20 Maggio 1901
Senatore del Regno. Città
Amico carissimo.
Ebbi il piacere di incontrarti e di potere così darti alcune informazioni riflettenti l’
In quanto riguarda l’incarico gentilmente affidatomi d’interloquire l’ego
- essere facile al Consiglio l’avere cognizione di quanto si fa da altre opere pie circa ai compensi annuali al segretario ed al consulente legale.
- credere difficile il dividere le due mansioni, le quali nel caso si trovano già riunite in una sola persona: per cui facilmente verrebbesi a discutere quando cessa l’una mansione per dare posto all’altra.
- opinare più opportuno fissare la pianta amministrativa quale dovrà essere - e se pel maggior lavoro di quello che sarà il periodo di preparazione si vorrà tener calcolo, il maggiore compenso si dia in linea straordinaria.
Tale il risultato del colloquio avuto = ed ora ad altro, che direttamente mi riguarda.
L’Eg°
Tuttavia essendo questa la prima volta che si esercita un controllo su atti privati della mia amministrazione, ne nacque viva commozione negli impiegati di segreteria, come di offesa fatta alla Ditta ed insieme alla mia persona.
Io mi guardo bene, neppure lontanamente, di credere che il
Se per necessità di legge, o se per scrupolo di coscienza il Consiglio desiderava un atto legale, nulla di più facile: un notaio poteva fare l’estratto dei contratti coi soliti omissis, riportando solo quelle parti che interessavano il Consiglio stesso.
In ogni modo cosa fatta capo ha: ma il Gerente della ditta non può ammettere questa specie di controlli, che mai nessuno dei molti interessati si è peritato di fare verso un [sic] amministrazione pressoché secolare ed attorniata dalla completa fiducia di quanti ebbero affari con essa! - E poiché appunto le relazioni d’affari dovranno persistere fra la mia ditta e l’
Con un cordialissimo saluto
tuo Aff°
Giulio Ricordi
230.
pp. 490-492
CLET002089
20 May 1901
Hon. Comm. Gaetano Negri
Senator of the Kingdom. City
Dearest friend,
I had the honor of meeting you and thus offering you some information regarding Verdi’s Institution. But I think it advisable to give you further clarification in writing.
With regard to the task entrusted to me to discuss the matter with the distinguished Avv. Campanari, he stated as follows:
- he believes it will be easy for the Council to obtain information about the annual salaries that other charities pay their secretary and to their legal consultant.
- he believes it will be difficult to separate those two jobs where both jobs are already carried out by a single person: one could see where disagreement might arise about where, exactly, the responsibilities of one position end and of the other begin.
- he suggests it would be preferable to define the administrative structure as we feel it should be, and if this creates more work in the interim for the person currently charged with both jobs, this should be compensated by an extra amount on a one-time basis.
This is the summary of my discussion with him. And now I shall pass to another subject which regards me directly.
The distinguished Comm. Carnelli, by virtue of what mandate from the Council I cannot say, came to the office of the general manager of G. Ricordi e C. asking to examine the contracts between that Company and M. Giuseppe Verdi. I was extremely surprised by the enormity of this request, which was wholly unjustified, but since I did not want to show a lack of respect toward a colleague, I hastened to place the requested documents at Comm. Carnelli’s disposition.
Nonetheless, since this is the first time that someone asked to audit private contracts of my administration, it gave rise to a significant emotional reaction among the employees of the secretarial staff, who saw it as an offense to the Company and to me, personally.
I know better than to suspect, even remotely, that Comm. Carnelli was motivated by a sense of mistrust toward me!! So I assume he wanted to verify de visu [in person] what he could have obtained from me, his colleague and the general manager, either de auditu [verbally] or via a written declaration! But the appearances [of how things went] justify the inferences — and in any event it is strange and irregular that a third party should ask to examine an administration’s internal records of the most delicate kind.
If, for legal reasons or for its own scruples, the Council wanted a legal document, nothing would have been easier: a notary could have prepared an extract of the contracts with the usual redacted omissis, reporting only those parts that were directly of interest to the Council.
What’s done is done, in any event, but the General Manager of this company cannot allow this type of audit, which no one among the many interested parties has ever gone so far as to request from the administration of a company that has been active for nearly a century and which enjoys the complete trust of all those who have done business with it! And since, in point of fact, the business relationship between my company and the Verdi Institute must continue, I ask myself (and have already hinted at during Council meetigns) whether the late and good Maestro, while wanting to give me a vote of confidence and esteem, did not foresee that he might be placing me in an incompatible position!... In any case, so long as things are not clearly laid out, I feel this sense of incompatibility!... and therefore I will abstain from participating in the sessions, except for those further deliberations which I consider my presence to be necessary in order to preserve my dignity as an administrator.
With the most cordial regards,
Yours warmly,
Giulio Ricordi