Milano 20 Giugno 1899
Rispondo alla sua del 18 corr/= la quale mi arriva gradita - e non gradita! Gradita, perchè è prova novella della sua amichevole fiducia in me: sgradita perché non mi dà quelle notizie della di lei salute, quali noi le desideriamo! - Già mi avevano preoccupato le notizie datemi da
Io credo assolutamente necessario ch’Ella si imponga un paio di mesi di assoluto riposo, di completa inoperosità. Capisco che ciò le sembrerà impossibile: ma sia pure sacrificio grande, bisognerà farlo, sia pel di Lei avvenire, sia per quello della famiglia sua, che pure sta a capo de’ suoi pensieri! - Ascolti dunque i consigli di persone che le vogliono bene come uomo; all’infuori dell’artista! - calmi i nervi eccitati, i vulcanici pensieri: curi l’uomo: e l’artista salterà fuori di nuovo, ed in breve, in tutta la sua potenza.
Mi perdoni la predica: ma vorrei non fossero parole al vento!!..... e veniamo all’altro affare.
E’ affare delicatisismo! - e se mi sento oltremodo onorato della fiducia ch’Ella in me ripone, debbo dire che mi trovo assai imbarazzato nel consigliare, giacché si tratta, innanzi tutto, di una quistione di sentimento, cui si aggiunge una quistione d’interesse!
Espongo franco il mio pensiero, per quello che vale - non perché faccia peso nella bilancia.
Ella, caro Mascagni - deve innanzi tutto pensare a’ suoi interessi: e questi esigono che in breve nasca un’opera facile, popolare, possibile per tutti i teatri = in modo che costituisca a Lei un reddito buono, confortevole, duraturo per parecchi anni. E volere, o no, vi si riesce solo se si imbrocca il libretto! - Non intendo già ch’Ella debba rinunciare a’ suoi ideali d’arte, a’ suoi sentimenti: ma trovato un libretto piano, e pure emozionante, e gli ideali ed i sentimenti dovranno necessariamente estrinsecarsi nei limiti indicati dal soggetto. Un libretto uso
Vi riescirà col
Questo sarebbe chiaro - ma sarà sufficiente?... non potrà poi essere oggetto di controversia, e grave?... Poi quell’anticipo di denari, da parte di terza persona…. uhm!... mi mette in gran diffidenza. Cos’è questo anticipo, su cosa che non esiste?... A quanto ammonta?
E questa seconda ragione taglia la testa al toro e felice notte.
Per questo cumulo di circostanze dare un consiglio sul da farsi è per me difficile e pericoloso - pericoloso anche perché posso benissimo sbagliarmi - mentre Ella potrebbe trovare in un libretto del d’Annunzio la vera Araba fenice!... tutto è possibile con un forte ingegno! Ma poi è pericoloso per Lei, se invece non trovasse in
Il legame che si impone ora a Lei, ad onta delle riserve sue, mi pare troppo assoluto: come accettare un libretto, senza prima approvare la tela?.... ed approvata la tela, sarà d’Annunzio l’uomo da piegarsi alle esigenze ineluttabili del compositore?..... Ed a quali impegni finanziari andrà incontro il Maestro?... in quali proporzioni andranno divisi i ricavi dell’opera?....-
Veda quali intricati problemi si affacciano! - e come sia possibile ch’io Le dia un consiglio buono, od almeno pratico, tanto più che dal contesto delle cose mi pare che una specie di impegno esista già! - come capisco benissimo che il nome e l’ingegno di d’Annunzio esercitino una specie di fascino nella mente di un artista come Lei, facendogli intravedere fatti e cose, che a noi uomini scettici, positivi, pratici, sembrano, se non impossibili, almeno di difficile realizzazione! -
L’unico consiglio ch’io perito di dare è quello di conservare ogni libertà d’azione! - avere, quindi, molto tempo innanzi a se, anche dopo consegnato il libretto; pienissima libertà di non musicarlo, dichiarando ciò entro un termine a stabilirsi, e rimanendo Lei perfettamente libero da ogni e qualsiasi impegno morale e materiale; anche accettando un libretto, facoltà di musicarne altri e di farli rappresentare quando e come a Lei piacerà, libero da qualsiasi responsabilità.
Insomma veda di garantirsi da ogni legame e responsabilità futura, sia nell’ipotesi che a Lei il libretto non piacesse, sia nell’ipotesi che le condizioni finanziarie fossero tali o da impedire adrittura [sic] il conseguimento prefissosi, o di recare troppo peso a’ di Lei interessi.
Nel caso dunque, perché non si consulta coll’ottimo
Vedo che d’Annunzio è ufficialmente assistito da più persone: vuol Ella agire da solo?... per quanto avveduto, 6 occhi valgono più di 2! - E quale è la necessità di recarsi fino a
Io credo e temo che questa mia lunga scarabocchiata a poco le giovi, come consiglio: ma, se non altro, le dimostrerà tutto l’interesse mio per Lei - poiché tanto, tanto, desidero saperla quieto, in possesso di un buon libretto sicuro-popolare [doppia sottolineatura] - perchè da qui non si scappa, se si vuole unire utile dulci. Anche in questi giorni se ne parlò con Illica, il quale ad onta della luna di miele, mi promise di occuparsene ma ciò non impedisce ch’Ella cerchi altrove - e speriamo si realizzi il proverbio: chi cerca trova!
Ma sopratutto [sic] curi la di Lei salute! questo è ciò che devono desiderare, anzi volere, quanti Le vogliono bene: spero mi metterà fra questi - e la di Lei signora, quindi, non mancherà d’essere la prima a farle vivissime raccomandazioni in proposito.
Saluti distinti alla
devotis. Suo
Giulio Ricordi
220.
pp. 461-468
CLET002081
Milan, 20 June 1899
M. Comm. Pietro Mascagni
Pesaro
Dearest Maestro,
I respond to your letter of the 18th of this month, which was both welcome and – unwelcome! Welcome, because it is the renewed proof of your friendly trust in me; unwelcome because it offers no news about the state of your health, which we want to know about! The news I had received from Illica had already caused me to start me worrying. Dear Mascagni, you have used and abused of an extraordinary creative strength, which is made all the more expansive thanks to your very robust constitution! But since we all have but one body, with one brain, we cannot rely on back-up replacement parts and thus, when we push, and push, and then push them some more, there comes a moment when they scream: Halt!... And note that very few musicians, indeed almost none, have had in such a very brief arc of years such an intense productive activity as yours, coupled with your participation in events of every kind, and all of this exacerbated by the unsettling issues of the times we live in! Thus you have taken on a quantity of creative and practical work that would have prostrated anyone who was not armed with extraordinary physical and intellectual qualities! But, unfortunately, the years pass … and we are like the strings of a violin! Play and keep playing, and although the bow may lose a few hairs, in the end it is the string that will unravel and snap!!...
I believe it is absolutely necessary that you force yourself to take a couple of months of absolute rest, of complete inactivity. I understand that this will seem impossible to you, but even if it is a great sacrifice, you must do it, both for your future and for that of your family, which is foremost in your thoughts! So listen to the advice given to you by people who care about you as a person, above and beyond your activity as an artist! Calm down your overstimulated nerves and your volcanic ideas, take care of the man, and the artist will spring forward anew, and soon, in all his power.
Forgive me this lecture, but I hope they are not words to the wind!!... and now let’s come to the other business.
It is an extremely delicate issue! And while I feel quite honored by the trust you place in me, I must also say that I feel quite embarrassed about giving advice since it has to do above all with a matter of feelings, to which is added a question of my own interest.
I will put forth my thoughts, for what they’re worth – not that they should weigh on the balance.
You, my dear Mascagni, must think above all about your own interests, and these require that you create, as soon as you can, an easy, popular opera that can be performed in any size theatre and which will generate a solid, comfortable, and durable income for many years to come. And, whether you like the idea or not, this will only work if you hit upon just the right libretto! I don’t mean by that that you need to relinquish your artistic ideals, your feelings. But, once you have found a straightforward and, at the same time, a moving libretto, your ideals and your emotions should be exteriorized within the confines indicated by that plot. A libretto like those of Traviata, Rigoletto, etc. etc. (although of course, it be understood, adapted to modern tastes), would ensure the fortune of an opera today, because audiences want scenes of passion and are moved by these alone. You have successfully conquered a great challenge with Iris — note that I have always had complete faith in this opera: as I’ve always said, it’s an opera that engages a battle [against operatic convention] — but I have no doubt that after partial victories, you will reach the decisive victory. Nonetheless it seems to me, for the reasons I have laid out, that this is the moment to set aside, for now, combattative works and to undertake instead a moving subject that will easily impress the masses! It is very difficult to find one… but find one you must.
Will you be able to do so with d’Annunzio?... I don’t believe it! His is a great and transcendent creative mind, but one that ignores those laws of the theatre that sustain, and shall always sustain, the foundations of melodrama, of whatever genre! On the other hand Mascagni… is easy to please!... indeed, if there is something difficult, something odd in a libretto, these stimulate his imagination! He is a man who asks little of a librettist, for the very reason that he is gratified if he can overcome the difficulties! It is true that, from what you write me, you intend to be cautious and thus not commit yourself to setting d’Annunzio’s libretto if it does not suit your goals!!
