-stating that one of his best friends in his later years was a young parish priest. 146 DiGaetani, see the title of the book.

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hailed during the service not only as a musician but as a “protagonist of history.”147 The success of Gianni Schicchi might have played a vital role in such an acclamation: it was in this opera that Italians recognized and praised Puccini’s “nationalism” – again an irony of fate since, as we have seen, Puccini’s intent was to deliver quite a different message, namely, a message about social justice that his audiences, perhaps especially his Italian audience, were not ready to receive.

As stated at the beginning of this study, it is only recently that Puccini has finally started attracting serious scholarly interest. The long shadow cast by Verdi and the fact that

Puccini was reticent about his artistic project, at least in public, contributed to popularizing his reputation as a somewhat lesser musician. However, while it is true that his opera may not be as grandiose as Verdi’s and that his music might sometimes sound “sugar coated,” Puccini had his own strong personality and gifts. Early in his career, he understood that grandiosity was not for him. He was more interested in ordinary people’s life and he chose his musical style accordingly. This choice does not automatically entail that his operas are of lesser quality. On the contrary, Puccini’s work can be seen to interpret and re-invent the melodramatic tradition that is so central to the Italian cultural tradition and a key component of that italianità which not only Italian audience but listeners around the world immediately recognize.

Since its inception in 1996, the Centro Studi Giacomo Puccini in Lucca has been actively promoting Puccinian studies in collaboration with many scholars and musicologists.

Several years ago, it undertook the huge task of compiling all letters involving Puccini: the first volume, “Giacomo Puccini: Epistolario I. 1877-1896” was published in 2015. It will take a few more years to see the completion of the project but we will surely have the pleasure of

147 Phillips-Matz, Puccini: A Biography, 302-04.; Wilson, The Puccini Problem: Opera, Nationalism and Modernity, 185.

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finding more about the man of controversy, Giacomo Puccini, and his music. My hope is that this study will make a small contribution to this new emerging scholarship.

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