Giacomo Puccini
Giacomo Puccini was the most important composer of Italian opera after Verdi. He wrote in the verismo style, a counterpart to the movement of Realism in literature and a trend that favored subjects and characters from everyday life for opera. On his often commonplace settings Puccini lavished memorable melodies and lush orchestration. It was around the turn of the 20th century that he reached his artistic zenith, composing in succession his three most popular and effective operas, La Bohème, Tosca, and Madama Butterfly.
Young Giacomo took organ lessons early on from his uncle, Fortunato Magi, and later from Carlo Angeloni. At ten, he sang in local church choirs and by age 14 was freelancing as an organist at religious services. His first compositions were for organ, often incorporating operatic and folk elements. By age 18, under the spell of Verdi's Aida, he decided he would study composition with a view to writing opera. At around this time, he composed his first large-scale work, a cantata, Preludio Sinfonico, for an 1877 competition. Other pieces came in the next few years, but none of significance.
In 1880, Puccini entered the Milan Conservatory, where he studied for three years under Ponchielli and Bazzini. While there, he wrote his first opera, Le villi, which he once more entered in a competition. Though he lost, Arrigo Boito and, more importantly, publisher Giulio Ricordi helped arrange a premiere in Milan on May 31, 1884. The work was enthusiastically received, and Puccini was on his way.
Around this time the composer met Elvira Gemignani, wife of a merchant in Lucca. They carried on an illicit affair, and she gave birth to his son in 1886. When her husband died in 1904, the two were married. Puccini's next opera, Edgar, was poorly received at its 1889 premiere. Subsequent revisions failed to rescue it from its encumbering libretto. His next effort, however, Manon Lescaut, was a sensational success at its 1893 Turin premiere. Subsequent performances in Italy and abroad bolstered the composer's growing reputation.
Puccini's next three operas confirmed his preeminence in Italian opera. La Bohème (1896), Tosca (1900), and Madama Butterfly (1904) were not immediately as successful as Manon Lescaut, but in time achieved greater acclaim. By the middle of the 20th century, they had become -- and remain today -- his most often performed and recorded works.
Puccini suffered a creative dry spell for a time and was unable to finish another opera until the moderately successful La fanciulla del West (1910), which premiered in New York with Toscanini conducting and Caruso singing the role of Johnson. His sluggishness of inspiration owed much to charges by his wife that he was having an affair with a servant girl, charges that drove the hapless, and as it turned out, innocent young girl to suicide in 1909.
In 1913, Puccini accepted a lucrative commission from Vienna interests, which resulted in La rondine. Received warmly at its 1917 Monte Carlo premiere, it faded under the judgment it was the least of his operatic efforts. Puccini followed this disappointment with his trilogy of one-act operas, Il trittico -- comprised of Il tabarro, Suor Angelica, and Gianni Schicchi -- all premiered at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1918. Only the latter work, a comedy, was well received.
While Puccini was working on his last opera, Turandot, he was diagnosed with throat cancer (1923). During radiation treatment in Brussels, he suffered a heart attack and died on November 29, 1924.
© Robert Cummings /TiVo
-
Opera Classics (Various Artists)
Opera - Lançado por Rainbow Productions Ltd em 25 de abr. de 2012
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Turandot
Opera - Lançado por Opera d'Oro em 2 de nov. de 2004
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Giacomo Puccini: Tosca (opera in 3 acts)
Yevgeny Svetlanov, Tamara Milashkina, Zurab Andzhaparidze
Opera - Lançado por Classical Records em 10 de set. de 2003
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Puccini
Classical - Lançado por Cobra Entertainment LLC em 3 de dez. de 2013
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
GRANDI VOCI MARIA CHIARA Una collana dedicata con registrazioni originali Decca e Deutsche Grammophon rimasterizzate con le tecniche più moderne che ne garantiscono eccellenza tecnica e artistica
Maria Chiara, Giacomo Puccini, Francesco Cilèa
Classical - Lançado por UME - Global Clearing House em 9 de jul. de 2021
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Turandot (Adami & Simoni, Puccini, completed Alfano)
Opera - Lançado por The Digital Gramophone em 12 de dez. de 2013
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
A Night at the Opera
Christian Lindberg, Giacomo Puccini, Prince of Denmark Air Force Band, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Classical - Lançado por EUROPEAN GRAMOPHONE em 31 de jan. de 2023
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tosca
Opera - Lançado por Opera d'Oro em 13 de jun. de 2000
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Golden Age of the Gramophone: The 42 Best Loved Popular Classical Recordings
Classical - Lançado por Retrospective em 1 de jan. de 2010
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Puccini: Tosca
Giacomo Puccini, Dimitri Mitropoulos, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra
Classical - Lançado por Nar Classical em 15 de jan. de 2024
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Puccini: Tosca
Opera - Lançado por Heritage Records em 4 de mar. de 2015
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Classical Moments: Vol.1
Giacomo Puccini, Jacques Offenbach, Erik Satie
Classical - Lançado por UME - Global Clearing House em 11 de mar. de 2024
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Puccini: Tosca
Compagnia e Coro del Teatro Lirieo d'Europa
Classical - Lançado por Blue music em 6 de dez. de 2002
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Great Voices Of The Opera Vol. 7 - Primadonnas
Classical - Lançado por Documents em 1 de set. de 2008
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
La Bohème - Oper erzählt als Hörspiel mit Musik
Miscellaneous - Lançado por Amor Verlag GmbH em 7 de jan. de 2014
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Springtime Symphonies: Bach, Puccini, Vivaldi
Johann Sebastian Bach, Giacomo Puccini, Antonio Vivaldi
Classical - Lançado por UME - Global Clearing House em 9 de abr. de 2024
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Manon Lescaut
Opera - Lançado por Opera d'Oro em 13 de set. de 2005
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Puccini: Turandot, Vol. 2
Opera - Lançado por Musirama em 19 de mar. de 2015
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Very Best of Puccini's Madama Butterfly
Victoria de los Angeles, Jussi Björling, Mario Sereni
Opera - Lançado por Past Classics em 1 de jan. de 1960
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Best of Romanze - Verdi, Puccini, Rossini, Bellini, Mozart
Classical - Lançado por Piros - Send em 25 de abr. de 2015
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Puccini - Colorful
Classical - Lançado por UME - Global Clearing House em 27 de fev. de 2021
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo