Giacomo Puccini

ORIGINS & PUCCINI HISTORY

PRIMARY EDUCATIONINSTITUTO MUSICALE PACINI

SECONDARY EDUCATIONMILAN CONSERVATORIUM

LE VILLI

EDGAR

MANON LESCAUT

LA BOHEME

TOSCA

MADAMA BUTTERFLY

LA FANCIULLA DEL WEST

LA RONDINE

IL TRITTICO

TURANDOT

DEATH

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Origins & Puccini History

oGiacomo Antonio Dominic Michele Secondo Maria Puccini • Born December 22, 1858 in Lucca Italy• Father Michele Puccini• Mother Albina Magi Puccini• Fifth of eight children• First Son• Heir to position as Organist and

Choirmaster at Cathedral of San Martino

oAll first born Puccini sons held position after first PuccinioFather Michele Puccini also noted teacher and authoro Wrote two well known textbooks on counterpoint

and harmonyoGrandfather Domenico Vicenzo Puccini first to compose and have staged an operaoGreat Grandfather Antonio Benedtetto Puccini composed death mass for Joseph II in 1790 oGreat-great Grandfather Giacomo Puccini became the first Puccini organist and Choirmaster in 1712

PRIMARY EDUCATIONINSTITUTO MUSICALE PACINI

oFather died when he was 5 years oldo Cathedral inserted clause in new choirmaster

and organist contract stating Puccini was to have position when he came of age.

oMother employed musical tutors for Puccinio First tutor new choirmaster of LuccaoFirst Tutor found him lazy and untalentedoMother employed Carlo Angeloni of the Lucca music collegeoPuccini thrived under Angeloni at the music collegeo By age 10 he was a choirboy at San Matrino o By age 14 he was a traveling organist

o Played for both religious and secular institutionso Was rumored to play for a brothel on a regular basis

oPuccini studied secular music as well as religiouso Angeloni made sure he was exposed to

modern composers such as Giuseppe VerdioAt 17 years old Puccini attended Aida by Giuseppe Verdio Attendance of Verdi turning point in Puccini’s lifeo Decided to focus on secular rather than religious

musicoFinished school with a final composition called Preludio Sinfonicoo Composition was ten minutes longo Composed for four voices (Soprano, Alto, Tenor,

Bass)o Allowed him to procure funds to attend Milan

Conservatorium

SECONDARY EDUCATIONMILAN CONSERVATORIUM

oEntered the Milan Conservatorium in 1880oGraduated in 1883oFinal graduate project was Capriccio Sinfonicoo Intricate Orchestral pieceo Ten minuteso Piece won critical acclaim both within the

Conservatorium and throughout LuccaoAfter Graduation Puccini decided to stay in Milan and compose operasoPonchielli from the Conservatorium introduced Puccini to Giulio Ricordi and librettist Ferdinando FontanaoPuccini and Ferdinando collaborated to create Puccini’s first Opera Le Villi

LE VILLIPREMIERED DECEMBER 26, 1884

oOriginally an entry into a national musical competition as Le WillisoLibrettist Fontana was determined to have the opera heard after it didn’t win the competitionoPuccini, through Fontana, was introduced to musical scene of Milan o Played selections from the opera to the musical

elite of Milano Networked throughout the city through

introduction by FontantaoProcured enough funds and patrons through the “publicity tour” to stage the operaoGiulio Ricordi agreed to publish one copy of the librettooRevision for production of the opera began

oThe revision of Le Willis as it was entered into the competition was premiered May 31, 1884o Premiered in the Teatro dal Verme with Ruy

Blas and La Contessa d’EgmontoPremiere was so sucessful Ricordi asked Puccini and Fontana to compose a full length operaoThe full length opera was renamed Le VillioPremiered at Teatro Regio in Turin December 26, 1884

EDGAR

PREMIERED APRIL 21, 1889

oInitially premiered in 1889 after three years of composingoThe libretto was difficult to work with, Puccini was never happy with the words he had to work withoAfter 1889 Puccini continued to revise Edgar since he was never happy with the producto After Edgar Puccini had hands on dealing with each librettist to ensure he was happy with the product

