Puccini, Giacomo (EN)

Puccini Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria, *22 December 1858 Lukka, †29 November 1924 Brussels, Italian composer. He came from a multi-generational family of composers. In 1874 he started studies at Istituto Musicale Pacini in Lucca, and from 1880 he continued studies at the conservatory in Milan with A. Bazzini and A. Ponchielli. Capriccio sinfonico, Puccini’s diploma composition (performed on 14 August 1883), was favourably received by the audience and reviewers. Puccini’s first opera Le villi, written for a competition announced by the publisher E. Sonzogna, did not arouse the jury’s interest. Thanks to the efforts of librettist F. Fontana, the opera was staged in 1884 in Milan, where it got a round of applause. G. Ricordi reacted to Puccini’s success within a few days; he offered to buy the score and commissioned another opera by the same author’s company. In 1884, soon after his mother’s death, the composer got involved with the married Elwira Gemignani (the relationship was legalised in 1904, after the death of Elwira’s husband); in 1886 their son Antonio was born. Initially, Puccini struggled with significant financial difficulties, as he did not have any permanent job; he lived on advances paid to him by Ricordi towards his future fee. The premiere staging of Edgar in La Scala (1889) did not bring the expected success, but this did not reduce Ricordi’s credit for Puccini; in the summer of 1889, Puccini went as his messenger to Bayreuth as an observer of the festival.

The next opera commissioned by Ricordi was Manon Lescauvol. Puccini was not discouraged by the fact that this theme, taken from A.E. Prévost’s novel, had already been adapted a few times for musical theatre (among others, by J. Massenet in 1884). The premiere of the opera in Turin in 1893 met with audience approval and was highly praised by music critics. Subsequent productions in both Italian and foreign theatres (including Hamburg, Svol. Petersburg, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Warsaw), consolidated Puccini’s position in the musical world. Thanks to the improvement of his financial situation, the composer could buy out his family house in Lucca, but in 1891 he permanently settled in Torre del Lago on Lake Massaciuccoli (Viareggio commune in Tuscany). Puccini’s next opera was La Bohème, based on H. Murger’s novel Scènes de la vie de Bohème, which Leoncavallo interested in the composer and suggested using his libretto. Puccini rejected Leoncavallo’s proposal and wrote an opera based on a different text. The artistic values of the libretto of La bohème are the result of the work of the authorial partnership of L. Illica (dramatic and scenic shape) and G. Giacosa (poetic language and beautiful form), which was established at that time on Puccini’s initiative and with which the composer collaborated many times, and between Puccini and R. Leoncavallo, there was a dispute over the right to a theme based on Murger’s Scènes…. Eventually, none of the composers gave up their plans, but Puccini completed (10 December 1895) and staged his work much earlier than Leoncavallo. Puccini’s opera performed in February 1896 in Turin met with great interest from the audience, and the Turin press published many critical and even scathingly ironic assessments. This position was not shared by reviewers from other Italian cities; the opera was performed in Rome the same month, and then in Naples and Palermo. It soon entered the repertoire of almost all opera stages (however, G. Mahler did not accept it during his time as director of the Vienna Opera). In the spring of 1895, Puccini began working on Tosca based on the play by V. Sardou, with whom he consulted details of the action in Paris in 1899. The premiere took place on 14 January 1900 in Rome in the presence of Queen Margaret, members of the government and parliament, as well as the most outstanding Italian musicians and critics. The opera was a moderate success. The creators were accused of excessive dramatic events, too few lyrical scenes, excessively dark atmosphere and the drastic nature of some scenes; however, critical assessments did not affect the popularity of the work. In the same year, after a tedious search for a topic for a new opera, Puccini became interested in the play by the American playwright D. Belasco, Madame Butterfly. The play showed a love conflict caused by the moral and racial gap between Japanese and American cultures. According to the original concept, the work was to consist of a prologue and one act. At Ricordi’s insistence, Puccini expanded the opera to two acts to fill an entire opera evening. Work on the first version of the opera lasted until December 1903, interrupted by events from Puccini’s private life (scandalous romance, car accident, preparations for his wedding with Elvira). The world premiere of the opera Madame Butterfly was prepared by the La Scala theatre company. Puccini himself described the audience’s reaction (ostentatious gestures of disapproval and even loud protests) at the first performance as a “lynching.” This boycott was probably provoked. The very next day after the premiere, Ricordi withdrew the new opera from La Scala’s repertoire. Following the voices of factual