Giacomo Puccini, Life and Works
Italian Realism Opera Composer, Verismo Maestro
Brief biography of Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, famous for La Bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly and Turandot. Greatest 'Giovane Scuola' of his time.
Giacomo Puccini was born on December 22, 1858 in Lucca, Tuscany, the son of an organist and a choirmaster. He was fifth in line of family composers and Italian church musicians in Lucca.
Early Life of Puccini
After studying music with his uncle, Fortunato Magi, and with the director of the Instituto Musicale Pacini, Carlo Angeloni, he started his career at the age of 14 as an organist in different local churches including San Martino, San Michele and Lucca. He then attended Milan Conservatory, studying composition with Bazzini and Ponchielli.
Initially his leanings were towards symphonic works but Ponchielli perceived Puccini’s operatic potentials and persuaded him to pursue it.
Operas and Other Compositions
His operas combine exotic plots with elements of verismo (realism). They include Manon Lescaut, La Boheme, Tosca, Madame Butterfly, and the unfinished Turandot, all of them popular to this day. He had his first success with Manon Lescaut at Turin in 1893.
La Boheme was produced in the same city, and probably one of the most popular operas ever written. His first verismo opera, Tosca, confirmed his stature. His last six operas were also successful to varying degrees.
His other works aside from the operas include choral, orchestral and chamber music.
Puccini's Hit Melodies
Two of his melodies are regularly included in record: 'Nessun dorma' in Turandot popularized by Pavarotti, and 'O mio babbino caro' from Gianni Schicchi, popular version sung by Dame Kiri Te Kanawa.
Puccini's Legacy
He died 29th November 1924, aged 66, after surgery for throat cancer. He left Turandot unfinished, completed by Franco Alfano.
Puccini was the dominant figure in Italian music in his time. Although it’s been said he lacked the nobility of Verdi, he had a strong gift for melody and dramatic effect which few composers can equal. He had tremendous mass appeal through his operas, with excellent audience rapport. His famous operas remain a standard fixture in today's repertoire.
Operas by Puccini
- Le Villi (The Wills) 1884
- Manon Lescaut 1893
- La Bohème (Bohemian Life) 1896
- Tosca 1900
- Madama Butterfly (revised 1905 and 1906) 1904
- La fanciulla del West (The Girl of the Golden West) 1910
- La rondine (The Swallow) 1917
- Il Trittico (The Triptych), three one-act operas: Il tabarro (The Cloak), Suor Angelica (Sister Angelica) and Gianni Schicchi 1918
- Turandot, the final scene completed by Franco Alfano after Puccini's death, 1926
Sources:
The Grove Concise Dictionary of Music, edited by Stanley Sadie, (1994)
The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd Edition, edited by Stanley Sadie (2000)
The Oxford Companion to Music, edited by Alison Latham (2002)
