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In 1915, during World War I, a fire threatened the very existence of the ill-fated Tilda, sending it's score and orchestral parts up in flames, leaving to posterity only the reduction for voice and piano and an orchestral copy of the Ave Maria. Late in life, Cilea expresses a positive opinion of his youthful effort: "except for a few amends of the libretto, the score is organic, rich in melodies and written with a great

sense of the theater"; he even plans to revise it but he never concludes his intent. Thanks to the challenging work of Giancosimo Russo, who reconstructed the orchestration from top to bottom, according to musicological assumptions that took into account the author's style, verismo instances and the orchestral habits of the time, it is now once again possible to enjoy a small jewel of the glorious Italian operatic tradition.