Giacomo Puccini 1858-
1924 Italian Modern Era Composer
Born: Lucca, Italy, December 22, 1858.
Died: Brussels, Belgium, November 29, 1924.
Puccini was born in Lucca next to the
massaciuccoli's lake to a musical family. An uncle taught
him piano. He studied at the Milan Conservatory. His
first successful opera was Manon Lescaut in 1893. He wrote
12 operas which remain in the repertory of the leading opera
houses today. He had a great gift of melody, dramatic harmony
and theatrical flair.
Education: Pacini Institute, Lucca, Italy,
1880; Royal Conservatory of Music, Milan, 1883.
Achievements: Last great Italian opera composer. Created perennial
favorites of the opera world, including "La Boheme,"
"Tosca" and "Madama Butterfly." His
operas
Museum of Giacomo Puccini
in Lucca Italy
Giacomo Puccini was born on December, 22nd 1858 in Lucca,
inside the city walls, in Via di Poggio, a centrally located
street near Piazza San Michele. The house currently houses
a museum dedicated to the great composer.
Here visitors can find memorabilia concerning Puccini's
life and works: family furniture, an overcoat, valuable
decorations; also autographs of important youthful compositions,
a rich collection of letters written and received and a
series of moving testimonies to the last moments of the
composer’s life are shown. The Turandot opera is evoked
by the presence of the Steinway piano on which the opera
was composed and by the splendid theatrical costume for
Act II, donated by the famous singer Maria Jeritza in memory
of the first production of the opera at the Metropolitan
Opera House, New York in 1926.
Every year thousands of fans from all over the globe make
the journey to the museum.
His Life
his operas:
Le Villi
Opera in two (short) acts, libretto by Ferdinando
Fontana
Premiere: Teatro dal Verme, Milan, 31st
May 1884 (one-act version)
Roberto: Antonio d'Andrade; Anna: Regina Caporetti; Guglielmo
Wulf: Erminio Pelz. Conductor: Achille Panizza
Revised two-act version: Teatro Regio, Turin,
26th December 1884
Roberto: Filippi-Bresciani; Anna: Elena Boronat; Guglielmo
Wulf: Agostino Gnaccarini
The protagonists:
Roberto (tenor); Anna (soprano); Guglielmo Wulf, Anna's
father (baritone)
Location: the Black Forest; time: unspecified,
probably the Middle Ages
Edgar
Opera in three acts, libretto by Ferdinando
Fontana, after Alfred de Musset's play 'La Coupe et les
Lèvres'
Premiere: 21st April 1889, Teatro alla Scala,
Milan
Edgar: Gregorio Gabrielesco; Fidelia: Aurelia Cataneo; Tigrana:
Romilda Pantaleoni; Frank: Antonio Magini-Coletti; Gualtiero:
Pio Marini. Conductor: Franco Faccio
The protagonists:
Edgar (tenor); Gualtiero (bass); Frank (baritone), his son;
Fidelia (soprano), his daughter; Tigrana (mezzo-soprano)
Location: Flanders; time: 1302
Manon Lescaut
Opera in four acts, libretto by Marco Praga, Domenico Oliva,
Luigi Illica, Giuseppe Giacosa, Giulio Ricordi et. al.,
after 'L'Histoire du Chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut'
by Abbé Prevost
Premiere: Teatro Regio, Turin, 1st February
1893
Manon: Cesira Ferrani; des Grieux: Giuseppe Cremonini; Lescaut:
Achille Moro; Geronte: Alessandro Polonini. Conductor: Alessandro
Pomé
The protagonists:
Manon Lescaut (soprano), Renato des Grieux (tenor), a student;
Lescaut (baritone), Sergeant of the King's Guard, Manon's
brother; Geronte de Ravoir (bass), Treasurer-General of
Amiens; Edmondo (tenor), a student; an Innkeeper (bass);
