Verdi and the Ricordi Archive: An Evening with Pierluigi Ledda and Gabriele Dotto

The Archivio Storico Ricordi is considered one of the world’s most important private musical archives; it preserves the original handwritten scores and letters by composers such as Giuseppe Verdi and Giacomo Puccini as well as a rich iconographic collection that includes set and costume designs, photographs, and promotional documents. In this conversation, Pierluigi Ledda, Managing Director of the Ricordi Archive, and Gabriele Dotto, Ricordi Archive Scientific Director and exhibition curator, discuss the history and resources of the Archive in general, and specifically the creation of Verdi’s operas Otello and Falstaff.