critics, Puccini introduced some changes to the opera’s score, including dividing the excessively long Act II into two separate ones and in this version the opera was performed on 28 May 1904 in Brescia with S. Kruszelnicka in the main role, achieving an unprecedented success, which was the beginning of a successful streak in staging this work. From 1904, Puccini travelled extensively for subsequent productions of his operas. During his stay in London, he met Sybil Seligman, the wife of an influential financier, with whom he remained very close until the end of his life. In 1905 he participated in a festival of his operas in Buenos Aires. From November 1906 he was in Paris in connection with the staging of Madame Butterfly at the Opéra-Comique. He then had the opportunity to learn about the latest opera works, including Salome by R. Strauss, as well as Pelléas and Mélisande by Debussy. In 1907, he made an artistic trip to New York to supervise the production of four of his operas at the Metropolitan Opera House. In 1908 he returned to Torre del Lago, where a serious crisis occurred in his married life. Accused by his wife of having an affair with his maid, Puccini left for Paris, and the slandered girl committed suicide. This tragedy cast a shadow over Puccini’s marriage for many years and distracted the composer from his creative work for a long time. In 1906, during his stay in New York, Puccini again reached for the works of D. Belasco. The play The Girl of the Golden West was being played at a Broadway theatre at that time. The ceremonial world premiere of The Girl in the Golden West, preceded by a gigantic advertisement, took place at the Metropolitan Opera House on 10 December 1910, conducted by A. Toscanini. The main roles were played by E. Destinn and E. Caruso (A. Didur was cast in a supporting role). The opera was received enthusiastically; Puccini was decorated with a silver wreath by the theatre’s board of directors. Shortly after the death of Giulio Ricordi, when his father’s legacy was taken over by his son, Tito Ricordi, Puccini ceased to be the leading composer for the publishing house. This was caused, among other things, by F. Torrefranca’s publications, deprecating Puccini’s work. In the spring of 1914, the composer was in Vienna, supervising the staging of Tosca; he was then awarded the commandery of the order of Emperor Franz Joseph. Encouraged by the sympathy shown to him, Puccini agreed to compose an operetta entitled La Rondine (The Swallow). During World War I, Puccini did not want to get involved in politics and avoided any clear declarations; he had supporters and friends on both sides of the conflicting nations. However, he soon experienced signs of disapproval from the French and English, and when he took part in organising humanitarian aid for wounded French soldiers, his works were withdrawn from the German and Austrian stages. In this situation, the management of the opera in Monte Carlo undertook the first staging of The Swallow (27 March 1917). The success of the work was confirmed by the awarding of Commander of the Order of Charles to Puccini by the Prince of Monaco. Later, however, Puccini’s operetta did not achieve significant success. In 1913, Puccini began work on his next work, an operatic triptych (Il trittico), composed of three one-act operas. The first part was Il tabarro (The Coat), composed to a libretto based on the sensational play by D. Gold, presented at the Grand Guignol Theatre in Paris. Puccini worked on the second part together with G. Forzano, who proposed a libretto based on his own play Suor Angelica. This, the only work by Puccini with a religious theme, prompted him to renew contacts with his own sister Iginia, superior of the convent in Viecopelago near Lucca. The third link in the triptych was the comic opera Gianni Schicchi. Forzano referred to Dante’s Divine Comedy. The first staging of the triptych took place on 14 December 1918 in New York. Gianni Schicchi received the best reviews and audience ratings, also after the European premiere (Rome, 11 January 1919).

During the years of growing fascism, Puccini intended to emigrate from Italy but eventually settled for a longer trip around Europe. After his return, he tried to cooperate with the then authorities without conflict and even agreed to compose the official Roman anthem (Inno a Roma). As a token of appreciation, he was awarded the rank of senator for life. In 1919, he established cooperation with the playwright R. Simoni, who offered him a libretto based on a dramatic fairy tale by C. Gozzi entitled Turandovol. Before composing the opera, Puccini studied ancient Chinese music and the Chinese instruments he intended to use on stage. Puccini worked on his last opera for four years – until the end of his life, and despite his best efforts, he did not finish it (the music for the last two scenes was composed, based on the composer’s sketches, by his student, Franco Alfano). Puccini died on 29 November 1924 in a clinic in Brussels while recovering from serious surgery for throat cancer. He was first buried in the Toscanini family tomb in Milan, and in 1926, the composer’s son organised the transfer of his father’s remains to a specially created mausoleum in a villa in Torre del Lago.