a Dancing Master (tenor); a Musician (mezzo-soprano); a
lamplighter (tenor); a Naval Commander (bass); a Sergeant
of Archers (bass); a wigmaker (mime)
Location: Amiens, Paris, Le Havre, Louisiana;
time: the second half of the eighteenth century
La Bohème
Opera in 4 acts, libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa,
based on 'Scènes de la vie de Bohème' by Henry
Murger
Premiere: Teatro Regio, Turin, 1st February
1896
Mimì: Cesira Ferrani; Rodolfo: Evan Gorga; Marcello:
Tieste Wilmant; Musetta: Camilla Pasini; Colline: Michele
Mazzara; Schaunard: Antonio Pini-Corsi. Conductor: Arturo
Toscanini
The protagonists:
Mimì (soprano); Rodolfo (tenor), a poet; Marcello
(baritone), a painter; Musetta (soprano); Colline (bass),
a philosopher; Schaunard (baritone), a musician; Bénoit
(bass), landlord; Parpignol (tenor), a toy-seller; Alcindoro
(bass), a Councillor; a Customs Officer (bass); a Sergeant
(bass)
Townspeople, merchants, peasants
Location: Paris; time: c. 1830
Tosca
Opera in 3 acts, libretto by Luigi Illica (prose text) and
Giuseppe Giacosa (verses), based on Victorien Sardou's play
of the same name
Premiere: Teatro Costanzi, Rome, 14th January
1900
Floria Tosca: Haricleé Darclée; Mario Cavaradossi:
Emilio De Marchi; Scarpia: Eugenio Giraldoni. Conductor:
Leopoldo Mugnone
The protagonists:
Floria Tosca (soprano), a famous singer; Mario Cavaradossi
(tenor), a painter; Scarpia (baritone), chief of police;
Angelotti (bass), an escaped political prisoner; a sacristan
(bass); Spoletta (tenor), a police agent; Sciarrone (bass),
a gendarme; a gaoler (bass), a shepherd boy (boy soprano)
Location: Rome. Act I: the church of Sant'Andrea
della Valle, Act II: Palazzo Farnese, Act III: Castel Sant'Angelo;
time: June 1800
Madama Butterfly
Opera in 2 acts, libretto by Luigi Illica (prose text) and
Giuseppe Giacosa (verses), based on the play 'Madame Butterfly'
by David Belasco after a story by John Luther Long
Premiere: Teatro alla Scala, Milan, 17th
February 1904
Cio-Cio-San: Rosina Storchio; Pinkerton: Giovanni Zenatello;
Suzuki: Giuseppina Giaconia; Sharpless: Giuseppe de Luca.
Conductor: Cleofonte Campanini
The protagonists:
Cio-Cio-San (soprano); Pinkerton (tenor), a lieutenant in
the U.S. Navy; Suzuki (mezzo-soprano), Cio-Cio-San's maid;
Sharpless (baritone), U.S. Consul in Nagasaki; Goro (tenor),
a marriage broker; the Bonze (bass), Cio-Cio-San's uncle;
Kate Pinkerton (mezzo-soprano); Prince Yamadori (baritone);
Imperial Commissioner (bass); Yakuside (baritone); the Registrar
(baritone); Cio-Cio-San's mother (mezzo-soprano); Cio-Cio-San's
aunt (mezzo-soprano); Cio-Cio-San's cousin (soprano)
Location: Nagasaki, Japan; time: 1904
La Fanciulla del West
Opera in 3 acts, libretto by Guelfo Civinini and Carlo Zangarini,
based on the play 'The Girl of the Golden West' by David
Belasco
Premiere: Metropolitan Opera House, New
York, 10th December 1910
Minnie: Emmy Destinn; Dick Johnson/Ramerrez: Enrico Caruso;
Jack Rance: Pasquale Amato. Conductor: Arturo Toscanini
The protagonists:
Minnie (soprano), keeper of the Polka Saloon; Dick Johnson
(tenor), a.k.a. Ramerrez, a bandit; Jack Rance (baritone),
sheriff; Nick (tenor), bartender at the Polka Saloon; Ashby
(bass), Wells Fargo agent; Sonora (baritone), Trin (tenor),
Sid (baritone), Bello (baritone), Harry (tenor), Joe (tenor),
Happy (baritone), Larkens (bass), miners; Billy Jackrabbit
(bass), a Red Indian; Wowkle (mezzo-soprano), his squaw;
