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Original Invite to Puccini's Memorial in 1925, Rome

Puccini Memorial Announcement

Memorial Announcement, 1925, cardstock, donated by L.B. Audigier, 1934.1.919.1.

This is an original invitation to a memorial ceremony for Giacomo Puccini Che Avra Luogo, an Italian opera composer. The memorial was held January 19, 1925 in Rome at the Basilica of Santa Maria. The invitation was issued by the president of the Council of Ministers to the donor, L. B. Audigier, and his wife Ella. An embossed seal can be seen in the bottom left corner. Puccini, whose operas include La Bohème (1896) and Madama Butterfly (1904), died November 29, 1924 in Brussels, Belgium from a heart attack while being treated for throat cancer.  The news of Puccini’s death spread quickly throughout Europe, coincidentally arriving in Rome during a performance of La Bohème. The opera was immediately interrupted and the orchestra played Chopin’s Funeral March in Puccini’s honor. Puccini’s final and most ambitious opera, Turandot, remained unfinished at the time of his death.