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{{short description|Italian opera composer (1858–1924)}}
{{Redirect|Puccini}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=
{{Infobox classical composer
| name = Giacomo Puccini
| image = GiacomoPuccini.jpg
| alt = Black-and-white photograph of a young, moustachioed man.
| caption
| birth_name = Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1858|12|22|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Lucca]], [[Grand Duchy of Tuscany]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|1924|11|29|1858|12|22|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Brussels]], Belgium
| spouse = {{marriage|
| works = [[List of compositions by Giacomo Puccini|List of compositions]]
| signature = Giacomo Puccini signature.svg
| signature_alt = Giacomo Puccini's signature
}}
'''Giacomo Puccini'''{{refn|Pronunciation:
'''Giacomo Puccini'''{{refn|Full name: '''Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini''' ({{IPAc-en|UK|ˈ|dʒ|æ|k|ə|m|oʊ|_|p|ʊ|ˈ|tʃ|iː|n|i}} {{respell|JAK|ə|moh|_|puu|CHEE|nee}}, {{IPAc-en|US|ˈ|dʒ|ɑː|k|ə|m|oʊ|_|p|uː|ˈ|tʃ|iː|n|i}} {{respell|JAH|kə|moh|_|poo|CHEE|nee}}, {{IPA-it|ˈdʒaːkomo putˈtʃiːni|lang}}).|group=n}} (22 December 1858{{spaced ndash}} 29 November 1924)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Giacomo Puccini |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Giacomo-Puccini |access-date=22 December 2022 |website=Encyclopædia Britannica |language=en}}</ref> was an Italian composer known primarily for [[List of compositions by Giacomo Puccini#Operas|his operas]]. Regarded as the greatest{{sfn|Ravenni|Girardi|n.d.|loc=Introduction}} and most successful proponent of [[Italian opera]] after [[Verdi]], he was descended from a long line of composers, stemming from the late-[[Baroque music|Baroque]] era. Though his early work was firmly rooted in traditional late-19th-century Romantic Italian opera, he later developed his work in the realistic ''[[verismo]]'' style, of which he became one of the leading exponents.▼
* {{IPAc-en|UK|ˈ|dʒ|æ|k|ə|m|oʊ|_|p|ʊ|ˈ|tʃ|iː|n|i}} {{respell|JAK|ə|moh|_|puu|CHEE|nee}}
* {{IPAc-en|US|ˈ|dʒ|ɑː|k|ə|m|oʊ|_|p|uː|ˈ|tʃ|iː|n|i}} {{respell|JAH|kə|moh|_|poo|CHEE|nee}}
▲
His most renowned works are ''[[La bohème]]'' (1896), ''[[Tosca]]'' (1900), ''[[Madama Butterfly]]'' (1904), and the unfinished ''[[Turandot]]'' (
==Family and education==
[[File:Lucca, palazzo della casa natale di giacomo puccini, 01.jpg|thumb|upright|Puccini's birthplace
With the Puccini family having occupied the position of ''maestro di cappella'' for 124 years (1740–1864) by the time of Michele's death, it was anticipated that Michele's son Giacomo would occupy that position as well when he was old enough.<ref name="Puccini-it-Cathedral" /> However, when Michele Puccini died in 1864,
Puccini
==Early career and first operas==
===''Le Villi''===
{{Main|Le Villi}}
After the premiere of the ''Capriccio sinfonico'', Ponchielli and Puccini discussed the possibility that Puccini's next work might be an opera. Ponchielli invited Puccini to stay at his villa, where Puccini was introduced to [[Ferdinando Fontana]].<ref name="Dry" /> Puccini and Fontana agreed to collaborate on an opera, for which Fontana would provide the [[libretto]]. Puccini submitted the work, titled {{Lang|it|Le Villi}} ('The Fairies'), for {{Interlanguage link|Casa Musicale Sonzogno|it|Sonzogno (editore musicale)}}'s first of four musical competitions, advertised in April 1883, for a new, unperformed opera "inspired by the best traditions of Italian opera", which could be "idyllic, serious, or comic", to be judged by a panel including Galli and Ponchielli. Puccini's submission was disqualified because its manuscript was illegible;<ref name=":9">{{Cite journal |last=Greenwald |first=Helen M. |year=2023 |title=Coupling: Mascagni and Leoncavallo |journal=Royal Opera House Programme for Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci |publisher=[[Royal Opera House]] |pages=30–35}}</ref><ref name=":12">{{Cite web |last=Vannoni |first=Giulia |date=15 November 2021 |title=Galli, questo sconosciuto |trans-title=Galli, this stranger |url=https://www.ilponte.com/galli-questo-sconosciuto/ |access-date=6 January 2024 |website=Il Ponte |language=it-IT}}</ref> the second competition, in 1889, was notably won by [[Pietro Mascagni|Mascagni]]'s ''[[Cavalleria rusticana]]''.<ref name="Dry" /><ref name=":9" />▼
▲
Despite the defeat in the competition, ''Le Villi'' was later staged at the [[Teatro Dal Verme]], premiering on 31 May 1884.<ref name="Dry" /> [[Casa Ricordi]] assisted with the premier by printing the libretto without charge.<ref name="Dry" /> Fellow students from the Milan Conservatory formed a large part of the orchestra.<ref name="Dry" /> The performance was enough of a success that Casa Ricordi purchased the opera.<ref name="Dry" /> Revised into a two-act version with an intermezzo between the acts, ''Le Villi'' was performed at [[La Scala]] in Milan, on 24 January 1885. However, Ricordi did not publish the score until 1887, hindering further performance of the work.<ref name="Dry" />▼
▲Despite the defeat in the competition, ''Le Villi'' was later staged at the [[Teatro Dal Verme]], premiering on 31 May 1884.<ref name="Dry" /> [[Casa Ricordi]] assisted with the
===''Edgar''===
{{Main|Edgar (opera)}}
===''Manon Lescaut''===
{{Main|Manon Lescaut (Puccini)}}
On commencing his next opera, ''[[Manon Lescaut (Puccini)|Manon Lescaut]]'', Puccini announced that he would write his own libretto so that "no fool of a librettist"{{sfn|Carner|1959|p={{page needed|date=June 2018}}}} could spoil it. Ricordi persuaded him to accept [[Ruggero Leoncavallo]] as his librettist, but Puccini soon asked Ricordi to remove him from the project. Four other librettists were then involved with the opera, as Puccini constantly changed his mind about the structure of the piece. It was almost by accident that the final two, [[Luigi Illica]] and [[Giuseppe Giacosa]], came together to complete the opera.
