Lesson 10f - Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924)

A portrait of Puccini and his autograph.

Giacomo Puccini was an important opera composer of the late nineteenth century, who effectively united grand opera and realism, a movement known as verismo. Instead of choosing historical or mythological themes for the libretto, everyday life and common people were used as subjects.

Puccini was born in Lucca, a small town in Tuscany, Italy. He was descended from a family of organists and composers. When he was ten years old, his mother enrolled him in the Music Institute of Lucca. At 14, he was an organist at San Michele and the Cathedral of San Martino in Lucca. In 1876, he saw a performance of Verdi's Aida in Pisa and was inspired to be a successful opera composer. In 1880, Puccini went to Milan, the opera capital of Italy. He studied at the Milan Conservatorio and later spent years as an opera composer.

Read John Louis DiGaetani,"A Short Life of Puccini", in Puccini the Thinker: the composer's intellectual and dramatic development, 2nd ed. (New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 2001), pp. 11-32. (LO10.5)

Puccini's major operas

La Boheme (1896)
La Boheme poster
A story of struggling young artists, set in the late ninteenth-century Paris. The Broadway musical Rent (1994) was inspired by this opera.

La Tosca (1900)
La Tosca poster
A story of passion amidst the perils of war, set in Rome at the time of Napoleon's advance on the city.

Madama Butterfly (1904)
madama butterfly poster
A story of the relationship between a young American naval officer and the Japanese woman he marries and then abandons. The Broadway musical Miss Saigon (1989) moves the story from early twentieth-century Japan to Vietnam in 1975-1978 when U.S. troops were leaving the country.

Turandot (1926)
turandot poster
Puccini's last opera Turandot is based on a Chinese fairy tale about a princess. The opera was left incomplete at Puccini's death. His friend Franco Alfano completed the final scene of the opera using Puccini's sketches. Turandot was premiered on April 25, 1926 at the opera house La Scala in Milan.

Early Life and the Opera La Bohème

Watch the following video about the early life of Puccini, and a discussion of his opera La Bohème. (LO10.5)

Transcript of the video.

Quick Check (LO10.5)

Which of the following opera was NOT written by Puccini?

Edgar

This answer is not correct!

La Tosca

This answer is not correct!

The Girl of the Golden West

This answer is not correct!

Perry Mason

That's correct. Good job!

Turandot

This answer is not correct!

Check Answer

References
Poster images by Wikimedia Commons
Video - In the Footsteps of Puccini (Kultur DVD D4833).