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In 1888, Carlos Gomes, the composer and author of O Guarani, tries to improve his situation and recover his prestige.

• Letter written by Carlos Gomes to a journalist, Mr. Palazzi or Palaggi.
• Two pages.
• In Italian.
• 14 cm x 21.7 cm.
• Milan, 2nd January 1888.
• Good condition conservation, with some markings and typographic inscriptions in blue or red, burn marks in the lower corners that do not alter the text.
• Unique piece.

Extract

I won't pretend; I was disappointed to see this little song published because the title has a printing error, as it did with Madrigal. But it's over and I'd rather not think about it anymore. In any case, I'm honored by the importance you give to my boring songs. (…) For now I'm too busy and even worse: with too many worries.

Carlos Gomes (1836 – 1896) was certainly the greatest Brazilian composer of the 19th century. Even though he lived most of his career in Europe, especially in Italy, where many of his operas were performed at the prestigious Scala in Milan, the composer felt deeply Brazilian; he lived in full Imperial Brazil, with its masters and slaves, between Independence in 1822 and the Proclamation of the Republic in 1889, which inspired much of his work.

Even though the success in Europe of O Guarani, his most famous work, gave Carlos Gomes immense fame in Imperial Brazil, the following operas were less appreciated, which caused the composer to fall into a deep disillusionment and discouragement, worsening persistent health problems.

In 1888, the year in which he wrote these lines, Gomes was struggling to finish his opera Lo Schiavo (The Slave) in Milan, in homage to Princess Isabel and the abolition of slavery; he was also treating a serious nervous breakdown with opium and trying to pay off his debts by selling his house and furniture. Finally, he wrote this letter during a difficult period, ill and far from his homeland.