Pozzolini, Gaspare. (1824–1854)
Rare Autograph Letter to Persiani
2 pp (recto/verso). St. Petersburg. 11 April, 1851. A remarkable letter from the great Italian tenor to soprano, Fanny Persiani at the start of their historic St. Petersburg season. In Italian, regarding a misunderstanding involving a certain "Rossi," undoubtedly referring either to the contemporary basso buffo or to the librettist. Usual folds, else fine.A student of Moriani, Pozzolini created the role of Barbarigo in Verdi's "I Due Foscari" (1844) and sang with Persiani (and Grisi, Mario, Tamberlik, Tamburini, and Ronconi!) in Saint Petersburg in the 1851-1852 season. The following year, at the request of Henriette Sontag, he joined the US tour of the New York Opera Company under the directorship of Luigi Arditi and sang frequently with Sontag. In April of 1854, he and Sontag both left the tour and performed together in Mexico. Like Sontag, he was taken ill with cholera and died there soon after her.
Fanny Persiani (born Tacchinardi, 1812-1867) was a major interpreter of Bellini and Donizetti, who wrote for her the title roles of "Rosmonda d'Inghilterra," "Lucia di Lamermoor," and "Pia d'Tolomei." In Paris, she was a major star for many years at the Théâtre Italien and sang later with Pozzolini in St. Petersburg and throughout Germany. (1438)
Autograph Letter Opera