''Manon Lescaut'' premiered at the [[Teatro Regio (Turin)|Teatro Regio]] in Turin on 2 February 1893.<ref name="Night of Lescaut premiere">{{cite news |date=2 February 1893 |title=Arte e Scienze |newspaper=La Stampa
''Manon Lescaut'' was a great success and established Puccini's reputation as the most promising rising composer of his generation, and the most likely "successor" to Verdi as the leading exponent of the Italian operatic tradition.<ref name="Streatfeild
==Middle career==
[[File:
===''La bohème''===
{{Main|La bohème}}
Puccini's next work after ''Manon Lescaut'' was ''[[La bohème]]'', a four-act opera based on the 1851 book by [[Henri Murger]], ''[[La Vie de Bohème]]''. ''La bohème'' premiered in [[Turin]] in 1896, conducted by [[Arturo Toscanini]].{{sfn|Budden|2002|p=494}} Within a few years, it had been performed in many of the leading opera houses of Europe, including in Britain, as well as in the United States.<ref>{{Almanacco|match=La bohème|label=''La bohème''}}</ref> It was a popular success and remains one of the most frequently performed operas ever written.▼
▲Puccini's next work after ''Manon Lescaut'' was ''[[La bohème]]'' ("The Bohemian")'','' a four-act opera based on the 1851 book by [[Henri Murger]], ''[[La Vie de Bohème]]''. ''La bohème'' premiered in [[Turin]] in 1896, conducted by [[Arturo Toscanini]].{{sfn|Budden|2002|p=494}} Within a few years, it had been performed in many of the leading opera houses of Europe, including in Britain, as well as in the United States.<ref>{{Almanacco|match=La bohème|label=''La bohème''}}</ref> It was a popular success and remains one of the most frequently performed operas ever written.
The libretto of the opera, freely adapted from Murger's episodic novel, combines comic elements of the impoverished life of the young protagonists with tragic aspects, such as the death of the young seamstress Mimí. Puccini's own life as a young man in Milan served as a source of inspiration for elements of the libretto. During his years as a conservatory student and in the years before ''Manon Lescaut'', he experienced poverty similar to that of the bohemians in ''La bohème'', including a chronic shortage of necessities like food, clothing and money to pay rent. Although Puccini was granted a small monthly stipend by the Congregation of Charity in Rome ({{lang|it|Congregazione di caritá}}), he frequently had to pawn his possessions to cover basic expenses.<ref name=Dry /><ref name="Nuova Antologia">{{harvnb|Checchi|1897|pages=470–81}}</ref> Early biographers such as Wakeling Dry and Eugenio Checchi, who were Puccini's contemporaries, drew express parallels between these incidents and particular events in the opera.<ref name=Dry /><ref name="Nuova Antologia" /> Checchi cited a diary kept by Puccini while he was still a student, which recorded an occasion in which, as in Act 4 of the opera, a single herring served as a dinner for four people.<ref name=Dry /><ref name="Nuova Antologia" /> Puccini himself commented: "I lived that ''Bohème'', when there wasn't yet any thought stirring in my brain of seeking the theme of an opera". ("{{lang|it|Quella Bohème io l'ho vissuta, quando ancora non mi mulinava nel cervello l'idea di cercarvi l'argomento per un'opera in musica.}}")<ref name="Nuova Antologia" />▼
▲The libretto of the opera, freely adapted from Murger's episodic novel, combines comic elements of the impoverished life of the young protagonists with tragic aspects, such as the death of the young seamstress Mimí. Puccini's own life as a young man in Milan served as a source of inspiration for elements of the libretto. During his years as a conservatory student and in the years before ''Manon Lescaut'', he experienced poverty similar to that of the bohemians in ''La bohème'', including a chronic shortage of necessities like food, clothing and money to pay rent. Although Puccini was granted a small monthly stipend by the Congregation of Charity in Rome ({{lang|it|Congregazione di caritá}}), he frequently had to pawn his possessions to cover basic expenses.<ref name="Dry" /><ref name="Nuova Antologia">{{harvnb|Checchi|1897|pages=470–81}}</ref> Early biographers such as Wakeling Dry and Eugenio Checchi, who were Puccini's contemporaries, drew express parallels between these incidents and particular events in the opera.<ref name="Dry" /><ref name="Nuova Antologia" /> Checchi cited a diary kept by Puccini while he was still a student, which recorded an occasion in which, as in Act 4 of the opera, a single herring served as a dinner for four people.<ref name="Dry" /><ref name="Nuova Antologia" /> Puccini himself commented: "I lived that ''Bohème'', when there wasn't yet any thought stirring in my brain of seeking the theme of an opera". ("{{lang|it|Quella Bohème io l'ho vissuta, quando ancora non mi mulinava nel cervello l'idea di cercarvi l'argomento per un'opera in musica.}}")<ref name="Nuova Antologia" />
