Giacosa Giuseppe, *21 October 1847 Collaretto Parella (near Turin), †2 September 1906 Collaretto Parella, Italian writer, playwright, and librettist. After studying law in Turin and a brief legal career, he devoted himself to writing. In 1877 he taught at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Turin. Between 1888 and 1889 he directed the Accademia dei Filodrammatici in Milan; from 1888 to 1892 he also taught literature and recitation at the Milan Conservatory. He collaborated with numerous journals and edited, among others, “L’Illustrazione italiana,” “La Gazzetta piemontese,” “Il Corriere della Sera,” “La Gazzetta letteraria,” and “La Lettura.”
Giacosa was a respected literary figure who helped shape contemporary artistic taste, as well as a popular dramatist. His work evolved from Romantic historical drama (e.g., La dame de Challant) and sentimental theatrical legend (Una partita a scacchi), through bourgeois comedy inspired by the tradition of C. Goldoni (Il marito amante della moglie), to verismo, focusing on contemporary psychology and social issues (Tristi amori). Before 1900 he began collaborating with L. Illica, resulting in librettos for verismo operas by G. Puccini: La bohème (after H. Murger, 1896), Tosca (after V. Sardou, 1900), and Madama Butterfly (after D. Belasco, 1904). Giacosa’s Una partita a scacchi also served as the basis for operas by P. Abbà Cornaglia (1892), G.Copello (1911), and B. Monti (1920).
Literature: G. Toscani Giacosa, Florence 1924; L. Garaio Armo Il teatro di G. Giacosa, Palermo 1925; M. Rumor G. Giacosa, in: Pubblicazione della facoltà di lettere e filosofía, vol. 17, Padua 1940; P. Nardi Vita e tempo di G. Gicaosa, Milan 1949; Carteggi pucciniani, eds. E. di Gara and M. di Morini, Milan 1958; B. L. Serafini Giacosa librettista pucciniano, Pisa 1969; A. Barsotti G. Giacosa, Florence 1973.
