THE FRIENDSHIP AND ARTISTIC RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
FERRUCCIO BUSONI AND UMBERTO BOCCIONI

The intensely searched for letters that the futurist painter Umberto Boccioni wrote to the musician Ferruccio Busoni have finally been found, including in a small volume of 140 pages.

Between Futurism and Mid-European culture: the encounter between Boccioni and Busoni In this second part, besides the correspondence, which includes ten unedited letters of Boccioni (two of 1912 and eight of 1916) and three by Busoni (1916) which have already appeared in Archivi del Futurismo, but that here appear in a translated version of the originals (in private possession in Milan), two unpublished letters that the painter's mother wrote to Busoni, a letter of the latter to the former (also issued in the above quoted Archivi and the article written by Busoni in memory of Boccioni at the end of August in 1916 for the newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung are published. In the notes to the correspondence, I haven’t only limited myself to refer the reader to the pages of the introductory article, where I cite or interpret abstracts of the letters, but also have added some remarks and quotations that allow a better understanding of the documents in their historical, human and artistic con-text. The letters are also linked to one another by brief texts where indications upon the visions of the world and of art, as well as on the spiritual state and on the activity of two artists during their friendship (that lasted four years) are offered. Some unedited documents relative to Busoni from my archives will also be published in the volume.

The introductory essay is structured in the following chapters: The discovery of Boccioni's letters Busoni's influence on art and culture at the beginning of the 19th. century Busoni: an 'amphibious man' The exile in Zurich and the friendship with the marquis of Casanova Boccioni and Busoni: history of a friendship The encounter in Pallanza Discussions on aesthetical values Boccioni : last works and tragic death Foreseeing and uncompleted: the common destiny of their wor From the second part of the work, the beginning of Boccioni's important letter dated the 29th June 1916

Following are some abstracts from the introductory essay: "Two brief abstracts translated into German by Busoni and inserted in the comme-morative article published in the newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung two weeks after the painter's death, are the only known parts relative to Boccioni's letters. As the musician appears among the nearest people to Busoni during his last three months of life, these documents therefore uncover some new aspects relative to the artistic and human realtionship between the two, and as Zeno Birolli presaged, they also supply us with some information as to the extreme, enigmatic and tormented creative phase of the artist. As opposed to Leoncavallo, to Giordano and to a number of other artists, and on the contrary to what several authoritative researchers asserted, Busoni didn't own a villa on Lake Maggiore. [...] The two friends actually met at villa San Remigio, where they spent a brief period together (of about three weeks) as guests of marquis Silvio della Valle di Casanova and his wife Sofia, to whom the villa belonged, a brief period which deeply influenced their lives and their art. In Pallanza Boccioni painted his last works of art, amonst which was the great portrait of his friend the musician, which is conserved in the Galleria d'Arte Modena in Rome... Busoni was never a passive model; contrarily he played a decisive role in the re-emergence of Boccioni's vast pictorial culture, exhorting him to exploit previously conquered artistic experiences. Despite the fact that he often could have had completely different ideas to those of the painter, he certainly would have expressed his own opinions with vehemence and in vivid tones. But who really knows Busoni through his writings or who talks about him because of a personal acquaintance is surely aware of the strength of his own principles. In fact anything similar to a deceitful stylistic imposition or to a request for a particular style of a portrait is out of question. [...] On the other hand Busoni would never have accepted any interferences whith regard to his pictorical activity nor would he have renegated himself for money; his unshakable devotion to art and his immense pride would never have permitted him any such behaviour. [...]"

Here is the beginning of Boccioni's important letter dated the 29th June 1 91 6, from the second part of the work: «My dear and terrible friend! After having spent two days in S. Remigio I'm in Milan. We have been talking a lot about you and your gentle wife, Signora [G]erda. I'm still impressed from the sojourn and must admit that it has reconciled me with the country and solitude. This may also be due to the fact that I have been working and that your brilliant geniality, always so bright and brisk has incited me enormously; it has awakened my internal conflics, stimulating the infinite contacts that lately, for a number of reasons, have become dormant and that are not worth mentioning. You can then imagine what a great amount of gratitude binds me to you. I hope that you will have found the right vein to initiate work promptly, and that the sight of your familiar surroundings and especially of your manuscripts will have supplied you immediately with divine inspiration. Now that you have consented to make a portrait of myself I must confess that I had feared that you wouldn't agree to it ... I'm aware of what it means to have to wait and watch others work. I'm therefore still more thankful [...]"