MANON LESCAUT

PREMIERED FEBRUARY 1, 1893

oFirst huge success for PuccinioTo avoid the problems of Edgar, Puccini wrote the libretto himselfo Ultimately collaborated with Guiseppa Giacosa,

Luigi Illica, Marco Praga, Domenico Olivia and Ricordi

oSuccess of Manon assured Puccini’s place as a master composeroCollaboration was so successful between Puccini and the librettists Giacosa and Illica that he collaborated with them on his next three, and most famous, operaso La Bohemeo Toscao Madama Butterfly

LA BOHEME

Premiered February 1, 1896

oBased on the novel Scenes de la vie de Boheme by Henry MurgeroComposer Ruggeiro Leoncavallo was also composing a La Boheme operao Ruggeiro’s Boheme premiered a year after

Puccini’s in 1897o Initially had more critical acclaim than Puccini’s

BohemeoAudience found it to be less thrilling and compelling than Manon had beenoWas received with more enthusiasm in Southern Italy and gained more popularity as it toured worldwideoPlayed multiple times yearly in opera companies throughout the world

TOSCA

PREMIERED JANUARY 14, 1900

oBased upon the events that occurred in Rome after news of Napoleon’s defeat and then victory in the battle against the Austrians in 1800oBased on the political intrigue surrounding Tosca, her lover (a rebel sympathizer), an escaped political prisoner and the evil chief of the Roman policeoPremiered on January 14, 1900oNot well received by criticso Violent insinuation of the torture of Tosca’s lover in Act

II upset the 20th century criticso The entire opera revolved around political intrigue and

blackmailo The premier aria Vissi d’Arte was sung in anguish for Tosca

having agreed to sleep with another man to save her loveroPopular audiences loved the operaoDuring the London premier of Tosca, Puccini discovered the story for his next opera, Madama Butterfly

MADAMA BUTTERFLY

PREMIERED FEBRUARY 17, 1904 ~ PREMIERED AGAIN MAY 28, 1904

oPremiered on February 17, 1904o Booed and cat calledo Worst premier for Puccini ever

o Response of audience blamed on rival composer who were jealous of Puccini’s success

o Also blamed on fickle Roman audience looking for similarities between operas

oPuccini pulled the opera after premier to revise for content and lengthoPremiered again May 1904 with successo Act II separated into Acts II and IIIo Minor characters pared down or eliminated

completelyo Second version went on to become third in trio

of most successful operas

LA FANCIULLA DEL WEST

PREMIERED DECEMBER 10, 19109

LA RONDINEPREMIERED MARCH 17, 1917

IL TRITTICOPREMIERED DECEMBER

14, 1918

La Fanciulla del WestoPremiered December 10, 1910 at the Metrepolitan Opera in New YorkoFocused on American themes and charactersoStill played occasionally but not as frequently as the major three

La RondineoPremiered on March 17, 1917 at Monte Carlo Opera

Il tritticooPremiered on December 14, 1918 at Metropolitan OperaoIl TabarrooSuor AngelicaoGianni Schicchio Most famous of the three, often play with other one act operas

such as Il Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo, a contemporary of Puccini

o O Mio Babino one of Puccini’s most famous and recognized arias ever

TURANDOT

PREMIERED APRIL 25, 1926

oPremiered April 25, 1926 at La Scala in MilanoPuccini’s final operao Puccini died right after main aria of the last acto Son chose Franco Alfano to complete the operaoFourth most successful opera oNot generally thought of in the same grouping as Boheme, Tosca or Butterflyo Opera set in Chinao Puccini used Chinese gong and xylophone for

more foreign soundo Some longed for the richer, warmer tones of

Boheme, Tosca and Butterfly because of the minor, discordant sounds

oPuccini died November 29, 1924oComplications from throat cancer treatmentoRequiem composed for Edgar played at state funeraloMussolini issued statement of contribution and greatness in ItalyoLeft behind long time love Elvira, step-daughter Fosca and son Tonio

DEATH

oG. Schirmer Opera Score Editions. Madama Butterfly. Ed. Robert Lawrence. New York, 1963 (Renewed).

oOsborne, Charles. The Complete Operas of Puccini: A Critical Guide. New York: Da Capo Press, 1982.

BIBLIOGRAPHY