GIACOMO PUCCINI - PICTURE POST CARD SIGNED 06/28/1906 - HFSID 101396

GIACOMO PUCCINI
Giacomo Puccini signs a postcard from Buenos Aires.
Postcard signed: "Giacomo Puccini". B/w, 5¼x3¼. Photograph by Margill. Series No. 662. 5-centavos Argentina stamp affixed, postmarked Buenos Aires, June 28, 1906. Addressed (unknown hand) on verso, which is windowed on verso of framed display, to: "Sra./Elisa Jones/Brasil 1425". The operatic realist Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924) signed this postcard in 1906 while summering with his wife, Elvira, whom he had married in 1904, in Buenos Aires. The previous year, Puccini's opera, Edgar (revision two) had been presented at Teatro Colón, and the couple was then lured to the Argentinean capital by a significant offer of money for their attendance at a festival featuring Puccini's operas. From 1900, the Italian composer often traveled abroad to supervise the staging of his works. Following his 1904 success with Madame Butterfly, Puccini took time away from composing to travel and enjoy life while seeking material for another opera. In the year he signed this postcard, one of Puccini's librettists, Giuseppi Giacosa, died. Giacosa had worked with Pucini on Madame Butterfly as well as his successful operas, La Boheme (1896) and Tosca (1900). Left with only librettist Luigi Illica, Puccini finally found a suitable subject during a visit to New York City in 1907, and his operatic version of David Belasco's play The Girl of the Golden Westpremiered at the Metropolitan Opera on December 10, 1910. Puccini died of a heart attack before completing his operatic masterpiece, Turandot(posthumously completed in 1926). Torn at right background, touching the "u" in Puccini. Pencil notes (unknown hand) on verso, which is lightly soiled. Overall, fine condition. Framed in the Gallery of History style: 30½x20¼.