Giacomo Puccini

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Giacomo Puccini

• (1858-1924)

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Early life

• Born Dec 22, 1858 in Lucca, Italy
• Raised as a kid in Lucca
• His father dies when he was 5
• Studied under Fortunata Magi (his uncle) and
  Carlo Pacini
• Started his music career as an organist at St.
  Martino and St. Michele
• Became very interested in operas and started
  attending the Milan Conservatory (with help from
  his uncle) in 1880
• 1880, composed Messa de Gloria

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Early opera (La ville)

• His first opera (Italian for the village (duh))
• He entered this opera for a one-act competition
  in 1882 and it was premiered May 31, 1884.
• His librettist was his friend Ferdinando Fonatana
  
• He didnt win, but got the attention of the
  publisher Giulio Ricordi
• Worked on his next opera, Edgar

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The fiasco of Edgar

• 3-act opera
• Edgar was considered to be a huge failure at its
  premiere in April 21, 1889.
• Didnt work with Fontana again (thought that
  their friendship clouded his judgment of how good
  the libretto was).
• Was determined to work harder, and be more
  careful of all aspects of music (this is why he
  became so involved and hands on with his operas),
  especially the story/libretto

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Success! Manon Lescant

• 4 act opera based on LHistoire du Chevalier des
  Grieux et de Manon Lescant, by Abbe Prevost
• Was a hit! It finally put Puccini on the map!
• Puccini used 6 different librettists for the
  making of Manon
• Two of these librettists, Luigi Illica and
  Giuseppe Giacosa, continued to work with him in
  his next three operas, which are considered to be
  his greatest by many.
• I believe I have an understanding of the
  operatic stage. I am confidant I will succeed in
  the end. (his modest statement regarding this
  opera)

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• Premiered in Turin in 1896
• His most romantic opera. Its based on a short
  story by Henry Ruger
• One of his rivals (Leoncavallo) was also planning
  on doing a versian of La Boheme, and Puccini beat
  him to it.
• Not that Leoncavallos was any worse than
  Puccinis, as it was very successful when it
  opened, but since Puccini did his first, he got
  more acclaim for it
• The audience loved it, but it was regarded very
  neutrally by the critics

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Tosca

• Premiered 1900 in Rome
• Was made in the style of Verismo, which made a
  gritty realism in opera
• In other words, it was considered very depressing
  by some, which is why the critics didnt like it
  very much

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Madama Butterfly

• Premiered Feb 17, 1904 in Milan
• The audience hissed and laughed! The production
  was closed
• This response was probably staged by one of his
  rivals to mess him up
• He made a revised versian and it was an instant
  success. He even toured around the world with it
  (was too afraid that other people would mess it
  up if they worked on it)
• Premiered May 28, 1904
• 7 of the pieces were encored and Puccini was
  called back to the curtain 10 times!

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Madama Butterfly, cont.

• Puccini considered this opera to be his best.
• But My Butterfly remains what it is The most
  deeply felt imaginative operas I have conceived
  (when responding to the first versions failure)

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La Fanciulla del West

• While in America performing Butterfly, he saw a
  play by David Belasco that inspired him to
  compose his next work
• A western, taking place in California during the
  gold rush.
• Premiered at the Met in NY in 1910
• Considered his most modern score

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Turandot

• He never finished it, dying of throat cancer in
  1924 in Belgium
• Its first performance was in Milan in 1926, and
  the conductor Tuscanini ended it after the last
  duet, saying Here is when the conductor died
  leaving the opera unfinished
• A complete version was edited by Franco Alfano
  after carefully studying Paccinis last sketches
  about the end
• Recently, in 2002, another ending has been
  composed by Luciano Berio.
• Turandot was forbidden to be performed in The
  Peoples Republic of China (they perceived it
  anti-Chinese) until mid 1900s, and then finally
  it was performed in Beijing in 1998

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Puccini sum ups

• Italian composer known for his operas, although
  he composed a lot of liturgical and other music
  as well
• Considered by some to be the last great Italian
  opera composer
• When studying music, he was considered to be a
  very poor student. He wasnt a prodigy boy or
  anything
• He improved in music when he fell in love with
  opera, but still had to work very hard, and
  endured some pretty crushing failures
• Only wrote 8 complete (not counting Turandot)
  operas
• Quality over quantity

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Interesting/strange facts

• Was one of the first Italians ever to get into a
  car crash! (Feb 25, 1903).
• In 1909, was accused by his wife of having an
  affair with the maid, and the maid then committed
  suicide! Big Scandel!

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Quotes

• Puccini often worked personally with his soprano
  heroine lead. When with Jeritza, he said If
  ever I was to wake you at 300 in the morning and
  ask you to hit a high C, you will hit a high C!
  (this guy was one hell of a perfectionist)
• I am a mighty hunter of wild fowl, operatic
  librettos, and attractive women!

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Thank you! The End!