Puccini's composition of ''La bohème'' was the subject of a public dispute between Puccini and fellow composer Ruggiero Leoncavallo. In early 1893, the two composers discovered that they were both engaged in writing operas based on Murger's work. Leoncavallo had started his work first, and he and his music publisher claimed to have "priority" on the subject (although Murger's work was in the public ___domain). Puccini responded that he started his own work without having any knowledge of Leoncavallo's project, and wrote: "Let him compose. I will compose. The audience will decide."<ref name=Phillips-Matz /> Puccini's opera premiered a year before that of Leoncavallo, and has been a perennial audience favourite, while Leoncavallo's version quickly faded into obscurity.<ref name=Girardi />▼
▲Puccini's composition of ''La bohème'' was the subject of a public dispute between Puccini and fellow composer Ruggiero Leoncavallo. In early 1893, the two composers discovered that they were both engaged in writing operas based on Murger's work. Leoncavallo had started his work first, and he and his music publisher claimed to have "priority" on the subject (although Murger's work was in the public ___domain). Puccini responded that he started his own work without having any knowledge of Leoncavallo's project, and wrote: "Let him compose. I will compose. The audience will decide."<ref name="Phillips-Matz">{{harvnb|Phillips-Matz|2002|p={{page needed|date=April 2020}}}}</ref> Puccini's opera premiered a year before that of Leoncavallo, and has been a perennial audience favourite, while Leoncavallo's version quickly faded into obscurity.<ref name="Girardi" />
===''Tosca''===
{{Main|Tosca}}
[[File:PucciniTosca.jpg|thumb|upright|Original poster for Puccini's ''[[Tosca]]'']]
Puccini's next work after ''La bohème'' was ''[[Tosca]]'' (1900), arguably Puccini's first foray into ''[[verismo]]'', the realistic depiction of many facets of real life including violence. Puccini had been considering an opera on this theme since he saw the play ''Tosca'' by [[Victorien Sardou]] in 1889, when he wrote to his publisher, [[Giulio Ricordi]], begging him to get Sardou's permission for the work to be made into an opera: "I see in this ''Tosca'' the opera I need, with no overblown proportions, no elaborate spectacle, nor will it call for the usual excessive amount of music."{{sfn|Phillips-Matz|2002|pp=106–107}}
The music of ''Tosca'' employs musical signatures for particular characters and emotions, which have been compared to Wagnerian leitmotivs, and some contemporaries saw Puccini as thereby adopting a new musical style influenced by [[Richard Wagner]]. Others viewed the work differently. Rejecting the allegation that ''Tosca'' displayed Wagnerian influences, a critic reporting on the Torino premiere of 20 February 1900 wrote: "I don't think you could find a more Puccinian score than this."<ref>{{cite news |date=21 February 1900 |title=La prima della Tosca del M. Puccini al Teatro Regio |newspaper=[[La Stampa]]
===Automobile crash and near
On 25 February 1903, Puccini was seriously injured in a car crash during a nighttime journey on the road from Lucca to [[Torre del Lago]]. The car was driven by Puccini's chauffeur and was carrying Puccini, his future wife Elvira, and their son Antonio. It went off the road, fell several metres, and flipped over. Elvira and Antonio were flung from the car and escaped with minor injuries. Puccini's chauffeur, also thrown from the car, suffered a serious fracture of his femur. Puccini was pinned under the vehicle, with a severe fracture of his right leg and with a portion of the car pressing down on his chest. A doctor living near the scene of the crash, together with another person who came to investigate, saved Puccini from the wreckage.<ref>{{cite news |date=27 February 1903 |title=Una disgrazia automobilistica al maestro Puccini |newspaper=La Stampa
===''Madama Butterfly''===
{{Main|Madama Butterfly}}
The original version of ''[[Madama Butterfly]]'' ("Madam Butterfly") premiered at [[La Scala]] on 17 February 1904 with [[Rosina Storchio]] in the title role. It was initially greeted with great hostility (probably largely owing to inadequate rehearsals). When Storchio's [[kimono]] accidentally lifted during the performance, some in the audience started shouting: "The butterfly is pregnant" and "There is the little Toscanini". The latter comment referred to her well
==Later works==
[[File:Arturo Toscanini and Giacomo Puccini 1910.jpg|alt=Giacomo Puccini with conductor Arturo Toscanini|thumb|
After 1904, Puccini's compositions were less frequent. In 1906 Giacosa died and, in 1909, there was a scandal after Puccini's wife, Elvira, falsely accused their maid Doria Manfredi of having an affair with Puccini. Finally, in 1912, the death of Giulio Ricordi, Puccini's editor and publisher, ended a productive period of his career.
