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"From Parma we passed on to Bologna, the Teatro Brunetti; but things went against my "amour propre," and one day I found out that the wily Forlì had kicked us all out on account of the excessive dissoluteness of the company. I packed up my things and, like a whipped dog, went back to my family in Livorno. It was only with great effort that I had been able to scrape up the money for the journey. Summer passed, then autumn, when an invitation from Forlì called me to Naples. The company had been reformed and I was offered the post of conductor, nothing less, of the Teatro del Fondo's orchestra. Rejoicing, I hurried to Naples, accepted the conditions offered me and was transported by the thought of continually feeling myself a maestro.
Teatro del Fondo, Naples
"I remember that one Sunday we gave an afternoon performance of the operetta Satanello (This may be the operetta Il Trillo del Diavolo whose protagonist is named "Satanello—JM"); the theatre was as full as an egg and noisy as only a Neapolitan theatre can be. I was asked to encore a number, and I, who did not want to tire the company, since they had to perform that evening also, stayed firm and kept the performance going.
"Shouts and whistles, but I kept going ahead: when all at once a large object was seen to fly from the gallery and, making a graceful curve, precipitously crashed against the back of the conductor's stool. It was a cushion aimed in my direction. Naturally I gave the encore asked of me with such persuasive means.
"After a little while the company left there and I signed with Scognamiglio, who pitched his tents at the Fondo. I was conductor and coach with a repertory of some twenty operettas and with the pay of seven lire a day. Those were my most tranquil days and the company did excellent business, so much so that the proprietor of the Politeama in Genoa, coming expressly to Naples, contracted us for 90 performances, including the Carnival (pre-Lent) of 1886."
 Genoa, 13 February, 1886
"Yes, Vichi, I will have Ratcliff ready by the time you specify, and I believe that once you hear it you will like it; I have put my whole soul into it, my whole heart, all my passion and all my small knowledge of both expanding it musically and making it more compact; holding back too, the impetuosity of the passion a little, which, otherwise, chokes even the smallest musical episodes. Every once in a while, when I sing or play a piece of my poor Ratcliff, tears come to my eyes and I instinctively think of you, of you who have predicted so many things for this work of mine... I continually ask only one blessing of God: that before I die my Guglielmo Ratcliff may be performed."
"Beginning with Genoa my quiet manner of living disappeared, since then began the via crucis of the few-and-far-between performances, from one piazza to another. From Genoa to Alexandria, from Alexandria to Modena, from Modena to Ancona..."
Ancona, 4 April, 1886
"At last I have been able to find a romanza to my taste for William's narrative in the second act; and in saying "romanza" I speak the biggest piece of nonsense ever said in my life. I wouldn't know otherwise how to describe it, since it has a special form and, I think, is completely new... I don't know, it's not possible for me to describe it; I myself do not yet understand it; I do know that it is all heart, all passion, all sorrow; I don't judge it, don't examine it in cold blood; I would be afraid to; maybe I'd tear it all up; I know there are 120 blank verses; maybe it's not performable; I don't want to know anything; I have composed it as I had to; when I hear it I am moved, I am transported into the regions of the ideal and of fantasy; that's enough for me! ... This, my newest music, has certainly been dictated by a strong sorrow..."
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