The Enterprise of Opera

Logo “Unternehmen Oper“ with Giuseppe Verdi

Logo “The Enterprise of Opera“ with Giuseppe Verdi

Logo “The Enterprise of Opera“

Maria Pia Ferraris, archivist of Archivio Storico Ricordi showing some prop designs by Giuseppe Palanti

Pierluigi Ledda, managing director of Ricordi & C

Brochures on the History of Archivio Storico Ricordi

Ricordi shop, located in the building adjacent to the Teatro alla Scala, lithograph by Alessandro Sanquirico, 1844

Giuseppe Verdi, Giulio Ricordi, and the painter Carlo Chessa, photograph by Achille Ferrario, 1892

Arrigo Boito and Giuseppe Verdi, photograph by Achille Ferrario, 1892

Giovanni Ricordi, lithograph by Antonio Bignoli

Letter from Giuseppe Verdi to Giulio Ricordi after the death of Richard Wagner, Genoa, 15 February 1883. “Triste! Triste! Triste! Vagner è morto!!!”

La bohème, Act II, autograph score, folio 101r, 1896

Falstaff, Acts I, II and III, costume design by Adolf Hohenstein, world premiere, Milan, Teatro alla Scala, 1893

Falstaff, folder with costume designs used for rental to theatres, late 19th century. Printed edition

Printed edition of Falstaff, published by Casa Ricordi

In the foreground: Falstaff, ensemble Tutto nel mondo è burla, autograph score, 1893. Act III, folio 381

Otello by Giuseppe Verdi, autograph score, 1887

Contract for the assignment of rights to the music and the libretto of Otello between Giuseppe Verdi and the publisher Ricordi, 1888

Production cards listing the printings of the librettos of Otello (1887-1933) and Falstaff (1893-1938)

Giuseppe Verdi’s death mask, 1901

Giuseppe Verdi, photograph by Pietro Tempestini, Montecatini Terme, August 1899

Patrizi Veneziani e Dame, Act I, costume design by Alfredo Edel. Il trillo del diavolo (music by Stanislao Falchi), world premiere, Rome, 1899