Puccini composed almost exclusively stage music. The tradition of Italian opera, in which bel canto singing has been the centre of attention for almost 250 years, was enriched with some of Wagner’s dramaturgical achievements and features typical of French opera from the second half of the 19^th century and the beginning of the 20^th century (Thomas, Massenet, Debussy). Not being an innovative person by nature, based on already known technical means and artistic concepts, Puccini created works of unquestionable value today, which remain invariably in the basic repertoire of musical theatres around the world. Puccini’s operas prove that the composer had an excellent sense of the theatrical element, and cared about conciseness of expression and all means of expression in drama: verbal text (always carefully prepared by high-class writers, both from the dramatic and poetic side), stage action, actors’ facial expressions and gestures (taking care of the international audience, Puccini introduced the principle that musical drama should be understandable even without words), scenography (often dazzling with its grand scale or intriguing with exotic motifs), and finally musical dramaturgy, in which the vocal parts played the leading role, but were very important for shaping harmonics and colours also had atmosphere and dramatic tension. Striving to achieve the unity of the work and the optimal transmission of the dramatic idea, Puccini placed high demands on librettists; he often changed the already finished text while composing, which often led to conflict or even termination of cooperation (e.g. with R. Leoncavallo and D. Oliva on Manon Lescaut). When sketching the concept of the work, Puccini was guided by the principle of economy, so he eliminated side plots from the prototypes (with the exception of La bohème) and details regarding the historical or moral background. He even reduced the characteristics of the characters to features closely related to the main dramatic idea, which was almost usually a love story with a tragic ending. The brevity in sketching characters also concerned the diachronic approach (time jumps in the action) and sometimes resulted in the insufficient psychological justification of the characters’ actions (e.g. Manon, Mimi). This was a consequence of the principle adopted by Puccini in Italian opera that scenes with rapidly developing action must be balanced with extensive fragments of lyrical contemplation and poetic mood, in which the static action is compensated by the music. Generally, in Puccini’s operas, the focus is on a female character from the lower social classes, most often with a suspicious reputation (courtesan, singer, geisha, owner of a tavern and gambling den), yet captivating with her beauty, charm and subtlety of experience, and thanks to her ability to achieve great, romantic feelings and sacrifice, experiencing in the viewer’s eyes a kind of purification from previous sins. The emotional scale in which the heroines of Puccini’s operas (Mimi, Butterfly, Manon, Tosca, Minni, Angelica, Liù) move includes, on the one hand, raptures of love and even ecstasy, and on the other, despair, resignation and suicidal depression. Therefore, Puccini’s operas remain dramas of human emotions, slightly different in each of the works, but they do not enter the sphere of the drama of ideas, like Wagner’s musical dramas, nor do they address political and social issues, like Mussorgsky’s or Verdi’s early operas. Puccini belongs to the generation of Italian verists (along with R. Leoncavallo, P. Mascagni, U. Giordano, G. Zandonai and I. Montemezzi). However, the composer adopted only some of the postulates of E. Zola and G. Verga, e.g. placing the action in the lower social classes, dazzling the viewer with drastic scenes of violence (The Girl of the Golden West) and cruelty, dark in mood (Tosca, The Coat), exaggerating some dramatic effects (Madame Butterfly, Turandot). Puccini preceded his work on each of the three “exotic” operas with studies on the history, cultural diversity and customs of the inhabitants of North America and the Far East (Japan and China), which left their mark both in music (melodies of Indian songs and dances, 7 Japanese folk melodies, quasi-Chinese instruments) as well as in the concept of drama. The structure of Puccini’s works shows a clear regularity. Of the 3 (4) acts, the