Crisantemi

Amedeo di Savoia, Duke of Aosta, was a friend of Puccini’s, and when the duke died in 1890 Puccini wrote the short chamber piece Crisantemi (“Chrysanthemums”) in his memory in a single night. Scored for a string quartet, Crisantemi begins in a mood of sombre reminiscence, the first violin singing a plaintive melody suggesting loss and mourning. A string of pizzicatos signals a central section where the cello emerges vividly, at one point locking together with the violin in a keening melody as the air of melancholy refuses to dissipate. Crisantemi lasts just six minutes, but Puccini liked its two main melodies enough to use them later in the tragic final act of his opera Manon Lescaut. A version of Crisantemi for full string orchestra was performed at a memorial service for Puccini two years after his death in 1924, and the piece continues to be performed in this alternative format.