===''La fanciulla del West''===
{{Main|La fanciulla del West}}
[[File:Giacomo Puccini.jpg|thumb|upright|Puccini
Puccini completed ''[[La fanciulla del West]]'' ("The Damsel of the West"), based on a play by [[David Belasco]], in 1910. This was commissioned by, and first performed at, the [[Metropolitan Opera]] in New York on 10 December 1910 with Met stars [[Enrico Caruso]] and [[Emmy Destinn]] for whom Puccini created the leading roles of Dick Johnson and Minnie. Toscanini, then the musical director of the Met, conducted.{{sfn|Smith|2004|p=544}} This was the first world premiere of an opera at the Met.{{sfn|Randall|Davis|2005|p=42}} The premiere was a great success.<ref>{{cite magazine |date=January 1911 |title=New York Acclaims Puccini's New Opera |magazine=Theatre Magazine
===''La rondine''===
{{Main|La rondine}}
Puccini completed the score of ''[[La rondine]]'', to a libretto by [[Giuseppe Adami]] in 1916 after two years of work, and it was premiered at the [[Opéra de Monte-Carlo|Grand Théâtre de Monte Carlo]] on 27 March 1917. The opera had been originally commissioned by Vienna's [[Carltheater]]; however, the outbreak of [[World War I]] prevented the premiere from being given there. Moreover, the firm of Ricordi had declined the score of the opera – Giulio Ricordi's son Tito was then in charge and he described the opera as "bad [[Franz Lehár|Lehár]]".{{sfn|Phillips-Matz|2002|p=245}} It was taken up by their rival, Lorenzo Sonzogno, who arranged the first performance in neutral [[Monaco]].<ref>Gavin Plumley, "Puccini's Bittersweet Operetta", San Francisco Opera program, Nov/Dec 2007, pp. 30–31</ref> The composer continued to work at revising this, the least known of his mature operas, until his death.▼
▲Puccini completed the score of ''[[La rondine]]''
''La rondine'' was initially conceived as an operetta, but Puccini eliminated spoken dialogue, rendering the work closer in form to an opera. A modern reviewer described ''La rondine'' as "a continuous fabric of lilting waltz tunes, catchy pop-styled melodies, and nostalgic love music," while characterizing the plot as recycling characters and incidents from works like 'La traviata' and 'Die Fledermaus'.<ref name=PucciniMitSchlag>{{cite magazine|last=Davis|first=Peter G.|author-link=Peter G. Davis|title=Puccini mit Schlag|magazine=[[New York (magazine)|New York]]|date=3 September 1984|volume=17|issue=35}}</ref>▼
▲''La rondine'' was initially conceived as an operetta, but Puccini eliminated spoken dialogue, rendering the work closer in form to an opera. A modern reviewer described ''La rondine'' as "a continuous fabric of lilting waltz tunes, catchy pop-styled melodies, and nostalgic love music," while characterizing the plot as recycling characters and incidents from works like 'La traviata' and 'Die Fledermaus'.<ref name="PucciniMitSchlag">{{cite magazine |last=Davis |first=Peter G. |author-link=Peter G. Davis |date=3 September 1984 |title=Puccini mit Schlag |magazine=[[New York (magazine)|New York]]
===''Il trittico'': ''Il tabarro'', ''Suor Angelica'', and ''Gianni Schicchi''===
In 1918, ''[[Il trittico]]'' ("The Triptych") premiered in New York. This work is composed of three one-act operas, each concerning the concealment of a death: a horrific episode (''[[Il tabarro]]''; "The Cloak") in the style of the Parisian [[Grand Guignol]], a sentimental tragedy (''[[Suor Angelica]]''; "Sister Angelica"), and a comedy (''[[Gianni Schicchi]]'').
===''Turandot''===
{{Main|Turandot}}
''[[Turandot]]'', Puccini's final opera, was left unfinished at the composer's death in November 1924, and the last two scenes were completed by [[Franco Alfano]] based on the composer's sketches. The libretto for ''Turandot'' was based on a play of the same name by [[Carlo Gozzi]].{{sfn|Ashbrook|Powers|1991|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=srFzafqtePIC&pg=PA43 43]}} The music of the opera is heavily inflected with [[pentatonic scale|pentatonic]] motifs, intended to produce an Asiatic flavour to the music. ''Turandot'' contains a number of memorable stand-alone arias, among them ''[[Nessun dorma]]''.
==Librettists==
The libretto of ''Edgar'' was a significant factor in the failure of that opera. Thereafter, especially throughout his middle and late career, Puccini was extremely selective, and at times indecisive, in his choice of subject matter for new works.<ref name="Girardi" /> Puccini was deeply involved in the process of writing the libretto itself, requiring many iterative revisions of his libretti in terms of both structure and text. Puccini's relationships with his librettists were at times very difficult. His publisher, Casa Ricordi, was frequently required to mediate disputes and impasses between them.<ref name="Phillips-Matz"
Puccini explored many possible subjects that he ultimately rejected only after a significant amount of effort—such as the creation of a libretto—had been put into them.{{sfn|Phillips-Matz|2002|loc=''passim''}} Among the subjects that Puccini seriously considered, but abandoned, were: ''Cristoforo Sly'', ''Anima Allegra'' (based on the play ''El genio alegre'' by Serafín and Joaquín Álvarez Quintero), ''Two Little Wooden Shoes'' (''I due zoccoletti'') (a short story by Maria Louise Ramé, a.k.a. [[Ouida]]), the life of [[Marie Antoinette]], Margherita da Cortona, and ''Conchita'' (based on the novel ''La Femme et le pantin'' – ''The Woman and the Puppet'', by Pierre Loüys).<ref name="Phillips-Matz" /> Some of these abandoned subjects were taken up and turned into operas by other composers. For example, [[Franco Vittadini]] made an opera of ''Anima Allegra'', Mascagni's opera ''Lodoletta'' is derived from ''Two Little Wooden Shoes'', and [[Riccardo Zandonai]] eventually wrote ''[[Conchita (opera)|Conchita]]''.<ref name="Phillips-Matz" />
==Torre del Lago==
[[File:III Torre del Lago, Italy 3 (2).jpg|thumb|Villa Puccini, Torre del Lago
From 1891 onwards, Puccini spent most of his time, when not travelling on business, at [[Torre del Lago]], a small community about fifteen miles from Lucca situated between the Ligurian Sea and [[Lake Massaciuccoli]], just south of [[Viareggio]]. Torre del Lago was the primary place for Puccini to indulge his love of hunting. "I love hunting, I love cars: and for these things, in the isolation of Torre del Lago, I keep the faith." ("Amo la caccia, adoro l'automobile: e a questo e a quella nelle solitudini di Torre del Lago serbo intera la mia fede.")<ref>{{cite news |last=Villante |first=Luigi Alberto |date=11 February 1905 |title=I progetti di Giacomo Puccini |newspaper=[[La Stampa]] |
By 1900, he had acquired land and built a villa on the lake, now known as the "[[Villa 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.
