E lucevan le stelle

Plagiarism suit#

In 1920, the stage performer Al Jolson, together with Buddy DeSylva and Vincent Rose, wrote a popular song, “Avalon”, about the town of the same name on Santa Catalina island. The following year, G. Ricordi, the publisher of Puccini’s operas, sued all parties associated with the song, arguing that the melody was lifted from “”. Puccini and his publisher prevailed in the case and were awarded $25,000 in damages and all future royalties for the song.

Further reading#

• Detailed musical analysis of the aria can be found in Mosco Carner, Giacomo Puccini, Tosca, Cambridge University Press, 1985, pp. 101–104 () and in Julian Budden Puccini: His Life and Works, Oxford University Press, 2002, pp. 218–219 ().
• The text for the original version of the aria which Puccini later shortened for subsequent editions of the libretto can be found in Susan VanDiver Nicassio, Tosca’s Rome: The Play and the Opera in Historical Perspective, University of Chicago Press, 2002, p. 307. ()
• An analysis of the theme of female unveiling in this aria and other operas of the time can be found in Jeremy Tambling, Opera and the Culture of Fascism, Oxford University Press, 1996. p. 122. ()

External links#

• Details, Aria Database
• , Alfredo Kraus