Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924); ITA

Puccini, Giacomo (b Lucca, 1858; d Brussels, 1924). It. composer. 5th of a line of It. church musicians. Org. at local church. Attended Milan Cons. 1880-3, studying comp. with Bazzini and Ponchielli. Showed bias towards symphonic works, but Ponchielli sensed his pupil's operatic potentiality and persuaded him to enter Sonzogno 1-act opera competition with Le Villi. Rejected by the jury, the work was admired by Boito and prod. Milan, 1884. It was heard by Verdi's publisher, Ricordi, who commissioned an opera from Puccini. Edgar, when it appeared in 1889, was a failure, but Ricordi's faith was justified in 1893 by Manon Lescaut, in which the mature Puccini is already evident in the ardent and profuse melodic mastery which distinguishes the work. Strangely, Puccini's next opera, La bohème, prod. Turin 1896, was at first less successful than Manon, but it soon became what it remains, probably the most popular and generally beloved opera ever written, a masterpiece of characterization, sentiment, and craftsmanship. With these successes, he was able to build his magnificent house at Torre del Lago. Power of characterization also marked his next opera, Tosca, based on a Sardou play. Madama Butterfly was his most successful psychological character-study and requires exceptional vocal and histrionic skill from the sop. who sings the heroine. The work was a failure at its Milan première, but Puccini re-cast it in 3 acts for Brescia 3 months later, where it was acclaimed as a triumph and has since almost rivalled Bohème in popularity. Butterfly was set in Japan and was based on a play by Belasco, who was author of the Amer. melodrama The Girl of the Golden West which became Puccini's next opera (La fanciulla del West). This was prod. at the NY Met in 1910 but has never attained a popularity equal to its predecessors although on closer acquaintance the mus. is revealed as of very high quality. Similar re-assessment is due to La rondine (Monte Carlo 1917). Nothing illustrates Puccini's instinctive theatrical skill more remarkably than the success with which he achieved the difficult feat of combining three contrasting 1-act operas in Il trittico (Triptych): a thriller in Il tabarro, a sentimental tragedy in Suor Angelica, and a comedy in Gianni Schicchi. For his next opera Puccini selected a lib. inspired by Gozzi's play Turandot. But he died of cancer before he could complete the duet which was planned as the climax of the work. It was completed skilfully by Alfano and the opera has held its place despite this anti-climax because of the superb mus. earlier in the opera and because the part of the cruel Princess Turandot is a glorious gift to dramatic sops.

Puccini lacks the nobility of Verdi, but few opera composers can rival him in dramatic flair and skill. He is sentimental but it is a sentimentality to which millions are glad to respond. His sense of characterization was highly developed and his genius for orchestration enabled him with a few notes to hold an audience in the palm of his hand. Most of his operas contain a heroine in whom there are elements of the ‘little girl’, and there is a streak of sadistic cruelty which also marred the personality of the man himself. He continued to develop as an artist and to respond to contemporary influences, from Debussy to Schoenberg. Prin. works:

OPERAS: Le Villi (The Willis) (first, 1-act, version, 1883; 2-act version, 1884); Edgar (4-act version, 1884-8; 3-act version 1892, rev. 1901, 1905); Manon Lescaut (1890-2); La bohème (1894-5); Tosca (1898-9); Madama Butterfly (2-act version, 1901-3; 3-act version, 1904; further cuts and rev., 1906); La fanciulla del West (1908-10); La rondine (The Swallow) (1914-16, rev 1918-19); Il trittico (Il tabarro, Suor Angelica, Gianni Schicchi) (1913-18); Turandot (1920-6, last scene completed by Alfano).

CHORAL: Messa di Gloria in A, for sop., ten., bar., ch., and orch. (1880).

ORCH.: Preludio sinfonico (1876); Capriccio sinfonico (1883).

CHAMBER MUSIC: Crisantemi, str. qt. (1890); 3 Minuets, str. qt. (1892, Nos. 1 and 3 rev. 1898).

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