| Giacomo Puccini |
Article Index for Giacomo |
Website Links For Giacomo |
Information AboutGiacomo Puccini |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT GIACOMO PUCCINI | |
| puccini | |
| 1858 births | |
| 1924 deaths | |
| 20th century classical composers | |
| italian composers | |
| italian opera composers | |
| people from lucca | |
| romantic composers | |
| throat cancer deaths | |
|
Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini ( December 22 , 1858 – November 29 , 1924 ) was an Italian composer whose Opera s, including '' La Bohème '', '' Tosca '', and '' Madama Butterfly '', are among the most frequently performed in the Standard Repertoire .12 Some of his melodies, such as ''" O Mio Babbino Caro "'' from '' Gianni Schicchi '' and " Nessun Dorma " from '' Turandot '', have become part of modern culture. EARLY LIFE Puccini was born in Lucca in Tuscany , Italy into a family with five generations of musical history behind them. His father died when he was five years old, and he was sent to study with his uncle Fortunato Magi , who considered him to be a poor and undisciplined student. Later, Puccini took the position of church Organist and choir master in Lucca, but it was not until he saw a performance of Verdi 's '' Aida '' that he became inspired to be an opera composer. He and a friend walked 18.5 mi (30 km) to see the performance in Pisa . In 1880, with the help of a relative and a grant, Puccini enrolled in the Milan Conservatory to study composition with Amilcare Ponchielli and Antonio Bazzini . In the same year, at the age of 21, he composed the ''Messa'', which marks the culmination of his family's long association with Church Music in his native Lucca. Although Puccini himself correctly titled the work a ''Messa'', referring to a setting of the full Catholic Mass, today the work is popularly known as his ''Messa di Gloria'', a name that technically refers to a setting of only the first two prayers of the Mass, the Kyrie and the Gloria , while omitting the Credo , the Sanctus , and the Agnus Dei . Puccini's work is, in fact, a ''Messa''. The work anticipates Puccini's career as an operatic composer by offering glimpses of the dramatic power that he would soon unleash on the stage; the powerful “arias” for tenor and bass soloists are certainly more operatic than is usual in church music and, in its orchestration and dramatic power, the ''Messa'' compares interestingly with Verdi's '' Requiem ''. While studying at the Conservatory, Puccini obtained a Libretto from Ferdinando Fontana and entered a competition for a one-act opera in 1882 . Although he did not win, '' Le Villi '' was later staged in 1884 at the Teatro Dal Verme and it caught the attention of Giulio Ricordi , head of G. Ricordi & Co. music publishers, who commissioned a second opera, '' Edgar '', in 1889 . Puccini and Fontana were to become life-long friends. PUCCINI AT TORRE DEL LAGO From 1891 onwards, Puccini spent more of his time at Torre Del Lago , a small community about fifteen miles from Lucca situated between the Tyrrhenian Sea and Lake Massaciuccoli, just south of Viareggio . While renting a house there, he spent time hunting but regularly visited Lucca. By 1900 he had acquired land and built a villa on the lake, now known as the "Villa Museo Puccini". He lived there until 1921 when pollution produced by peat works on the lake forced him to move to Viareggio, a few kilometres north. After his death, a Mausoleum was created in the Villa Puccini and the composer is buried there in the Chapel , along with his wife and son who died later. The "Villa Museo Puccini" is presently owned by his granddaughter, Simonetta Puccini, and is open to the public. '']] Operas written at Torre del Lago '' Manon Lescaut '' (1893), his third opera, was his first great success. It launched his remarkable relationship with the Librettests Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa , who collaborated with him on his next three operas, which became his three most famous and most performed operas. These were:
After 1904, compositions were less frequent. Following his passion for driving fast cars, Puccini was nearly killed in a major accident in 1903. In 1906 Giacosa died and, in 1909, there was scandal after Puccini's wife, Elvira, falsely accused their maid Doria Manfredi of having an affair with Puccini. The maid then committed Suicide . Elvira was successfully sued by the Manfredis, and Giacomo had to pay damages. Finally, in 1912, the death of Giulio Ricordi, Puccini’s editor and publisher, ended a productive period of his career. However, Puccini completed '' La Fanciulla Del West '' in 1910 and finished the score of '' La Rondine '' in 1917, a piece he reworked from an operetta he had attempted to compose, only to find that his style and talent were incompatible