11. Assessment.

Puccini succeeded in mastering the orchestra as no other Italian had done before him, creating new forms by manipulating structures inherited from the great Italian tradition, loading them with bold harmonic progressions which had little or nothing to do with what was happening then in Italy, though they were in step with the work of French, Austrian and German colleagues. Unfortunately he died without leaving an heir. Liù’s death does no more than coincide, beyond hagiography, with the end of a certain Italian way of composing opera, leaving actual content out of account. Opera was dying, under attack from other kinds of spectacle which competed for the favours of the public. Consequently it fell victim to debts which would have made it necessary to rethink the whole system of production. Already by 1921 La Scala had begun to transform itself into an autonomous company. Soon afterwards all the principal theatres in Italy were to follow its example. The advantages of this new system had often been admired by Puccini in European theatres, particularly in German-speaking countries. It would have guaranteed him a future less restricted by the need to fill the theatre at all cost. The fact that he did not live to enjoy this new phase is to be regretted; it is impossible to know where his readiness to reinvent himself would have taken him, what techniques he would have adopted, how he would have lessened the distance between experimentation and contact with the public. It is also a regret that has increased lately with the analysis of the ‘Turandot fragment’. Puccini’s contribution was something very valuable: he made it possible for Italian musicians of the liberation (from Maderna to Berio, Bussotti and Nono) to bring Italian opera – despite contemporary alienation, the postwar crisis and the nascent rhetoric of pseudo-patriotism – within the ambit of great contemporary European music.

Puccini: (5) Puccini, Giacomo

WORKS

published in Milan unless otherwise indicated; detailed bibliographical information in Hopkinson

operas

Title	Genre, acts	Libretto	First performance	Sources; publication; remarks
Le villi	leggenda drammatica in due quadri, 1	F. Fontana, after A. Karr: Les willis	Milan, Dal Verme, 31 May 1884	I-Mr*; unpubd
2nd version	opera ballo, 2		Turin, Regio, 26 Dec 1884	vs (1885); rev. edns (1888 and 1892)
Edgar	dramma lirico, 4	Fontana, after A. de Musset: La coupe et les lèvres	Milan, Scala, 21 April 1889	Mr* (Acts 1 and 3); vs (1890)
2nd version	3		Ferrara, Comunale, 28 Feb 1892	copy of 1st version with autograph changes, Mr; vs (1892)
3rd (definitive) version	3		Buenos Aires, Opera, 8 July 1905	vs (1905)
Manon Lescaut	dramma lirico, 4	D. Oliva and L. Illica, after Abbé Pré vost: L’histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut	Turin, Regio, 1 Feb 1893	Mr*; fs and vs (1893)
La bohème	opera, 4	Illica and G. Giacosa, after H. Murger: Scènes de la vie de bohème	Turin, Regio, 1 Feb 1896	Mr*; fs (1898), vs (1896)
Tosca	melodramma, 3	Illica and Giacosa, after V. Sardou: La Tosca	Rome, Costanzi, 14 Jan 1900	Mr*; fs and vs (1899)
Madama Butterfly	tragedia giapponese, 2	Illica and Giacosa, after D. Belasco’s stage version of a magazine story by J. L. Long	Milan, Scala, 17 Feb 1904	Mr*; vs (1904)
2nd version	2		Brescia, Grande, 28 May 1904	changes in autograph, Mr; vs (1904)
3rd version	2		London, CG, 10 July 1905	vs (1905)
4th version	3		Paris, OC (Feydeau), 28 Dec 1906	fs (1906; 1907, with changes to text)
La fanciulla del West	opera, 3	G. Civinini and C. Zangarini, after Belasco: The Girl of the Golden West	New York, Met, 10 Dec 1910	Mr*; fs (1911), vs (1910)
La rondine	commedia lirica, 3	G. Adami, after A. M. Willner and H. Reichert	Monte Carlo, Opéra, 27 March 1917	autograph lost; fs and vs (1917)
Il trittico			New York, Met, 14 Dec 1918	Mr*; fs and vs (1918)
Il tabarro	opera, 1	Adami, after D. Gold: La houppelande
Suor Angelica	opera, 1	G. Forzano
Gianni Schicchi	opera, 1	Forzano, developed from a few lines in Dante: Inferno, xxx: 32–3, 42–5
Turandot	dramma lirico, 3	Adami and R. Simoni, after C. Gozzi and F. von Schiller	Milan, Scala, 25 April 1926	Mr*; vs (1926); inc., completed by F. Alfano

other vocal

Sacred: Motet, Cr, in honour of S Paolino, 1878, unpubd: Messa a quattro, T, Bar, vv, orch, 1880, I-TLP*, vs (New York, 1951) [incorporating Motet, Cr]; Salve del ciel regina, S, hmn, before 1880, Li*, unpubd; Requiem, S, T, B, org/hmn, before 1905, frag. Ms*

Choral: I figli d’Italia bella (cant.), solo vv, orch, 1877; Cantata a Giove (1897)

Songs: Melancolia (A. Ghislanzoni), 1881, unpubd; Allor ch’io sarò morto (Ghislanzoni), 1881, unpubd; Spirto gentil (Ghislanzoni), 1882, unpubd; Noi leggeramo (Ghislanzoni), 1882, unpubd; Storiella d’amore (Ghislanzoni), 1883, in Musica popolare (4 Oct 1883); Menti all’avviso (Romani), romanza, 1883; Sole e amore (Puccini), mattinata, 1888, in Paganini (1888): Avanti, Urania! (R. Fucini) (Florence and Rome, 1899); E l’uccellino (Fucini) (1899); Inno a Diana (C. Abeniacar [F. Salvatori]) (Florence and Rome, 1899); Terra e mare (E. Panzacchi) in Novissima (1902); Morire? (Adam), in Per la Croce rossa italiana (c1917–18); Inno di Roma (Salvatori) (Florence and Rome, 1923)

Pedagogical: Solfeggi, 1888, unpubd