LUIGI RICCI worked with Puccini for eight years and with Mascagni for thirty-four while an Assistant Conductor with the Royal Opera House in Rome. Other composers with whom he was associated include Respighi, Giordano, Zandonai, Henze, Pizzetti. Among the many great conductors with whom he worked were Marinuzzi, Gui, Panizza, Serafin, De Sabata; singers Ezio Pinza, Toti dal Monte, Maria Caniglia, Giacomo Lauri-Volpi, Tito Gobbi, Magda Olivero, Fyodor Chaliapin, to name but a few. He was coach, accompanist, and close friend to Beniamino Gigli. The late Maestro was the author of a collection of four volumes of Variations, Cadenzas, and Traditions and two books (Puccini Interprete da Se Stesso and 31 Anni con Pietro Mascagni); he collaborated on the musical direction of forty-two films and numerous recordings with RCA. As a twelve-year-old, Ricci started accompanying voice lessons given by the famous baritone Antonio Cotogni, who had performed several of Verdi’s operas under the composer’s supervision. At this early age, Ricci began taking meticulous notes on traditions which Cotogni was passing on to him from his own work with 19th Century composers and conductors. Ricci continued such copious note taking throughout his life, thus amassing a rare notated collection of traditions. He was Ms. Klaviter’s mentor and friend from 1974 until his death in 1981 at the age of eighty-eight. This long association makes Ms. Klaviter an important link in the nearly extinct chain of the verbal history of tradition. It is in memory of her beloved friend and teacher that she has dedicated Bel Canto Institute.