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• Major Operas
• Opera
• Turn of the Century

‘The Triptych’ In constructing an operatic triple-bill, Puccini followed no precedent. He had nursed the idea for some time, to the despair of Giulio Ricordi, who felt it would be a box-office disaster. With the publisher’s death in 1912, Puccini soon felt able to work on the project. His librettist for La rondine, Giuseppe Adami, ...

• Major Operas
• Opera
• Turn of the Century

‘The Bohemian Life’ Puccini’s first work following the overwhelming triumph of Manon Lescaut was immediately beset by problems. Leoncavallo had already begun preparations on the same scenario and, on hearing of Puccini’s choice of subject, publicly berated his rival and friend and claimed priority over the project. Puccini responded calmly by declaring that both composers should go to work ...

• Major Operas
• Opera
• Turn of the Century

Puccini visited the Metropolitan Opera in New York during 1907 to see the US premieres of Manon Lescaut and Madama Butterfly. While there he saw David Belasco’s play The Girl of the Golden West and his next opera began to take shape. La fanciulla del West is notable particularly for the vital part the vast orchestra plays in depicting the characters’ ...

• Major Operas
• Opera
• Turn of the Century

Madama Butterfly is the last opera to be written by the trio of Puccini, Illica and Giacosa. It was, as usual, beset by difficulties in the preparation and approval of the libretto. Puccini was as opposed to one particular scene as Giacosa was for it. Puccini, of course, won, but Giacosa remained so convinced that ...

• Major Operas
• Opera
• Turn of the Century

With Manon Lescaut, Puccini took his place at the head of the Italian operatic table. Ricordi worked hard to persuade Puccini of the dangers inherent in setting a story that had already received successful treatment by Massenet, but the young composer was not to be swayed. Puccini’s determination proved well-founded, for the opera received an ecstatic reception after ...

• Major Operas
• Opera
• Turn of the Century

In Tosca, Puccini created his most complex and challenging of female roles and it is partly for this reason that the work has gained such a central place in the public consciousness. The role has been a magnet to sopranos wishing to demonstrate not only their vocal abilities, but also their acting skills. Victorien Sardou’s play La Tosca first ...

• Major Operas
• Opera
• Turn of the Century

Puccini spent the last five years of his life working on Turandot. He patched up his differences with Adami who, together with Renato Simoni, got to work on creating a libretto from Carlo Gozzi’s fairy-tale. Through the usual prevarications, doubts and rows, Puccini slowly worked on the score. At the beginning of 1924, he began to ...

• Personalities
• Classical
• Composer
• Late Romantic

(Ja’-ko’mo Poot-che’-ne) 1858–1924 Italian composer Puccini wrote 12 operas, three of which rank among the most popular in the world: La bohème, Tosca and Madama Butterfly. The composer came from a long line of musicians. His great-great-grandfather, the first Giacomo Puccini (1712–81), was organist and choirmaster at the cathedral of S Martino in the Tuscan town of Lucca. His ...

• Personalities
• Opera
• Turn of the Century

1858–1924, Italian Puccini’s unerring instinct for strong melody and evocative harmony, coupled with his ability to bring to life passionate and sensual relationships, has made him one the most popular of opera composers. Puccini brought Italian opera into the twentieth century, synthesizing music and drama in a symphonic idiom, but retaining the voice as the focal ...

• Personalities
• Classical
• Composer
• Early Baroque

(Ja’-ko-mo Ka-res’-se-me) 1605–74 Italian composer Carissimi was the most important composer of oratorios of his time. He was born in Rome where, in about 1630, he became maestro di cappella at Sant’Apollinare, the church of the Jesuit Collegio Germanico, renowned for its musical tradition. Carissimi composed masses and motets, but is chiefly admired for his cantatas and ...

• Personalities
• Classical
• Composer
• Early Romantic

(Ja’-ko-mo Mi’-er-bâr) 1791–1864 German composer Meyerbeer (like Mendelssohn) came from a wealthy German-Jewish family. He studied composition with Carl Friedrich Zelter and later with the renowned music theorist Georg Joseph Vogler. In 1831 he had a phenomenal success at the Paris Opéra with Robert le diable (‘Robert the Devil’), which within three years was performed in 77 theatres in 10 countries, ...

• Personalities
• Early Romantic
• Opera

1791–1864, German Neither Giacomo Meyerbeer’s first oratorio, nor his first opera, written in 1812 and 1813, was successful and his Singspiel Das Brandenburger Tor (1814) came too late to achieve its purpose – to celebrate the return home of the victorious Prussian army. It was a poor start for Meyerbeer but his fortunes changed dramatically after he ...

• Major Operas
• Early Romantic
• Opera

‘The Huguenots’ Composed: 1836 Premiered: 1836, Paris Libretto by Eugène Scribe, Emile Deschamps and Gaetano Rossi Act I Nevers, a Catholic, has invited the Huguenot Raoul to a feast, as the king desires peace between the two factions. The guests describe their experiences of love. Raoul has fallen for a lady whom he saved from some ...

• Techniques
• Opera
• Turn of the Century

Puccini’s lifelong interest in Wagner began when he was a student. In spite of infrequent stage productions of his operas, Wagner aroused strong sentiments in Italy. Both Puccini’s teachers were determined anti-Wagnerians and, to make life even more difficult for Puccini, so was Giulio Ricordi. Some have even given Puccini’s love of Wagner as a reason for him ...

• Instruments
• Woodwind

As ensemble music became more popular during the sixteenth century there was increased demand for wind instruments that could elegantly negotiate the lower ranges. Large versions of wind instruments intended for the higher registers lacked volume and agility and were often difficult to play. Various elements of existing instruments – the bass recorder’s crook and the shawm’s double reed, for ...