Photographs

Garden of the villa in Sant'Agata, (from left, seated) Maria Carrara Verdi, Barberina Strepponi, Giuseppe Verdi, Giuditta Ricordi, (from left, standing) Teresa Stolz, Umberto Campanari, Giulio Ricordi, Leopoldo Metlicovitz, late 19th century
Actress Sarah Bernhardt in stage costume, photograph by Nadar, late 19th century
A scene from La bohème by Giacomo Puccini, The Barrière d'Enfer, Act III, 1896
Eleonora Duse, photograph by Mario Nunes Vais, early 20th century
Giacomo Puccini, photograph with dedication to Giulio Ricordi, 1900
The cast of the world premiere of Gianni Schicchi (by Giacomo Puccini) on stage, 1918

Photographs form another series of iconographic documents in the archive. There are over 6 000 photographs from the late 19th and 20th centuries: studio portraits, and shots of scenes and exteriors.
The material in general is linked to the activity of Casa Ricordi and comprises portraits of composers, librettists, actors, dancers, singers (in costume or not, thus giving an insight into the fashion of the time). The photos often have a dedication on the mount. The photographers (over 800 names) are Italian, like Ferrario, Bertieri, Varischi & Artico, Sommariva, De Marchi, Pagliano e Ricordi, Rossi, Sciutto, Sebastianutti, as well as foreign: photos from Studio Nadar, Reutlinger, London studios (Wilson & C., Ellis), American studios, studios at Leipzig, St Petersburg, Vienna, Cairo, Marseille, Budapest, São Paulo and so on. Some composers and designers were also dilettante photographers, as Giacomo Puccini (for example his snapshots in Egypt or Abetone, near Pistoia) and Leopoldo Metlicovitz. Many photographs were used to illustrate the Ricordi magazines, such as Musica e Musicisti and Ars et Labor.
Finally, the archive also has a large collection of about 200 prints, primarily portraits of musicians and singers that were originally filed with the photographs, but now form a separate department.