This seems clear – but will it be sufficient?... might this not become the subject of legal controversy, and a significant one?... And then there is that advance payment, given by a third party…. Hmm! That makes me very suspicious. What is this advance payment, for something that does not yet exist? How much is it? D’Annunzio is not a man to be satisfied with a reasonable sum of money! And so?... when you have completed the opera, whoever anticipated the money with pop up and start asking to be reimbursed! Who will reimburse him?... In short, my impression is that this business lacks transparency!! All the more so because I see that it does not involve just one libretto, but – librettos!!... and I would not want that this establishes an unbreakable commitment for you! A sort of annuity not just with d’Annunzio, but with this other man in the shadows, the man providing the subsidy who, since he is investing in the unknown, will be taking all possible precautions to guarantee his investment!... and who knows if a definitive conclusion won’t be forthcoming for another 2, 3, 6 or more months, i.e., until such time as we find the way to conciliate the interests and the commitments of my various shareholders. In the meantime, I can only carry out regular administrative duties and cannot take on commitments that, by their very nature, would last longer than duration of the Company itself!
Thus, this second reason settles things definitively, and good night to all.
For the sum of all these circumstances, giving you advice on how to proceed is for me both difficult and dangerous: dangerous because I could easily be giving you the wrong advice, whereas you might find just the perfect solution in a libretto by d’Annunzio!... anything is possible when working with a powerful creative mind! On the other hand, however, it is dangerous for you, if you do not find what you are seeking in d’Annunzio’s libretto. Can you imagine the tumult that would come from that! What?.... D’Annunzio unable to prepare a proper opera libretto?... and what enmities, what recriminations!... There is a real danger, quite apart the financial considerations!... a host of the apostles of d’Annunzio would attack Mascagni, blaming Peter for renouncing a libretto by Gabriel!...
The bond being forced upon you, despite your reservations, seems to me to be too restrictive: how can you accept a libretto without having first had a chance to approve its outline?.... and once an outline is approved, will d’Annunzio be the sort of man who would bend to the unwavering demands of the composer?... And what financial commitments will the Maestro be asked to accept? How will the income from the opera be split between composer and librettist?...
You can see what intricate problems you face! Thus, how can I possibly give you advice that is good or, at the very least, practical, all the more so because it seems to me, from the context of things, that a sort of obligation already exists! I fully understand how the fame and the genius of a man like d’Annunzio exert a sort of charm on the mind of an artist like you, making you foresee things which, to skeptical, realistic, practical men like myself, seem impossible, or at the very least difficult to achieve!
The only advice I venture to offer is this: retain full freedom of action! Give yourself, that is, plenty of time to decide, after you receive the libretto; keep complete freedom to decide whether to set it to music or not, giving a deadline within which you will make that decision, and remaining completely free from any commitment, be it moral or financial. And even should you accept a libretto, keep for yourself the freedom to set other librettos to music as well and to have those operas performed, when and as you like, free from any restrictions.
In short, see to guaranteeing for yourself freedom from any future commitment or bond, whether in light of the hypothesis that you do not like the libretto you are offered, or the hypothesis that the financial conditions imposed would be such as to inhibit the completion of the project or to weigh too heavily on your own finances.
Why don’t you seek the consultation of the excellent Avv. Cassuto, to try to arm yourself with a clear, unequivocal, and secure formulation of an agreement that will guarantee to you either full freedom of action or complete financial protection?
I see that d’Annunzio has several lawyers who officially assist him: do you want to go this alone? No matter how careful you might be, 6 eyes [examining a document] are worth more than 2! And why do you need to go to Naples to negotiate a contract? Right now, would you be free to undertake this journey, what with the pressing commitments at your musical Lyceum?...
I believe and fear that this extensive scribble of mine will be of little use to you so far as advice is concerned. Nonetheless, it will demonstrate to you, if nothing else, that I have your best interests at heart -- since I very, very sincerely hope that you are calm, and with in hand an unfailingly popular libretto, because that is the necessary requirement if you want to combine utile dulci [the useful with the agreeable]. Just recently I spoke about this with Illica who, notwithstanding his being on honeymoon, promised he would consider it, but that doesn’t prevent you from looking elsewhere as well. And let us hope that the proverb Seek and ye shall find comes true!
But above all, look after your health! This is what all those who care about you must hope for, indeed insist upon, and I hope that I may be included among them. Then too, your wife will certainly be the first to make the most insistent recommendations about this.
Best regards to Signora Lina, and with the utmost friendship and admiration I remain
Yours most sincerely,
Giulio Ricordi
Letter name DOC01827.220
Volume Signature DOC01827
Year 1888-1901
Volume 01
Pag 461-468
No. pag 8