Non sò come vi mettete a trattare gli affari! Felicemente né tu né la Società resterete compromessi presso
II tuo affsmo
Bellini
19: bis rampe de Neuilly
à Puteaux Banl:e de Paris
à Monsieur
Monsieur Alexandre Lunari
Entrepreneur de divers theâtres
à Florence
t.p. 18 | juin | 1834 - 27 | giugno | 1834
300
31.
Puteaux, [15 June 1834]
Vincenzo Bellini to Alessandro Lanari. Letter.
Aut. I-Mts, CA 410. One bifolio, four sides plus address and partially preserved seal in red wax on the verso.
Ed. Cambi 1943, pp. 409-411; Neri 2005, pp. 300-301.
My dear Lanari
How you manage your business affairs is a total mystery to me! Happily, neither you nor the Society will be compromised with respect to Cottrau, as would have irremediably been the case had I signed those commissions. If the Society had a contract with Cottrau for the publishing rights, why didn't they renegotiate the terms with him before offering me the complete rights? As I told you in yesterday's letter, in order to ease the financial burden for the Society, I had written to various impresarios and publishers looking to secure a good price, since you know full well how scores are immediately butchered by greedy publishers and middlemen if the rights are not already sold before the opera's premiere. Now it seems that hitch has become a problem, because without it I had some probability of bringing things to a conclusion, especially if the Society commissioned me to write two or three operas, one per year. As the composer I'm hoping to get a price for the complete rights that would have been impossible for the publisher alone to obtain; therefore I continue to believe that it's to the Society's advantage to modify their agreement with Cottrau, in the event that my proposal to them is more convenient than paying me four thousand ducats. In light of all this, I'd advise you to wait until I hear from the publishers and impresarios to whom I've written (of which you are one), and then the Society can resolve things as best they see fit, based on the proposal I'll make. If Cottrau's publishing rights were only for the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies this could be soon accommodated, because I would cede them to him for very little once the Society paid [him to have them back] etc. etc.; but the greater difficulty is that Cottrau can claim foreign rights as well, which I know by virtue of his contract with Ricordi of Milan for the publishing rights of those operas written for Naples. You can therefore see how this undermines your offer for the complete rights, which you imagine to be a generous proposition. And what would you do with the rights to the score? You must be well aware of the fact that Norma has been re-orchestrated, and that Palermo and Naples didn't get it from us. So wait for me to make my final proposal, and meanwhile think it over so that you can reach a solution according to what you believe to be in the best interests of the Society. - Farewell - Worry not, and believe me, even if I had accepted the commissions I would have given them up anyway, uninterested as I am in robbing Peter to pay Paul when I'm fortunate enough for now to be able to write for one theatre if not another. Let me know what you think about all this, and wait if you so choose, but do tell me in any case if the contract I proposed in yesterday's letter with regard to your theatres is convenient for you, so that I can give you a firm answer for the Society.
Farewell -
Yours warmly
Bellini
19 bis rampe de Neuilly
à Puteaux Banl.e de Paris
à Monsieur
Monsieur Alexandre Lanari
Entrepreneur de divers theâtres
à Florence
postmark 18 | juin | 1834 - 27 | giugno | 1834