Line 112 ⟶ 121:
The Villa Museo was owned by his granddaughter, [[Simonetta Puccini]], until her death, and is open to the public. An annual [[Festival Puccini]] is held at Torre del Lago.
[[File:A.Villa (Ravello, 12 febbraio 1865 – Milano, 31 dicembre 1906), Giacomo Puccini a Cavallo al lago di Massaciuccoli.jpg|thumb|Puccini on horseback; by [[Aleardo Villa]]]]
==Marriage and affairs==
[[File:Elvira Puccini, Giacomo Puccini, Antonio Puccini (1900) - Archivio storico Ricordi FOTO002876.jpg|thumb|Puccini with his wife Elvira and son Antonio, 1900]]
In the autumn of 1884, in Lucca, Puccini began a relationship with a married woman named Elvira Gemignani ({{née
The marriage between Puccini and Elvira was also troubled by infidelity, as Puccini had frequent affairs himself, including with well-known singers such as [[Maria Jeritza]], [[Emmy Destinn]], [[Cesira Ferrani]], and [[Hariclea Darclée]].<ref name="Girardi" /> In 1906, while attending the opening of ''[[Madama Butterfly]]'' in Budapest, Puccini fell in love with Blanke Lendvai, the sister of Hungarian composer [[Erwin Lendvai|Ervin Lendvai]] (his friend and protégé for many years).{{sfn|Phillips-Matz|2002|p=160}} Blanke and Puccini exchanged love letters until 1911, when he started an affair with German aristocrat Baroness Josephine von Stangel, which lasted for six years.{{sfn|Phillips-Matz|2002|p=223}}
In 1909, Puccini's wife Elvira publicly accused Doria Manfredi, a maid working for the Puccini family, of having an affair with the composer. After the accusation, Manfredi committed suicide. However, an autopsy determined that Manfredi had died a virgin, refuting the allegations made against her. Elvira Puccini was prosecuted for slander and was sentenced to more than five months in prison, although a payment to the Manfredi family by Puccini spared Elvira from having to serve the sentence.<ref name="AM
In 2007, documents were found in the possession of Nadia Manfredi, a descendant of the Manfredi family, which indicated that Puccini was actually having an affair with Giulia Manfredi, Doria's cousin. Upon the discovery of these documents, the press began to allege that Puccini had fathered Giulia Manfredi's son Antonio, which would make Nadia a granddaughter of Puccini.<ref name="AM
==Politics==
Unlike Wagner and [[Giuseppe Verdi|Verdi]], Puccini was not active in politics. Puccini biographer [[Mary Jane Phillips-Matz]] wrote: "Throughout this entire period [of World War I and its immediate aftermath], Puccini's interest in politics was close to zero, as it had been all his life, so far as one can judge. He seemed almost indifferent to everything from mayoral elections in Viareggio to cabinet appointments in Rome."<ref name="Phillips-Matz" /> Another biographer speculates that Puccini may have been—if he had a political philosophy—a monarchist.<ref name="Fairtile">{{cite book |last=Fairtile |first=Linda Beard |title=Giacomo Puccini: A Guide to Research
Puccini's indifference to politics caused him problems during [[World War I]]. Puccini's long-standing and close friendship with Toscanini was interrupted for nearly a decade because of an argument in the summer of 1914 (in the opening months of the war) during which Puccini remarked that Italy could benefit from German organization.<ref name="Phillips-Matz" /> Puccini was also criticized during the war for his work on ''La rondine'' under a 1913 commission contract with an Austrian theater after Italy and Austria-Hungary became opponents in the war in 1915 (although the contract was ultimately cancelled). Puccini did not participate in the public war effort, but privately rendered assistance to individuals and families affected by the war.<ref name="Phillips-Matz" />
In 1919, Puccini was commissioned to write music to an ode by {{Interlanguage link multi|Fausto Salvatori|it}} honouring Italy's victories in World War I. The work, ''Inno a Roma'' (Hymn to Rome), was to premiere on 21 April 1919, during a celebration of the anniversary of the founding of Rome. The premiere was delayed to 1 June 1919, when it was played at the opening of a gymnastics competition.{{sfn|Weaver|Puccini|1994|p=301}} Although not written for the fascists, ''Inno a Roma'' was widely played during Fascist street parades and public ceremonies.<ref>[http://sfopera.com/SanFranciscoOpera/media/Education-Resource-Materials/Tosca/Puccini_Bio.pdf Puccini biography] {{webarchive
Puccini had some contact with [[Benito Mussolini]] and the [[National Fascist Party|Italian Fascist Party]] in the year preceding his death. In 1923 the Fascist Party in Viareggio made Puccini an honorary member and sent him a membership card.<ref name="Phillips-Matz" /> However, evidence that Puccini was actually a member of the Fascist Party is ambiguous.{{sfn|Wilson|2007|p=192}} The Italian Senate has traditionally included a small number of members appointed in recognition of their cultural contributions to the nation. Puccini hoped to attain this honour, which had been granted to Verdi, and undertook to use his connections to bring about the appointment. While honorary senators could vote, there is no indication that Puccini sought the appointment for this purpose. Puccini also wished to establish a national theatre in Viareggio, a project which would require government support. Puccini met with Mussolini twice, in November and December 1923, seeking support for the theatre project. While the theatre project never came to fruition, Puccini was named Senator (''senatore a vita'') a few months before his death.<ref name="Phillips-Matz" />
At the time Puccini met with Mussolini, Mussolini had been prime minister for approximately a year, but his party had not yet taken full control of the Italian Parliament through the violence and irregularities of the [[Italian general election, 1924|1924 general election]]. Puccini was no longer alive when Mussolini announced the end of representative government
==Death==
[[File:Giacomo Puccini (1924) - Archivio Storico Ricordi FOTO003293 - Restoration.jpg|thumb|upright|Puccini
A [[Chain smoking|chain smoker]] of [[Toscano (cigar)|Toscano cigars]] and cigarettes, Puccini began to complain of a chronic sore
Puccini died in Brussels on 29 November 1924, aged 65, from complications after the treatment; uncontrolled bleeding led to a heart attack the day after surgery. Although not a fervent Catholic, Puccini received the last sacraments from Cardinal Clemente Micara, who was also a cello player and fellow musician as well as a personal friend of the composer. News of his death reached Rome during a performance of ''La bohème''. The opera was immediately stopped, and the orchestra played [[Frédéric Chopin|Chopin]]'s [[Piano Sonata No. 2 (Chopin)|''Funeral March'']] for the stunned audience.<ref>{{cite web |date=29 November 2012 |title=The Death of Giacomo Puccini |url=http://blog.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/2012/11/29/the-death-of-giacomo-puccini-brussels-29-november-1924/ |
His funeral took place at [[Saint Mary's Royal Church]] in [[Schaerbeek]], Brussels.<ref>[https://www.rtbf.be/article/sur-les-traces-de-giacomo-puccini-a-bruxelles-derniere-demeure-du-compositeur-italien-11387518 RTBF], ''Sur les traces de Giacomo Puccini à Bruxelles''</ref><ref>[https://bruges-la-morte.net/wp-content/uploads/SCmars96.pdf Giacomo Puccini, des funerailles à Schaerbeek]</ref>
He was buried in [[Milan]], in Toscanini's family tomb, but that was always intended as a temporary measure. In 1926, on the 2nd anniversary of his death, his son arranged to transfer his father's remains to a specially created chapel inside the Puccini villa at Torre del Lago.