first is usually the longest and the last is the shortest. Act I begins with a theme motto signalling the mood of the opera. The first half of Act I is a scene of rapidly developing action, the second – a static love duet (e.g. Mimi and Rudolf, Tosca and Cavaradossi, Butterfly and Pinkerton). The arias in Act I are small and have an AA1 structure; these are most often curriculum vitae-type monologues. The main character appears on stage with some delay and her arrival is often announced (e.g. her singing coming from “far away,” off the stage). The most extensive vocal monologues are in Act II (e.g. Manon’s aria In queste trine morbide, Butterfly’s Aria Un bel di vedremo, Tosca’s aria Vissi d’arte, Turandot’s aria In questa regia), where the most dramatic events and turning point occur. during the action. Act III brings a sudden and not always-expected ending to the action, almost usually culminating in a lament scene. The architecture of Puccini’s operas in many moments refers to the tradition of “number” opera – solo and ensemble parts then have a characteristic melodic profile with regular phrases and a compact musical form, distinguished from the entire act (e.g. Musetta’s aria in the rhythm of a waltz, Lauretta’s aria, Cavaradossi’s arias, Calaf’s aria from Act III, quartet from Act III of La bohème). The technical means used by Puccini indicate that the composer only to a small extent made use of the possibilities offered by the musical transformation and evolution of the leitmotif to the opera’s dramaturgy, which in the course of the opera is sometimes modified and changes its meaning, designating either the character of the character, the stage situation or the general situation. atmosphere. This is related to a specific feature of Puccini’s compositional technique; he had the gift of creating a vocal phrase that perfectly combined words, melody, emotion and stage gesture. Strongly rooted in the tradition of Italian opera – and especially in Verdi’s style – Puccini’s melody, compared to Verdi’s vocal style, has less momentum and dramatic power, but captivates with its sensuality, delicacy and lyrical reverie. Puccini generally uses a phrase based on diatonic and second steps with an interwoven jump here and there, most often fourths or fifths (especially at the end of phrases). The main melody is usually led by the orchestra, and the vocalist presents it against the background of the orchestral part in a declamatory way, similar to operas by Massenet or Debussy. There are also dance or grotesque melodies (e.g. the sacristan’s part in Tosca). Recitatives in Puccini’s operas take an intermediate form between the expressive arioso and the expressive parlando; they approach parlando, especially in Gianni Schicchi, which refers to the tradition of opera buffa. In the field of harmony, Puccini was the Italian composer of that time most open to new solutions, although he did not make any discoveries in this field himself. Subsequent works testify to his gradual assimilation of modern harmonic means characteristic of the turn of the century. Puccini’s starting point was the “Tristan” harmony (Le villi, Edgar), later also parallel harmonics, chord mixtures, chords with an added sixth, second-order seventh dominants, unresolved dissonances and augmented chords (Manon Lescaut, La bohème), after 1900 whole-tone scale and ostinato (Tosca and The Girl of the Golden West), and finally bitonality, fourth chords and dissonances of particular sharpness (Turandot). Puccini often used modern harmonic means to create an appropriate sound aura (e.g. of the Far East) and for dramatic characteristics; sometimes they function as signs, usually associated with negative emotions. The orchestra plays a significant role in Puccini’s operas, much greater than in Verdi’s; performs numerous dramatic functions: it comments on events, anticipates them, and reveals thoughts and emotions. Starting from La bohème, the orchestral texture acquires the transparency and piquancy typical of French music. The composer often uses a chamber ensemble and uses the technique of scattered, small motifs, but he does not give up on a saturated sound, a massive tutti and a pathetic doubled melody in several octaves. The large cast of percussion instruments and their activity in Turandot also proves Puccini’s following the latest trends in European music.

