Leopoldo Mugnone - Foto Originale con dedica autografa - 1910

Leopoldo Mugnone (Naples, 1858 – Naples, 1941)
Rare original vintage photograph with autograph dedication and signature of the famous Italian orchestra conductor, dated Rome, December 12, 1910.

Important and evocative document tied to the history of music and Italian opera in the early 20th century.

The photograph shows Leopoldo Mugnone, one of the most celebrated Italian conductors of his generation, a leading figure in the great era of opera between the 19th and 20th centuries. Mugnone was the conductor of the world premiere of Cavalleria rusticana by Pietro Mascagni in 1890 and of the first performance of Tosca by Giacomo Puccini in 1900, in addition to having conducted at the major Italian and European theaters.

The photograph features an entirely autograph dedication by Mugnone, addressed to Maestro Scipione Melia:

«All’Egregio Maestro Sig. Scipione Melia with esteem and affection in remembrance»
Leopoldo Mugnone
Rome, there 12.12.910

THE PHOTOGRAPHER: PIETRO TEMPESTINI

Particularly important is the original photographic card, which bears at the bottom the studio mark:

CAV. P. TEMPESTINI
• SPEZIA •
•• BAGNI ••
di MONTECATINI

This is Pietro Tempestini (1843-1917), an important Italian photographer active in Tuscany and Liguria and particularly known for his famous portraits of personalities from the musical world.

Tempestini indeed had a privileged relationship with the Montecatini musical scene, where he photographed Giuseppe Verdi repeatedly and numerous players of Italian opera, including Leopoldo Mugnone himself. Among other things, the famous 1899 photograph depicting Giuseppe Verdi, Teresa Stolz, Giuseppina Pasqua and Leopoldo Mugnone, taken by Tempestini and now preserved in the Ricordi Historical Archive, is documented.

The presence of the original mark “Cav. P. Tempestini – Spezia – Bagni di Montecatini” thus makes this photograph particularly interesting also from the perspective of the history of photography and Italian musical portraiture.

Conditions: the photograph and support show normal signs of aging, with small abrasions. The dedication and signature remain clearly legible.
On the back there are traces of a previous support card, subsequently removed, with pieces of cardboard still adhering to the surface.

Dimensions

* Tempestini photographic support: 24 × 16.5 cm
* Photograph: 15 × 10.5 cm

A rare original document that brings together three highly interesting collecting aspects: the figure of Leopoldo Mugnone, an important personal autograph dedication from 1910, and provenance from the studio of photographer Pietro Tempestini, closely tied to documentary photography of Giuseppe Verdi and the great protagonists of Italian opera.