==Style and critical reception==
Most broadly, Puccini wrote in the style of the late-Romantic period of classical music (see [[Romantic music]]).<ref name="Davis">{{cite book |last1=Davis |first1=Andrew C. |title=Il Trittico, Turandot, and Puccini's Late Style |date=2010 |publisher=Indiana University Press
Puccini's career extended from the end of the Romantic period into the modern period. He consciously attempted to 'update' his style to keep pace with new trends but did not attempt to fully adopt a modern style. One critic, Andrew Davis, has stated: "Loyalty toward nineteenth-century Italian-opera traditions and, more generally, toward the musical language of his Tuscan heritage is one of the clearest features of Puccini's music."<ref name="Davis" /> Davis also identifies, however, a "stylistic pluralism" in Puccini's work, including influences from "the German symphonic tradition, French harmonic and orchestrational traditions, and, to a lesser extent, aspects of [[Wagnerian]] chromaticism".<ref name="Davis" /> In addition, Puccini frequently sought to introduce music or sounds from outside sources into his operas, such as his use of Chinese folk melodies in ''Turandot''.
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All of Puccini's operas have at least one set piece for a lead singer that is separate enough from its surroundings that it can be treated as a distinct aria, and most of his works have several of these. At the same time, Puccini's work continued the trend away from operas constructed from a series of set pieces, and instead used a more "through-composed" or integrated construction. His works are strongly melodic. In orchestration, Puccini frequently doubled the vocal line in unison or at octaves in order to emphasize and strengthen the melodic line.<ref name="Davis" />
''Verismo'' is a style of Italian opera that began in 1890 with the first performance of Mascagni's ''Cavalleria rusticana'', peaked in the early 1900s, and lingered into the 1920s.<ref>"Verismo" in [[Stanley Sadie]] (ed.) ''[[The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians]]'', London: Macmillan/New York: Grove, 1980, vol. 19, p. 670, {{ISBN|1-56159-174-2}}</ref> The style is distinguished by realistic – sometimes sordid or violent – depictions of everyday life, especially the life of the contemporary lower classes. Verismo does not usually employ the historical or mythical subjects associated with [[Romanticism]]. ''Cavalleria rusticana'', ''Pagliacci'', and ''Andrea Chénier'' are uniformly considered to be ''verismo'' operas. Puccini's career as a composer is almost entirely coincident in time with the ''verismo'' movement. Only his ''Le Villi'' and ''Edgar'' preceded ''Cavalleria rusticana''. Some view Puccini as essentially a ''verismo'' composer,<ref name="Montgomery" /> while others, although acknowledging that he took part in the movement to some degree, do not view him as a "pure" ''verismo'' composer.{{sfn|Berger|2005|page=7}} In addition, critics differ as to the degree to which particular operas by Puccini are, or are not, properly described as ''verismo'' operas. Two of Puccini's operas, ''Tosca'' and ''Il Tabarro'', are universally considered to be ''verismo'' operas.{{sfn|Fisher|2003|p={{page needed|date= April 2020}}}} Puccini scholar [[Mosco Carner]] places only two of Puccini's operas other than ''Tosca'' and ''Il tabarro'' within the ''verismo'' school: ''Madama Butterfly'', and ''La Fanciulla del West''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Carner |first=Mosco |author-link=Mosco Carner |title=Giacomo Puccini, 'Tosca' |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]
Both during his lifetime and in posterity, Puccini's success outstripped other Italian opera composers of his time, and he has been matched in this regard by only a handful of composers in the entire history of opera. Between 2004 and 2018, Puccini ranked third (behind Verdi and Mozart) in the number of performances of his operas worldwide, as surveyed by [[Operabase]]. Three of his operas (''La bohème'', ''Tosca'', and ''Madama Butterfly'') were amongst the 10 most frequently performed operas worldwide.<ref name="Operabase">{{cite web |title=Statistics |url=http://operabase.com/top.cgi?lang=en#opera
[[Gustav Kobbé]], the original author of ''The Complete Opera Book'', a standard reference work on opera, wrote in the 1919 edition: "Puccini is considered the most important figure in operatic Italy today, the successor of Verdi, if there is any."<ref name="Kobbé">{{cite book |last=Kobbé |first=Gustav |author-link=Gustav Kobbé |url=https://archive.org/details/completeoperaboo00kobbiala |title=The Complete Opera Book: The stories of the operas, together with 400 of the leading airs and motives in musical notation
Although the popular success of Puccini's work is undeniable, and his mastery of the craft of composition has been consistently recognized, opinion among critics as to the artistic value of his work has always been divided. [[Grove Music Online]] described Puccini's strengths as a composer as follows:
<blockquote>Puccini succeeded in mastering the orchestra as no other Italian had done before him, creating new forms by manipulating structures inherited from the great Italian tradition, loading them with bold harmonic progressions which had little or nothing to do with what was happening then in Italy, though they were in step with the work of French, Austrian and German colleagues.{{sfn|Ravenni|Girardi|n.d.|loc=#11 Assessment}}</blockquote>
