CHAPTER 4 Songs from 1888-1899 From 1888 through 1899, Puccini composed five songs, three of which he wrote especially for friends. During this period, three of his operas premiered: Edgar, Manon Lescaut, and La Boheme, Edgar, his second opera, was unsuccessful, but his next opera, Manon Lescaut, ‘was hailed as a success, even after three laborious years of work on the libretto. His next opera, La Boheme was well received by the audience, but generally dismissed by critics. The five songs ed for La Bohéme,; “Ave Maria Leopolda!,” a letter set to music; the boat song, “Avanti, Urania!,”; the from this 1-year period are “Sole e amore, ” which can be described as th hunter's song, “Inno a Diana”; and the lullaby, “E l'uccellino.”” “Sole e amore” (Sun and Love) was composed in 1888, probably on March 1." The author of the text is unknown, although Kaye believes Puccini may have written it himself.** Kaye also believes that the well-known sonnet “Mattinata” (Moming) of the Rime Nuove by Giosue Carducci inspired the text because Puccini subtitled this song “Mattinata."** “Sole e amore” was published in Genoa in the musical supplement to Paganini magazine in 1888. Camilo Sivori, a friend of Giuseppe Verdi, published Paganini magazine, which was issued from 1887 to 1892."7 Sivori was a violinist who had studied with the famous violinist and teacher, Niccold Paganini, and Sivori modeled his playing style after Paganini. In the original manuscript, the last line of the text was “II primo di Marzo dell’ ottanotto,” which means “the first of March ‘88.”** This has led scholars to believe it was composed on March 1, 1888.” However, when “Sole ¢ amore” was published for the first time, the last line was changed to “al Paganini, G. Puccini.” This means “To Paganini, from G. Puccini,” both a literal dedication to ™ Kaye, “The Nonoperatic Works of Giacomo Puccini,” p. 290. * id. % Kaye, The Unknown Puccini, p. 5S. * id. * Kaye, The Unknown Puccini, p. 55 » id. 19the magazine and a nod to the great violinist. ‘This song is the basis for the Act III quartet in La Bohéme. ‘Ten years after La Boheme premiered, Puccini gave the original manuscript of “Sole € amore” to his friend, the composer Francesco Paolo Tosti on April 1, 1906.” It is believed that Puccini did this in honor of Tosti’s 60" birthday on April 9."" He inscribed the manuscript with the phrase “questo germe primo di Bohéme,” which means “this first germ of Boheme.” “Sole e amore” is written for soprano and piano in the key of G-flat major. It has a range from Db4 to AbS and is thirty-eight measures long. The tessitura of this well-known tune is from Gb4 to F5. The text of “Sole e amore” describes the sun tapping on your window and love tapping on your heart. The accompaniment of “Sole e amore” is mostly a fragile partner to the singer. Except for four measures, the accompaniment is marked pianissimo or piano. Puccini deploys a triplet figure in his melody, which breaks up the strong duple feeling of the accompaniment, giving the song a heartfelt, passionate mood, Puccini employs different musical characteristics in his accompaniment for the text's descriptions of the sun and love, respectively. The first six measures talk about the sun with delicate, thin accompaniment, which includes staccati and grace notes, The first five measures of the accompaniment are a repeat of the first measure four times, The text then mentions love in measure seven, where the accompaniment becomes thicker, passionate, and more lyrical, using rolled chords and syncopation. This seems to hint at what is to come later in the song at the height of its passion. In measure seven, the singer says “amor” before the accompaniment changes to the passionate, more lyrical texture, which seems to show that the singer is moving the text and the music forward, as if pulling the accompaniment along with them. Puccini then ends as he begins, reusing these same five measures at the end of “Sole e amore,” when the first line of the melody is repeated in measures thirty-two through thirty-five to the words “al Paganini, G. Puccini.” Example 4.1 shows the familiar melodic line from “Sole e amore,” which is reused in the Act III quartet of La Bohéme. “Sole e amore” would be an appropriate song choice for an undergraduate voice student who is comfortable singing an AbS with a crescendo to a forte dynamic level. While “Sole ¢ amore” is the same melody used in the La Bohéme quartet, the piano accompaniment is * Budden, p. 64 * Tid © Kaye, “The Nonoperatic Works of Giacomo Puccini,” p. 291 20mostly light and delicate; therefore, the singer would not require as large a voice as the opera, roles demand. Example 4.1 Puccini “Sole e amore,” measures 1-16. Page 36, Source: Giacomo Puccini: Songs for Voice and Piano. Published by Oxford University Press. New York, New York, 1988. Puccini borrows from the song “Sole e amore” as the source for the Act III quartet in La Bohéme, This will be discussed further in Chapter 6, “Ave Maria Leopolda!” (Hail Maria Leopolda!) is a letter that Puccini set to music on May 20, 1896, the manuscript of which is preserved in the Centro Studi Verdi-Toscanini in Parma .“* It is a salutation to the wife of Leopoldo Mugnone, the conductor of the April 1896 Puccini Rediscovered: Six Songs for Voice and Piano, notes. 21