Tobia Nicotra
Tobia Nicotra was an Italian forger who produced counterfeit works of artists in various disciplines. In 1937, he was described as "the most proficient forger of autographs".[1]: 18 He may have produced as many as 600 forgeries before he was caught.[2]
Career
During the 1920s, the works of Italian conductor
Nicotra produced forged manuscripts for various artists, including a poem by Torquato Tasso,[3]: chapter 22 the four-page musical manuscript Baci amorosi e cari attributed to Mozart,[6]: 22 and works by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi.[7]: 139 He attributed four of his forged manuscripts to Pergolesi, though his attempts to imitate the composer's handwriting were not entirely successful.[5]: 6 Two of these were described by music historian Barry S. Brook as "awful" and written by a "totally unmusical" forger.[5]: 4 He forged at least two manuscripts he ascribed to Handel: an aria he stated was from Handel's Italian period; and an air from the 1741 oratorio Messiah.[7]: 139 Other musical forgeries he created were attributed to Gluck, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, and Richard Wagner.[5]: 10, footnote 6
His forgeries of composer
He also created forgeries of letters and other documents purportedly written by famous historical figures, including
With the income he earned from the sale of his forgeries, Nicotra rented seven apartments in Milan, each for a mistress.[3]: chapter 22
Many of his forgeries were sold in the United States during his visits in the 1920s and early 1930s.
On 9 November 1934[13] he was sentenced to two years in prison and fined 2,400 lire (3088 Euro in 2022),[9]: 290 based on testimony by Walter Toscanini and librarians from Milan whose testimony described the ruined manuscripts in their libraries.[9]: 290 Police who had arrested him testified that at the time of his arrest he had autograph forgeries in progress at his workshop, including ones for Christopher Columbus, Warren G. Harding, Tadeusz Kościuszko, Leonardo da Vinci, Abraham Lincoln, the Marquis de Lafayette, Martin Luther, Michelangelo, and George Washington.[14] Nicotra was paroled early by the National Fascist Party that ruled the Kingdom of Italy, in order to have him forge signatures for them.[3]: chapter 22
In August 2022, a Galileo Galilei manuscript at the University of Michigan Library that had been described as "one of the great treasures" held in its collection was identified as a Nicotra forgery.[15]
Verified forgeries
Nine forgeries have been identified as his work, and the locations of the remainder are unknown.[10]: 2
- Baci amorosi e cari attributed to Mozart, at Library of Congress[10]: 7
- Attributed to Pergolesi:
- Agnus Dei, at Metropolitan Opera[10]: 13
- Miserere nobis[10]: 13
- Non mi negar signora, at Library of Congress[10]: 7
- O salutaris hostia[10]: 13
- Galileo manuscript, at University of Michigan Library[15]
References
- ^ a b Papers Read by Members of the American Musicological Society at the Annual Meeting. American Musicological Society. 1937.
{{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ a b Ouelette, Jennifer (19 August 2022). "Library's prized Galileo manuscript turns out to be a clever forgery". Ars Technica. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
- ^ ISBN 9781631492723.
- ^ a b Catalog of Copyright Entries. Part I, Group 1. Vol. 26. Copyright Office, Library of Congress. 1929.
- ^ ISBN 0918728797.
- ^ a b Facsimiles & forgeries: a guide to a timely exhibition in the William L. Clements Library. Ann Arbor, Michigan: William L. Clements Library. 1950.
- ^ ISBN 9781783270613.
- ^ ISBN 0486291626.
- ^ ISBN 9781438130224.
- ^ University of Maryland.
- ^ a b American Heritage. Vol. 2. American Association for State and Local History. 1950.
- ^ a b Cruice, Valerie (12 January 1986). "Pergolesi sinfonias in concert at last". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
- ^ a b "Autograph faker gets prison term". The New York Times. 10 November 1934. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
- ^ a b Hopkins, Frederick M. (24 November 1934). "Old & rare books". Publishers Weekly. Vol. 126, no. 21. pp. 1938–1939.
- ^ a b c Blanding, Michael (17 August 2022). "A Watermark, and 'Spidey Sense,' Unmask a Forged Galileo Treasure". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
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