Another evening I was invited to a most interesting dinner party given by Signor Angelo Basevi, a friend of Signor Tosti's, who had introduced me to him. There I met Targioni-Tozzetti, part author of the libretti of Mascagni's operas, and also Count Sacconi, architect of the colossal monument to Victor Emanuel, which was then being erected. Mascagni was also there, and played and sang extracts from I Rantzau to Sgambati, and told us he was receiving seven or eight hundred letters a day asking for his autograph. We were all very jovial, and passed a delightful evening.