Literature: 

Bibliography, lists, documents –

C.A. Hopkinson Bibliography of the Works of Giacomo Puccini 1858–1924, New York 1968; G. Adami Giacomo Puccini Epistolario, Milan 1928; Letters of Giacomo Puccini: mainly connected with the composition and production of his operas, ed. G. Adami, London 1931, reprint New York 1971, new ed. London 1974; V. Seligman Puccini Among Friends, London 1938, reprint 2007; A. Bonaccorsi Puccini Lettere a Ricardo Schnabl, Milan 1950; D. del Fiorentino Immortal Bohemian. An Intimate Memoir of Giacomo Puccini, London 1952; L. Ricci Puccini interprete di se stesso, Milan 1954; reprint Rome 2003; E. Gara Carteggi pucciniani, Milan 1958; 2. ed. Milan 1986, reprint 2008; G. Pintorno Puccini 275 lettere inedite, Montecatini 1974; Giacomo Puccini Lettere a Ricardo Schnabl, ed. S. Puccini, Milan 1981; V. Bernardoni Verso Bohème. Gli abbozzi del libretto negli archivi di Giuseppe Giacosa e Luigi Illica, Centro studi Giacomo Puccini. Testi e documenti, Florence 2008; G. D’Annunzio Giacomo Puccini. Il carteggio recuperato (1894-1922), ed. A. Simeone, Lanciano 2009; Giacomo Puccini. Epistolario I. 1877–1896, ed. G. Blagi Ravenni, D. Schickling, Florence 2015; Giacomo Puccini. Epistolario II. 1897–1901, ed. G. Biagi Ravenni, D. Schickling, Florencja 2019; Giacomo Puccini Epistolario III. 1902–1904, ed. F. Cesari, M. Giuggioli, Florence 2022.

Biographies, monographs, analytical studies 

Torrefranca Giacomo Puccini e l’opera internazionale, Turin 1912;  A. Fraccaroli La vita di Giacomo Puccini, Milan 1925; R. Specht Giacomo Puccini: The Man. His Life, His Work, New York 1933, numerous reeditions London 2022; G. Adami Giacomo Puccini. Il romanzo della vita, 1932, reprint Milan 2014; G.R. Marek Puccini, New York 1951; M. Carner Puccini. A Critical Biography, London 1958, 3. ed. London, New York 1992, reprint 2015; E. Greenfield Puccini. Keeper of the Seal, London 1958; Giacomo Puccini nel centenario della nascita, special no. „La Rassegna del Comune”, Lucca 1958 (contains, among others, article by H. Swolkien Puccini in Poland); P. Hughes  Famous Puccini Operas, New York 1959, 2. revised edition New York 1972; W. Sandelewski Puccini, Kraków 1963, 2. ed. 1973; W. Ashbrook The Operas of Puccini, New York 1968, London 1969, 1985;  G. Tarozzi Puccini. La fine del bel canto, Milan 1972, New York 1985; R. S. Macdonald Puccini: King of Verismo, New York 1973; L. Pinzauti Puccini. Una vita, Florence 1974; E. Siciliano Puccini, Milan 1976; L. Bragaglia Personaggi ed interpreti del teatro di Puccini, Rome 1977; C. Casini Giacomo Puccini, Turin 1978, reprint 1989; H. Greenfield Puccini, London 1980; O. Lewaszewa Puccini i jego sowriemienniki, Moscow 1980; W. Weaver The Golden Century of Italian Opera: From Rossini to Puccini, London, New York 1980; Ch. Osborne The Complete Operas of Puccini: A Critical Guide, Cambridge 1981, New York 1982, 2. ed. 1989; Esotismo e coloro locale nell’opera di Puccini, materials from the international convention in Torre del Lago 1983, ed. J. Maehder, Piza 1985; Giacomo Puccini: “La Bohème”, ed. A. Groos, R. Parker, Cambridge 1986; J.L. DiGaetani Puccini the Thinker. The Composers Intellectual and Dramatic Development, New York 1987; 2. ed. 2001; D. Schickling Giacomo Puccini, Stuttgart 1989, reprint 2019; L. Pedellaro Puccini. Tutte le opere, Piza 1989; W. Ashbrook, H. Powers Puccinis ‘Turandot’. The End of the Great Tradition, New York 1991, reprint 2014; D. Kimbell Italian Opera, Cambridge 1991; H. Greenwald Puccini Research, Acta Musicologica 65 (1993); The Puccini Companion, ed. W. Weaver, S. Puccini, New York 1994, ed. popr. New York 2000; M. Girardi Giacomo Puccini. L’arte internazionale