PREPARING TO ATTEND "MADAMA BUTTERFLY" IN GENOA PUCCINI, GIACOMO. Autograph Letter Signed, to Gaston Knosp ("Dear Maestro"), in Italian, speculating that Knosp's music is still at Torre del Lago, explaining that he has just come from London and Paris and that tomorrow he leaves for Genoa where Madama Butterfly is being performed. 1 page, tall 8vo, personal stationery; small area of loss at left edge affecting few letters of text, faint marginal discoloration from prior matting, remnants of prior mounting at upper corners verso with some bleedthrough, horizontal folds. - Milan, [9 November 1904?]

"I was waiting to reply to you until I had received the music, but unfortunately it has not arrived--perhaps it is at Torre del Lago?
". . . [T]omorrow I shall depart for Genoa (Politeama) where The Butterfly is being performed. Afterwards I'll go to Torre del Lago, where I hope to find your music. Alas! How much I want to rest!"
On February 17, 1904, Madama Butterfly premiered at La Scala in Milan. On November 19 of the same year, Puccini attended a performance of Madama Butterfly at the Teatro Politeama in Genoa.