Giacomo Puccini

Jeremy Tambling (University of Hong Kong)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.6.1: Italian Writing and Culture, 453-present.
Vol. editors: Carla Bregman (Independent Scholar - North America), Jo Ann Cavallo (Columbia University)

Dates

Born 22 Dec 1858
Died 29 Nov 1924
Activity 1878-1924

Places

Born in Italy
Active in Italy

Activities

Primary

Composer

Resources

Puccini's Works

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Giacomo Puccini was born at Lucca in 1858 and studied music at Milan under Ponchielli (1834-1886), composer of the melodrama

La Gioconda

(1876, libretto by Boito after Victor Hugo). Ponchielli suggested the writing of the one act opera

Le villi

to Puccini, with words by Ferdinando Fontana (one of the “scapigliaturo” group of Italian bohemian artists) and Boito recommended it for production at Milan in 1884. As a result, Puccini was taken up and promoted by the publisher Giulio Ricordi (1840-1912), as the successor to Verdi, whom he had also backed. A second opera followed and failed,

Edgar

(Milan, 1889), also with Fontana, using a verse-play by Alfred Musset,

La Coupe et les lévres

. During this time Puccini met Elvira Gemignani, who left her husband for him, marrying him in 1903. (In…

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1933 words

Citation: Tambling, Jeremy. "Giacomo Puccini". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 01 September 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=3659, accessed 19 April 2024.]

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