Butterfly escaped his attention
that foggy night, whilst his ears
were ringing from the singing of “The Mikado“,
so his splendid new automobile skidded
over the edge on the road near Lucca.
So in February of 1903 Puccini plunged
off the embankment and
fell down fifteen feet.
Having had that five metre fall
he found his right shin bone fractured.
In May he was disconsolate and complaining-no surprise
as it was badly set
had to be broken again
and reset.
In deep depression he wrote again
to Illica, his versifying lyricist;
“Addio tutto, addio Butterfly, addio vita mea”
Not easy to catch this fleeting insect-girl,
but in June, he slowly began once again
and by December,
the orchestration was finally complete.
Source
The Complete Operas of Puccini
by Charles Osborne
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