The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. In the 29-volume second edition. Grove Music Online /General Editor – Stanley Sadie. Oxford University Press. 2001.

MICHELE GIRARDI

Puccini, Giacomo (Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria)

(b Lucca, 22 Dec 1858; d Brussels, 29 Nov 1924). Italian composer, son of (4) Michele Puccini. He was the greatest composer of Italian opera after Verdi.

1. Education and early works.

2. The Bohemian period.

3. Acquiring a style.

4. Realism and poetry.

5. Idealism and power.

6. Exoticism and tragedy.

7. ‘Renewal or Death’.

8. ‘La rondine’, or disenchantment.

9. New forms.

10. The last experiment.

11. Assessment.

WORKS

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Puccini: (5) Puccini, Giacomo

1. Education and early works.

Born into a family that had supplied his native city with musicians for the previous four generations, Puccini began his musical education (after completing his classical studies) in 1874 at the Istituto Musicale Pacini in Lucca, with his uncle Fortunato Magi. It was Carlo Angeloni, however, who intoduced him to the study of orchestral scores, particularly those of Verdi. He had his first success as a composer during these years with the motet Plaudite populi (1877) and with a Credo, both of which were performed on 12 July 1878 in honour of San Paolino, the patron saint of Lucca. (The Credo was later inserted into his Messa a quattro.) His unusual gifts were recognized and in 1880 he was sent for further study to the conservatory in Milan, then the theatre capital of Italy. He was supported by a small bursary, augmented by a modest allowance from his uncle, Nicolao Cerù. In Milan he met Alfredo Catalani, who had already made a name, and through him he came into contact with the Milanese group of Bohemian artists known as the Scapigliati, which comprised leading intellectuals, including Boito, Faccio and Marco Praga.

In his first three years in Milan Puccini laid the foundations of his future success, first with the violinist and composer Antonio Bazzini, then, after a month, with the established opera composer Ponchielli. Puccini was eager above all to learn the art of the coup de théâtre, the mastery of which he would later display in many of his works. From Amintore Galli, professor of the history and philosophy of music, he learnt the fundamental principles of Wagnerian aesthetics. Finally, by attending performances of nearly all the major operas of Bizet, Gounod and Thomas at La Scala and other theatres, he gained direct experience of the French style which was to become one of the most distinctive features of his art.

While still a student he composed a Preludio sinfonico in A major (1882) and, a year later, as part of his diploma, a Capriccio sinfonico. This was performed on 14 July 1883 by the conservatory orchestra, under the baton of Faccio, the leading Italian conductor of the time, who was to include it in two more programmes in Turin the following year. It was remarkably successful and met with the approval of the critic Filippo Filippi, one of the foremost champions in Italy of German Romantic symphonic and lyric music.

The Capriccio is a substantial composition for full orchestra, similar in form to a symphonic poem. It displays Puccini’s structural skills and tonal inventiveness. But the Preludio is more interesting. In its intense concentration, and in the ethereal sonority of the opening, there are noticeable echoes of the prelude to Lohengrin. However, the best of Puccini’s compositions, apart from his operas, is undoubtedly the Messa a quattro also composed during these years. The liturgical passages of the Mass have always appealed to the imagination of opera composers, who see in them an undeniably dramatic quality, as revealed here in the martial opening of the Gloria and in the initial theme of the Credo. Touches of the sacred style are also present: the opening of the Kyrie displays elegant choral counterpoint in four parts, composed in strict form. The work is full of striking passages, from the intensly dramatic Credo to the simple elegance of the Agnus Dei. The work shows Puccini drawing on a great and vital family tradition, while exploring new possibilities. The techniques he demonstrates here mark the beginning of a new style that was to play an essential role in his creation of theatrical effect.

Puccini: (5) Puccini, Giacomo