di un musicista italiano, Venice 1995; w j. ang. Puccini: His International Art, translation L. Basini. Chicago 2000; Puccini, ed. V. Bernardoni, Bologne 1996; C. Wilson Giacomo Puccini, London 1997, 2. ed. London, Paris 2008; L. B. Fairtile Giacomo Puccini: A Guide to Research, New York 1999; S. Vandiver Nicassio Tosca’s Rome. The Play and the Opera in Historical Perspective, Chicago, London 1999; J. Keolker Last Acts: The Operas of Puccini and his Italian Contemporaries from Alfano to Zandonai. Napa (Kalifornia) 2000; P. Southwell-Sander Puccini, (intro L. Pavarotti), London, New York 1996, reprint London 2011;  F. D’Amico L’albero del bene e del male: naturalismo e decadentismo in Puccini, Lucca 2000; M. J. Phillips-Matz Puccini: A Biography, Boston 2002; D. Schickling Giacomo Puccini: Catalogue of the Works, coauthor of the English version M. Kaye, Kassel 2003; Opera Classics Library. Puccini Companion: The Glorious Dozen, ed. B.D. Fisher, Miami (Florida) 2004; J. Hepokoski Structure, Implication, and the End of Suor Angelica, Studi Pucciniani 3 (2004); L. Fairtile Dietta a tre: Franco Alfano’s Completion of ‘Turandot’, Cambridge Opera Journal 16, no. 2 (2004); W. Berger Puccini Without Excuses: A Refreshing Reassessment of the World’s Most Popular Composer, New York 2005; J. Budden Puccini: His Life and Works, Oxford 2002; Tosca’s Prism: three moments of western cultural history, ed: D. Burton, S. Vandiver Nicassio, A. Ziino, Boston: 2004; ‘L’insolita forma’. Strutture e processi analitici per l’opera italiana nell’epoca di Puccini, materials from the international convention in Lucca, 2001, ed. V. Bernardoni, M. Girardi, A. Groos, Studi Pucciniani vol. 3, Florence 2004; Madama Butterfly. Fonti e documenti della genesi, ed. A. Groos, Lukka 2005; A. J. Randall, R. Gray Davis Puccini and the Girl. History and Reception of the ‘Girl of the Golden West’, Chicago 2005; A. Mallach The Autumn of Italian Opera: From Verismo to Modernism, Boston 2007; A. Wilson The Puccini Problem: Opera, Nationalism, and Modernity, Cambridge 2007; E. Sarti Giacomo Puccini. Vita e opere, Lucca 2008; D. Schickling Giacomo Puccini la vita e l’arte, Piza 2008; J. Bell Young Puccini: a listener’s guide, New York 2008, 2. ed. New York 2016; Madama Butterfly. L’orientalismo di fine secolo, l’approccio pucciniano, la ricezione materials from the international convention in Torre del Lago 2004, ed. A. Groos, V. Bernardoni, Centro studi Giacomo Puccini, vol. 1, Florence 2008; I.J. Arnesen The romantic world of Puccini: a new critical appraisal of the operas, Jefferson (North Carolina) 2009; A. C. Davis, C. Andrew ‘Il Trittico’, ‘Turandot’ and Puccini’s Late Style. Bloomington (Indiana) 2010; N. Baragwanath The Italian Traditions & Puccini. Bloomington (Indiana) 2011; A. Schwartz Puccini. In the Distance, Cambridge Opera Journal 23 no. 3, 2011; R. Flury Giacomo Puccini: A discography, Lanham (Maryland) 2012; R. Pecci Puccini e Catalani. Il Principe reale, il pertichino e l’«eredità del Wagner», Florence 2013; M. Steen Puccini, e-book, London 2014; A. Schwartz, E. Senici Giacomo Puccini and his world, Princeton (New Jersey) 2016; A. Schwartz Puccini’s Soundscapes: Realism and Modernity in Italian Opera, Florence 2016; R. Erkens Puccini-Handbuch, Stuttgard, Kassel 2017; Giacomo Puccini Organista. Il contesto e le musiche, ed. F. Guidotti, Florecja 2017; M. Conati Giacomo Puccini: aspetti di drammaturgia, Lukka 2018; Rassegna periodica sulla musica e sul teatro musicale nell’epoca di Giacomo Puccini. Studi Pucciniani, ed. V. Bernardoni, P. Ross, seried ed. by Centro studi Giacomo Puccini, Florence: vol. 1 1998, vol.2 2000, vol. 4 2010, vol. 5 2018, vol. 6 2020.