with the genre. In ''), in the style of the Parisian Grand Guignol , a sentimental Tragedy ('' Suor Angelica ''), and a Comedy ('' Gianni Schicchi ''). Of the three, ''Gianni Schicchi'' has remained the most popular, containing the popular '' O Mio Babbino Caro ''. THE FINAL YEARS ]] A habitual Cigarette chain smoker, Puccini began to complain of chronic sore throats towards the end of 1923. A diagnosis of throat cancer led his doctors to recommend a new and experimental Radiation Therapy treatment, which was being offered in Brussels , Belgium . Puccini and his wife never knew how serious the cancer was, as the news was only revealed to his son. Puccini died there on November 29 1924 from complications from the treatment; uncontrolled bleeding led to a Heart Attack the day after surgery. News of his death reached Rome during a performance of ''La bohème''. The opera was immediately stopped, and the orchestra played Chopin 's ''Funeral March'' for the stunned audience. He was buried in Milan , but in 1926 his son arranged for the transfer of his father's remains to a specially-created chapel inside the Puccini villa at Torre del Lago. '' Turandot '', his final opera, was left unfinished and the last two scenes were completed by Franco Alfano based on the composer's sketches. Some dispute whether Alfano followed the sketches or not, since the sketches were said to be indecipherable, but he is believed to have done so, since, together with the autographs, he was given (still existing) transcriptions from Guido Zuccoli who was accustomed to interpreting Puccini's handiwork. When Arturo Toscanini conducted the premiere performance in April 1926, (in front of a sold-out crowd with every prominent Italian with the exception of Benito Mussolini in attendance), he had chosen not to perform Alfano's portion of the score. The performance reached the point where Puccini had completed the score, at which time Toscanini stopped the orchestra. The conductor turned to the audience and said: "Here the opera finishes, because at this point the Maestro died". (Some record that he said, more poetically, “Here the Maestro laid down his pen.”). In 2001 an official new ending was composed by Luciano Berio from original sketches, but this finale is performed infrequently. POLITICS Unlike Wagner and Verdi, Puccini did not appear to be active in the politics of his day. However, Mussolini, Fascist dictator of Italy at the time, claimed that Puccini applied for admission to the National Fascist Party . This appears to be highly unlikely. There appear to be no records or proof of any application given to the party by Puccini. In addition, it can be noted that had Puccini done so, his close friend, Arturo Toscanini, (an extreme anti-fascist), would have sufficiently influenced Puccini, and would not have been as friendly to the composer as he was. STYLE Puccini's style has been one long avoided by Musicologists ; this avoidance can perhaps be attributed to the perception that his work, with its emphasis on melody and evident popular appeal, lacked "seriousness" (a similar prejudice beset Rachmaninoff during his lifetime). Despite the place Puccini clearly occupies in the popular tradition of Verdi, his style of orchestration also shows the strong influence of Wagner , matching specific orchestral configurations and timbres to different dramatic moments. His operas contain an unparalleled manipulation of orchestral colors, with the orchestra often creating the scene’s atmosphere. The structures of Puccini's works are also noteworthy. While it is to an extent possible to divide his operas into arias or numbers (like Verdi's), his scores generally present a very strong sense of continuous flow and connectivity, perhaps another sign of Wagner’s influence. Like Wagner, Puccini used ). Another distinctive quality in Puccini's works is the use of the voice in the style of speech: characters sing short phrases one after another, as if they were talking to each other. Puccini is celebrated, on the other hand, for his melodic gift, and many of his melodies are both memorable and enduringly popular. These melodies are often made of sequences from the scale, a very distinctive example being ''Quando me'n vo''' (Musetta's Waltz) from ''La Bohème'' and ''E lucevan le stelle'' from Act III of ''Tosca''. Today, it is rare not to find at least one Puccini aria included in an operatic singer's CD album or recital. MUSIC Although Puccini is mainly known for his operas, he also wrote some orchestral pieces, sacred music, chamber music and songs for voice and piano. Puccini's operas
Puccini's works and versions (with dates of premieres and locations)
MEDIA
SEE ALSO Festival Puccini ; the annual Festival of Puccini's operas in Torre del Lago. REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS
|
|
|