In his work on Puccini, [[Julian Budden]] describes Puccini as a gifted and original composer, noting the innovation hidden in the popularity of works such as "[[Che gelida manina]]". He describes the aria in musical terms (the signature embedded in the harmony for example), and points out that its structure was rather unheard of at the time, having three distinct musical paragraphs that nonetheless form a complete and coherent whole.{{sfn|Budden|2002|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=0GRa7bzeT0gC&pg=PA163 163–164]}} This gumption in musical experimentation was the essence of Puccini's style, as evidenced in his diverse settings and use of the [[Motif (music)|motif]] to express ideas beyond those in the story and text.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Voicu |first=Mirela |year=2017 |title=Dramaturgical construction of the character Mimì from opera ''Boema'' de Giacomo Puccini |url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=555464 |journal=Învăţământ, Cercetare, Creaţie |publisher=Editura Muzicală |volume=III |issue=1 |pages=175–179
Puccini has, however, consistently been the target of condescension by some music critics who find his music insufficiently sophisticated or difficult.<ref name="Groos">{{cite book
<blockquote>He willingly stops himself at minor genius, stroking the taste of the public ... obstinately shunning too-daring innovation ... A little heroism, but not taken to great heights; a little bit of veristic comedy, but brief; a lot of sentiment and romantic idyll: this is the recipe in which he finds happiness. ({{lang|it|[E]gli si arresta volentieri alla piccola genialità, accarezzando il gusto del pubblico ... rifuggendo ostinato dalle troppo ardite innovazioni. ... Un po' di eroismo, ma non spinto a grandi altezze, un po' di commedia verista, ma breve; molto idillio sentimentale e romantico: ecco la ricetta in cui egli compiace.}})<ref>{{cite news |date=August 8, 1903 |title=Puccini, Franchetti, Leoncavallo |newspaper=[[La Stampa]]
Budden attempted to explain the paradox of Puccini's immense popular success and technical mastery on the one hand, and the relative disregard in which his work has been held by academics:
<blockquote>No composer communicates more directly with an audience than Puccini. Indeed, for many years he has remained a victim of his own popularity; hence the resistance to his music in academic circles. Be it remembered, however, that Verdi's melodies were once dismissed as barrel-organ fodder. The truth is that music that appeals immediately to a public becomes subject to bad imitation, which can cast a murky shadow over the original. So long as counterfeit Puccinian melody dominated the world of sentimental operetta, many found it difficult to come to terms with the genuine article. Now that the current coin of light music has changed, the composer admired by Schoenberg, Ravel, and Stravinsky can be seen to emerge in his full stature.<ref name="Budden" /></blockquote>
==Puccini studies==
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==Works==
{{main|List of compositions by Giacomo Puccini}}
{{Listen
| type = music | image = none
|filename=Enrico Caruso, Donna non vidi mai (Manon Lescaut (Puccini)).ogg▼
| help = no
|title="Donna non vidi mai"▼
▲| filename = Enrico Caruso, Donna non vidi mai (Manon Lescaut (Puccini)).ogg
|description=From ''[[Manon Lescaut (Puccini)|Manon Lescaut]]'', act 1; [[Enrico Caruso]] (1913)▼
▲| title = "Donna non vidi mai"
▲| description = From ''[[Manon Lescaut (Puccini)|Manon Lescaut]]'', act 1; [[Enrico Caruso]] (1913)
|title2="O soave fanciulla"▼
|
▲| title2 = "O soave fanciulla"
|filename3=Frances Alda, O mio babbino caro (Gianni Schicchi).ogg▼
| description2 = From ''[[La bohème]]'', act 1; Caruso and [[Nellie Melba]] (1906)
|title3="O mio babbino caro"▼
▲| filename3 = Frances Alda, O mio babbino caro (Gianni Schicchi).ogg
|description3=From ''[[Gianni Schicchi]]'', [[Frances Alda]] (1919)▼
▲| title3 = "O mio babbino caro"
▲| description3 = From ''[[Gianni Schicchi]]'', [[Frances Alda]] (1919)
}}
Puccini wrote orchestral pieces, sacred music, chamber music, solo music for piano and organ and songs for voice and piano, most notably his 1880 mass ''[[Messa (Puccini)|Messa di gloria]]'', his ''Preludio Sinfonico'' of 1882, and his 1890 string quartet movement ''[[Crisantemi]]''. However, he is primarily known for his operas:
* ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[La
* ''[[
* ''[[Il trittico]]'' (premiered at the [[Metropolitan Opera]], 14 December [[1918]])
** ''[[Il tabarro]]'', libretto by [[Giuseppe Adami]]
** ''[[Suor Angelica]]'', libretto by [[Giovacchino Forzano]]
** ''[[Gianni Schicchi]]'', libretto by [[Giovacchino Forzano]]
* ''[[Turandot]]'', libretto by [[Renato Simoni]] and [[Giuseppe Adami]] (in three acts – incomplete at the time of Puccini's death, completed by [[Franco Alfano]]: premiered at [[La Scala]], 25 April [[1926]])
==Notes==
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===Sources===
* {{cite book |last1=Ashbrook |first1=William |author1-link=William Ashbrook |last2=Powers |first2=Harold |title=Puccini's Turandot: The End of the Great Tradition |year=1991 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-02712-8}}
