84ⁱⁱ. Suor Angelica

Puccini’s long search for one-act subjects to complement Il Tabarro (see NOTES to 84) finally met with success in Suor Angelica. The first time that title appears in any of the known documents was on 10 January 1917.Note: *See Puccini’s unpublished letter to his sister Otilia, I-PSc. A hint that Puccini was aware of the idea as a reliable project appears shortly before that, when (on 11 December 1916) he asked Ricordi’s artistic director, Carlo Clausetti, what Tito Ricordi thought about Forzano’s proposed subject.Note: *See Puccini’s unpublished letter in I-Mr, Carteggio Puccini-Clausetti, no. 34. This doubtless refers to Suor Angelica, for Forzano reported that after his conversations with Puccini at Viareggio Puccini went to Milan to discuss the proposal with Tito Ricordi (see Forzano 1957, 14). Since Puccini was in Milan from 21 December 1916, Forzano’s draft may have originated from the end of November or the beginning of December 1916. The decision to compose it may have been made in the middle of January 1917, for just prior to that Puccini was still speaking about plans to perform Il Tabarro separately (see Carteggi 1958, nos. 702 and 703).
Giovacchino Forzano (1884-1970), the originator of the idea for Suor Angelica and then also its librettist, is mentioned by Puccini for the first time as early as 11 July 1913,Note: *In an unpublished letter: I-Mr, Carteggio Puccini, no. 55. also in connection with his search for possible subjects for one-act operas. At that time, as a young journalist, Forzano had very litte experience in the theatre. He had written the libretto of Franchetti’s one-act opera Notte di Legenda (first performed on 14 January 1915) and Mascagni’s Lodoletta (first performed on 30 April 1917), based on Ouida’s novel Two little wooden shoes which Puccini also considered as the subject for an opera for a long time (see Appendix I.7). Even so, Forzano’s intensive involvement with Puccini’s project for the Trittico concerned an addition to Il Tabarro.Note: *See Carteggi 1958, no. 686; I-Mr, Carteggi Puccini-Clausetti, no. 33. He also was present in Zurich, in October 1916, when Puccini tried to resolve some legal problems with his Austrian partners for La Rondine (see NOTES to 83). Since Forzano was also an attorney, perhaps Puccini considered him as a legal advisor at the time. Forzano’s later assertion that the concept for a triple bill of one-act operas originated with him is definitely wrong (see Forzano 1957, 13–14), for it is well known that Puccini conceived the project more than a decade earlier.
At the end of February 1917, Forzano’s libretto of Suor Angelica was ready.Note: *See I-Mr, Carteggio Puccini-Clausetti, nos. 37 and 38 of 22 February and 1 March 1917. Puccini found so few faults with it that he immediately began composing.Note: *See I-Mr, Carteggio Puccini-Clausetti, no. 39 of 3 March 1917. However, obligations connected with the world première of La Rondine in Monte Carlo and its Italian première in Bologna delayed Puccini’s work on the score of Suor Angelica.
As with Tosca, some suitable liturgical texts were also required for Suor Angelica, so Puccini turned again to his clerical friend, Don Pietro Panichelli, who was so helpful by providing them (see Panichelli 1962, 170-171 and Carteggi 1958, nos. 707 and 712). The composition of Suor Angelica was probably essentially completed at the beginning of July 1917, for Puccini began the instrumentation on the 25th of that month (see 84ⁱⁱ.B.1). However, only two weeks later, he informed Sybil Seligman that Suor Angelica was finished,Note: *See Puccini’s unpublished letter of 8 August 1917 in MEL. from which it can be concluded that Puccini also still made changes in the composition while he was orchestrating the opera. He finished the full score on 14 September 1917 (see 84ⁱⁱ.B.1) and then occupied himself with matters connected with the staging of the piece.Note: *See I-Mr, Carteggio Puccini-Clausetti, nos. 46, 48, and 50. Apparently there were also some corrections of the full score to be accomplished, for Puccini only sent it to Ricordi on 14 February 1918,Note: *See I-Mr, Carteggio Puccini-Clausetti, no. 54. where (according to MRL) the production of the orchestra material and chorus parts began on 6 March. Then there were also further corrections by Puccini. Numerous indications of those corrections can be found in the unpublished letters to Clausetti written between 24 April and 9 October 1918.Note: *I-Mr, Carteggio Puccini-Clausetti; see also the components 2 and 3 of 84ⁱⁱ.B.3.
Changes were still made even after the piano-vocal score had already been printed and sent to New York for the rehearsals for the first performance. On 21 September 1918, Puccini informed Ricordi that he would provide two larger changes concerning Angelica’s death scene and her new aria, the latter certainly meaning “Senza mamma.”Note: *See I-Mr, Carteggio Puccini-Clausetti, nos. 95-97 and 99, as well as Carteggi 1958, no. 733. This change was implemented in the first edition of the piano-vocal score by newly engraving four pages (see 84ⁱⁱ.E.1); however, there is no certain trace of the other change in the autograph manuscripts.
After the first Italian performance in Rome, on 11 January 1919, Puccini made a few modifications that were definitive. They were implemented in 84ⁱⁱ.E.2/84ⁱⁱ.E.2a. This revised version may have been staged for the first time in the second performance in Italy, on 10 May 1919 in Florence.
On the occasion of the La Scala performance on 29 January 1922, a drastic change in the opera was made by cutting a large part of Angelica’s aria, “Amici fiori”. The decision to do that certainly was authorized by Puccini (see 84ⁱⁱ.B.5), but it is uncertain that this was his final intention concerning this passage, which had been controversial ever since the first Italian production of the opera in Rome. It may have been nothing more than a compromise necessitated by circumstances. Whether or not the cut was to be definitive must remain an open question, particularly since the piano-vocal score containing the abbreviated version of the aria (84ⁱⁱ.E.3) was only published after Puccini’s death.