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Giacomo Puccini

Giacomo Puccini
(b. Dec. 22, 1858 in Lucca, Italy; d. Nov.29, 1924 in Brussels, Belgium)

Giacomo Puccini was the most important composer of Italian opera after Giuseppe Verdi. He wrote in the verismo style, a counterpart to the movement of Realism in literature and a trend that favored subjects and characters from everyday life for opera. On his often-commonplace settings Puccini lavished memorable melodies and lush orchestration. It was around the turn of the 20th century that he reached his artistic zenith, composing in succession his three most popular and effective operas, La bohème, Tosca, and Madama Butterfly. 


Young Giacomo took organ lessons and sang in local church choirs. At age 14, Puccini began freelancing as an organist at religious services. By age 18 he decided he would study composition with a view to writing opera. 
In 1880, Puccini entered the Milan Conservatory, where he studied and wrote his first opera, Le villi, which he entered in a competition. Though he lost, Arrigo Soito and publisher Giulio Ricardi helped arrange a premiere in Milan. The work was received enthusiastically, and Puccini was on his way. 


Around this time the composer met Elvira Gemignani, wife of a merchant in Lucca. They carried on an illicit affair, and she gave birth to his son in 1886. Eventually the two would marry in 1904 following the death of Elvira’s husband. 
After poorly received Edgar (1889) and the success of Manon Lescaut (1893), Puccini’s next three operas confirmed his preeminence in Italian opera. La bohème (1896), Tosca (1900), and Madama Butterfly (1904) were not immediately as successful as Manon Lescaut, but by the middle of the 20th century, they had become, and remain today, his most often performed and recorded works. 


Puccini was unable to finish another opera until the moderately successful La fanciulla del West (1910). In 1913, Puccini accepted a lucrative commission which resulted in La rondine (1917). Received warmly at its premiere, the work faded under the judgment it was the least of his operatic efforts. Puccini followed this disappointment with his trilogy of one-act operas, II trittico, comprised of II tabarro, Suor Angelica, and Gianni Schicchi. Only the latter work, a comedy, was well received. 


While Puccini was working on his last opera, Turandot, he was diagnosed with throat cancer (1923). During radiation treatment in Brussels, he suffered a heart attack and died on November 29, 1924.

Giacomo Puccini

Giacomo Puccini
(b. Dec. 22, 1858 in Lucca, Italy; d. Nov.29, 1924 in Brussels, Belgium)

Giacomo Puccini was the most important composer of Italian opera after Giuseppe Verdi. He wrote in the verismo style, a counterpart to the movement of Realism in literature and a trend that favored subjects and characters from everyday life for opera. On his often-commonplace settings Puccini lavished memorable melodies and lush orchestration. It was around the turn of the 20th century that he reached his artistic zenith, composing in succession his three most popular and effective operas, La bohème, Tosca, and Madama Butterfly. 


Young Giacomo took organ lessons and sang in local church choirs. At age 14, Puccini began freelancing as an organist at religious services. By age 18 he decided he would study composition with a view to writing opera. 
In 1880, Puccini entered the Milan Conservatory, where he studied and wrote his first opera, Le villi, which he entered in a competition. Though he lost, Arrigo Soito and publisher Giulio Ricardi helped arrange a premiere in Milan. The work was received enthusiastically, and Puccini was on his way. 


Around this time the composer met Elvira Gemignani, wife of a merchant in Lucca. They carried on an illicit affair, and she gave birth to his son in 1886. Eventually the two would marry in 1904 following the death of Elvira’s husband. 
After poorly received Edgar (1889) and the success of Manon Lescaut (1893), Puccini’s next three operas confirmed his preeminence in Italian opera. La bohème (1896), Tosca (1900), and Madama Butterfly (1904) were not immediately as successful as Manon Lescaut, but by the middle of the 20th century, they had become, and remain today, his most often performed and recorded works. 


Puccini was unable to finish another opera until the moderately successful La fanciulla del West (1910). In 1913, Puccini accepted a lucrative commission which resulted in La rondine (1917). Received warmly at its premiere, the work faded under the judgment it was the least of his operatic efforts. Puccini followed this disappointment with his trilogy of one-act operas, II trittico, comprised of II tabarro, Suor Angelica, and Gianni Schicchi. Only the latter work, a comedy, was well received. 


While Puccini was working on his last opera, Turandot, he was diagnosed with throat cancer (1923). During radiation treatment in Brussels, he suffered a heart attack and died on November 29, 1924.