Jake Wallace (baritone), a minstrel; Castro (bass), a member
of Ramerrez' gang; a Pony Express rider (tenor)
Location: a mining camp in California; time:
the gold rush of 1849-50
La Rondine
Oper(ett)a in three acts, libretto by Giuseppe
Adami, based on an original libretto by Alfred Maria Willner
and Heinz Reichert
Premiere: Opéra de Monte Carlo, 27th
March 1917
Magda: Gilda Dalla Rizza; Ruggero: Tito Schipa; Lisette:
Ines Maria Ferraris; Prunier: Francesco Dominici; Rambaldo:
Gustave Huberdeau. Conductor: Gino Marinuzzi
The protagonists:
Magda de Civry (soprano); Ruggero Lastouc (tenor), a young
man from the provinces; Rambaldo Fernandez (baritone), a
wealthy Parisian banker; Lisette (soprano), Magda's maid;
Prunier (tenor), a poet
Friends of Magda and Rambaldo, grisettes,
a painter, a student, a Majordomo
Location: Paris and the Riviera; time: the
1850s
Il Trittico: Il Tabarro
Opera in one act, libretto by Giuseppe Adami after the 1910
play 'La Houppelande' by Didier Gold
Premiere: Metropolitan Opera House, New
York, 14th December 1918
Giorgetta: Claudia Muzio; Michele: Luigi Montesanto; Luigi:
Giulio Crimi. Conductor: Roberto Moranzoni
The protagonists:
Giorgetta (soprano), Michele's wife, aged 25; Michele (baritone),
a barge owner, aged 50; Luigi (tenor), a stevedore and Giorgetta's
lover, aged 20; il Tinca (tenor) and il Talpa (bass), stevedores;
la Frugola (mezzo-soprano), Talpa's wife
an organist, a song-seller, a pair of young
lovers, passers-by
Location: Paris: a barge on the river Seine
and the quayside; time: the early 20th century
Il Trittico: Suor Angelica
Opera in one act, libretto by Giovacchino
Forzano
Premiere: Metropolitan Opera House, New
York, 14th December 1918
Suor Angelica: Geraldine Farrar; Principessa: Flora Perini;
La Badessa: Rita Fornia. Conductor: Roberto Moranzoni
The protagonists:
Suor Angelica (soprano), a nun; la zia Principessa (contralto),
her aunt; La Badessa (mezzo-soprano), the Abbess
other female inhabitants of the convent
Location: a convent in Italy; time: the
end of the seventeenth century
Il Trittico: Gianni Schicchi
Opera in one act, libretto by Giovacchino
Forzano, based on some lines in Dante's 'Inferno'
Premiere: Metropolitan Opera House, New
York, 14th December 1918
Gianni Schicchi: Giuseppe de Luca ; Lauretta: Florence Easton;
Rinuccio: Giulio Crimi; Zita: Kathleen Howard. Conductor:
Roberto Moranzoni
The protagonists:
Gianni Schicchi (baritone); Lauretta (soprano), his daughter;
Rinuccio (tenor), nephew of Zita (contralto), cousin to
Buoso Donati. Conductor: Roberto Moranzoni
various relatives of the deceased Buoso
Donati
Location: Florence; time: 1299
Turandot
Opera in three acts, libretto by Giuseppe
Adami and Renato Simoni, based on the play of the same name
by Carlo Gozzi
Premiere: Teatro alla Scala, Milan, 25th
April 1926
Turandot: Rosa Raisa; Calaf: Miguel Fleta; Liù: Maria
Zamboni; Timur: Carlo Walter. Conductor: Arturo Toscanini
The protagonists:
Turandot (soprano), a princess; Calaf (tenor), the Unknown
Prince; Liù (soprano), a young slave girl; Timur
(bass), the dethroned Tartar King, Calaf's father; Altoum
(tenor), the Emperor, Turandot's father; Ping (baritone),
Grand Chancellor; Pang (tenor), Grand Purveyer; Pong (tenor),
Chief Cook; a Mandarin (baritone)
townspeople, courtiers, officials, an executioner
Location: Peking (Beijing); time: legendary.
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