* {{cite book |last=Berger |first=William |title=Puccini Without Excuses: A Refreshing Reassessment of the World's Most Popular Composer |publisher=Random House Digital |year=2005 |isbn=1-4000-7778-8}}
* {{cite book |last=Budden |first=Julian |author-link=Julian Budden |title=Puccini: His Life and Works |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-19-816468-5}}
* {{cite book |last=Carner |first=Mosco |author-link=Mosco Carner |title=Puccini: A Critical Biography |publisher=Alfred Knopf |year=1959}}
* {{cite book |last=Checchi |first=Eugenio |title=Nuova Antologia |editor=Francisco Protonotari |publisher=Direzione della Nuova Antologia |language=it |date=December 1897 |pages=470–481}}
* {{cite book |last=Dry |first=Wakeling |title=Giacomo Puccini |___location=London & New York |publisher=John Lane |year=1905}}
* {{cite journal |last=Eaton |first=W. P. |title=Where We Stand in Opera |journal=[[The American Magazine]] |volume=71 |number=5 |date=March 1911}}
* {{cite news |last=Espinoza |first=Javier |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/sep/30/italy.musicnews |title=Revealed: the identity of Puccini's secret lover |work=[[The Guardian]] |___location=London |date=29 September 2007 |access-date=23 August 2012}}
* {{cite book |last=Fisher |first=Burton D. |title=Puccini's 'Il Trittico' |___location=Miami |publisher=Opera Journeys Publishing |year=2003 |isbn=0-9771455-6-5}}
* {{cite book |last=Gervasoni |first=Carlo |title=Nuova teoria di musica ricavata dall'odierna pratica |trans-title=New theory of music distilled from modern-day practice |url=https://archive.org/details/nuovateoriadimu00gervgoog |year=1812 |publisher=Blanchon |___location=Milan}}
* {{cite book |last=Phillips-Matz |first=Mary Jane |author-link=Mary Jane Phillips-Matz |title=Puccini: A Biography |___location=Boston |publisher=Northeastern University Press |year=2002 |isbn=1-55553-530-5 |url=https://archive.org/details/puccini00mary}}
* {{cite book |last=Montgomery |first=Alan |title=Opera Coaching: Professional Techniques and Considerations |year=2006 |publisher=Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group |___location=New York |isbn=978-0-415-97601-5}}
* {{cite news |last=Mourby |first=Adrian |author-link=Adrian Mourby |title=Scandalissimo! Puccini's sex life exposed |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/features/scandalissimo-puccinis-sex-life-exposed-859666.html |access-date=23 August 2012 |newspaper=[[The Independent]] |date=6 July 2008}}
* {{cite book |last=Osborne |first=Charles |author-link=Charles Osborne (music writer) |title=The Complete Operas of Puccini: A Critical Guide |publisher=Da Capo Press |year=1982}}
* {{cite book |last1=Randall |first1=Annie J. |last2=Davis |first2=Rosalind G. |year=2005 |title=Puccini and the Girl – History and Reception of the Girl of the Golden West |___location=Chicago |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=0-226-70389-4}}
* {{cite book |last1=Ravenni |first1=Gabriella Biagi |last2=Girardi |first2=Michele |chapter=Giacomo (Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria) Puccini (ii) |title=[[Grove Music Online]] |date=n.d.}}
* {{cite journal |last=Siff |first=Ira |title=Puccini: ''La Fanciulla del West'' |journal=[[Opera News]] |date=July 2012 |volume=77 |issue=1}}
* {{cite book |editor1-last=Sadie |editor1-first=Stanley |editor1-link=Stanley Sadie |editor2-last=Macy |editor2-first=Laura |title=The Grove Book of Operas |url=https://archive.org/details/grovebookofopera00sadi |url-access=registration |year=2006 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-530907-2 |edition=2nd}}
* Sadie, Stanley (ed.), ''[[The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians]]'', London: Macmillan/New York: Grove, 1980, {{ISBN|1-56159-174-2}}, p. 203.
* {{cite book |last=Smith |first=Peter Fox |title=A Passion for Opera |publisher=Trafalgar Square Books |year=2004 |isbn=1-57076-280-5}}
* {{cite book |last=Streatfeild |first=Richard Alexander |author-link=R A Streatfeild |title=Masters of Italian music |year=1895 |publisher=C. Scribner's Sons}}
* {{cite book |editor1-last=Weaver |editor1-first=William |editor1-link=William Weaver |editor2-last=Puccini |editor2-first=Simonetta |editor2-link=Simonetta Puccini |title=The Puccini Companion |publisher=W. W. Norton |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-393-02930-7}}
* {{cite book |last=Wilson |first=Alexandra |title=The Puccini Problem: Opera, Nationalism, and Modernity |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2007}}
==Further reading==
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{{Romantic music}}
{{Portal bar|Classical music|Opera|Biography|Italy|Music}}
{{Authority control}}
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[[Category:1858 births]]
[[Category:1924 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century Italian classical composers]]
[[Category:19th-century Italian male musicians]]
[[Category:20th-century Italian classical composers]]
[[Category:20th-century
[[Category:20th-century Italian male musicians]]
[[Category:Italian classical composers of church music]]
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[[Category:Pupils of Amilcare Ponchielli]]
[[Category:Members of the Senate of the Kingdom of Italy]]
[[Category:Puccini family|Giacomo]]
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