AUTHORITATIVE | CURATED | First 500 words Free

• Techniques
• Opera
• Turn of the Century

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 not winning the Sonzogno prize for Le villi. It is in the ...

• 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

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 and allow the public to be the final arbiters. In dealing with characters from the lower social strata and ...

• 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

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 point. Early Life in Lucca Puccini ...

• Instruments
• Woodwind

different key and fingering system. It remains in use in France and Spain, and was the instrument many composers had in mind when writing orchestral music, including Giacomo Puccini (1858–1924), Claude Debussy (1862–1918) and Edward Elgar (1857–1934). Contrabassoon Sounding an octave below the bassoon, the contra- or double bassoon is a conical tube 550 cm (217 in) long. ...

• Personalities
• Classical
• Conductor
• Contemporary Classical
• Instrumentalist

at Berlin, Vienna and the Met. He was appointed music director of Covent Garden from 2002. While excelling in the Italian operatic repertory – notably Rossini, Verdi and Puccini – he has also conducted contemporary opera (the premiere of Birtwistle’s The Minotaur) and symphonic repertory (as music director of the Santa Cecilia Orchestra, Rome, from 2005). Introduction ...

• Personalities
• Classical
• Composer
• Late Romantic

5, Symphonic Variations, Blest Pair of Sirens etc., London Philharmonic Choir, LPO (cond) Sir Adrian Boult (EMI/Warner) Introduction | Late Romantic | Classical Personalities | Giacomo Puccini | Late Romantic | Classical ...

• Personalities
• Opera
• Turn of the Century

on the same text. More recently, Hans Werner Henze’s Boulevard Solitude of 1952 used Prévost as its source. Introduction | Turn of the Century | Opera Personalities | Giacomo Puccini | Turn of the Century | Opera ...

• Personalities
• High Romantic
• Opera

was born at what was, for him, an unfortunate time. Verdi dominated the opera scene and Ponchielli was later overshadowed by one of his own pupils – Giacomo Puccini (1858–1924). Ponchielli’s first venture into composition was a joint effort with his fellow students in Milan – Il sindaco babbeo (‘The Simpleton Mayor’, 1851). His own first opera, I ...