Puccini And Rossini Poem by gershon hepner

A hunter of women, and fowl and libretti,
Puccini relied on his maids for spaghetti;
he stayed with Elvira when he learned that Corinna
had cheated on him while preparing for dinner.

More skilled in the kitchen, Gioacchino Rossini
loved truffle-filled turkey far more than linguini;
he learned to make filet mignon sans tomatoes,
when a chef turned his back while preparing Tournedos.
Recently, fresh light has been shed on what went on in Villa Puccini 100 years ago. Giacomo Puccini had made his home in a fishing village called Torre del Lago. Here, surrounded by his common-law wife, his stepdaughter and son, he wrote music, went out in fast cars, or took his speedboat out on the lake. Or as he himself put it: 'I am a mighty hunter of wild fowl, operatic librettos and attractive women.' It was Puccini's pursuit of women that created the great crisis in his life. This is a tale of infidelity, jealousy, vengeance and despair. It goes a long way towards explaining the composer's fallow period. Its repercussions are still being felt on the lakeside today.The story begins not with Doria's suicide, but eight years earlier when Puccini was working on Madama Butterfly. It was not uncommon for the maestro to fall in love with other women when composing. He called these amourettes his 'little gardens'. In 1900, while working on Butterfly, Puccini fell for a young girl he met in Turin. He nicknamed her 'Corinna' and was so obsessed with her that Elvira, in despair, contemplated leaving him. Puccini and Elvira Bonturi were not married at the time. She was the wife of an old schoolfriend of his. The couple had met in 1884 when Puccini was hired to give Elvira piano lessons. They soon began an affair. In 1886, amid much scandal, Elvira had left her husband for Puccini, bringing her six-year-old daughter Fosca with her to Torre del Lago. In due course Elvira bore Puccini a son, Antonio, but the couple were unable to marry and legitimise the boy because divorce was not possible in Italy at that time. The situation may well have suited the composer, who claimed he enjoyed falling in love and certainly enjoyed teasing Elvira about his 'little gardens'. This time, however, the infatuation got out of control. There are suggestions that Puccini had proposed marriage to his Corinna. However, on 25 February 1903, fate took a strange turn. On that night Puccini suffered the first-ever motorcar accident to receive widespread press coverage in Italy. Near Lucca, his chauffeur plunged off the road. The composer was found pinned underneath the car, almost asphyxiated by petrol fumes and with his right leg broken. He needed someone at home to care for him. And the very next day, by another strange act of fate, Elvira became a widow. Her husband Narciso died, leaving no obstacle to Puccini marrying his companion of 17 years. Puccini's publisher and mentor, Giulio Ricordi, tried to convince the bedridden composer to give up Corinna and do the decent thing by Elvira. Goaded by Ricordi and pressed by his ever-attentive sisters, Puccini hired a private detective, who discovered that the Turinese girl had duped him. She was not the innocent she pretended to be. Not only was she having relationships with other men, there was 'a strong possibility money was changing hands. Puccini broke definitively with her in a note burning with shame and anger: 'What an abyss of depravity and prostitution! You are a shit, and with this I leave you to your future.'
Once, Rossini won a bet which entitled him to a turkey stuffed with truffles. The bet was not honored, and in response to the continual requests of the Maestro, the loser excused himself by claiming that the season was poor and first quality truffles were just not to be found. 'Nonsense, nonsense', blurted Rossini, 'those are just false rumors circulated by turkeys that don't want to be stuffed! ' According to another anecdote, Rossini claims to have wept only three times in his life: the first time over the fiasco of his first opera, the second when he heard Niccolò Paganini play the violin, and finally, when the picnic lunch, a turkey stuffed with truffles, fell overboard on a day's outing on a boat… The invention of the famous Tournedos Rossini has become a legend. It is said to have occurred at the Café Anglais in Paris. The story goes that Rossini insisted upon overseeing the preparation of his meal and obliged the chef to prepare it in front of him in the dining-room next to his table. When the chef finally objected to this constant interference, the Maestro replied, 'Et alors, tournez le dos.' or 'So, turn your back.' And that is how this savory dish got its name!


8/6/08