Giacomo Puccini went down in music history as the composer who broke the established understanding of opera. His creations were applauded by the audience in the best halls in Italy and throughout Europe. An incurable disease prevented the composer from completing the last promising creation.
From the biography of Giacomo Puccini
Giacomo Puccini was born on December 22, 1858 in the city of Lucca in the north of the Italian province of Tuscany. He came from a family of hereditary intellectuals, his grandfather and father were musicians. And even the great-grandfather Giacomo, who lived in the middle of the 18th century, conducted the cathedral choir and was a church composer.
Giacomo's father, Michele Puccini, staged two operas and founded a music school in Lucca. When this gifted musician passed away, his widow Albina was left without a livelihood along with six young children.
The seed tradition assumed that the eldest boy in the family (and he was just Giacomo) should receive a solid composer's education. The poor widow, who did not have a serious source of income, could not afford to teach her son. However, Albina had a worldly acumen and did everything to fulfill the will of Michele.
Young Puccini played contralto in the church choir and from the age of ten worked part-time playing the church organ.
The skill of the little organist delighted the parishioners. Soon, Giacomo was invited to speak at other churches. Subsequently, fate brought Puccini together with an intelligent teacher - organist Carlo Angeloni. Giacomo composed his first works within the walls of the Lucca Institute of Music. These were religious choirs.
At the age of 22, Puccini left Lucca. His mother made sure that he received a royal scholarship to enter the Conservatory of Milan. Relatives of Lucca also helped. Puccini passed the entrance exams easily. He studied at the Milan Conservatory from 1880 to 1883.
Student life was fraught with considerable material difficulties. Subsequently, Puccini recalled the beggarly days related to life in Milan.
A significant event in the life of the composer was the meeting with his future wife. The temperamental and energetic Elvira Bonturi became his chosen one. She did her best to create ideal conditions for her husband's creativity. For the sake of the great composer, she even left her former family - her husband, a Milanese bourgeois, and two children. Elvira was able to marry Puccini only after the death of her legal spouse.
Giacomo Puccini and his path to the heights of creativity
In the year he graduated from the Conservatory, Puccini was given the opportunity to work on the creation of his first opera. A year later, the opera "Willis" was staged on the stage of one of the Milan theaters. The debut was successful. The author was summoned to bow 18 times.
In search of topics for the next works, Puccini turned to French literature. The composer's imagination was captured by Prevost's novel "Manon Lescaut". It was he who served as the basis for a new, already quite mature composition.
The years of hardship are over. Giacomo's financial situation became more stable. The composer was not satisfied with the noisy life of Milan. He settled away from the bustle of the city, in the quiet town of Torre del Lago. Here he found refuge for himself for the next three decades.
The years of working on the opera "Manon" were happy for Puccini. It was during this period that he became interested in Elvira. Then their son Antonio was born. Giacomo graduated from work on the opera in the fall of 1892. After that, they started talking about Puccini as a mature playwright.
After another success, the author of the opera "Manon" becomes famous throughout Italy.
His subsequent creative work was innovative. Puccini revolutionized Italian opera, moving from fierce pathos to a humble portrayal of everyday life.
Many consider the opera Tosca to be the pinnacle of the Italian composer's creativity. It premiered in Rome in January 1900. The enthusiastic audience did not want to let the author leave the stage. An equally stormy success awaited the author in London.
The last years of Puccini's life
The last stage in Puccini's work lasted from 1919 to 1924. It coincided with the time of changes taking place in post-war Italy. During these years, Puccini created the unsurpassed operas Gianni and Turandot. This was the last rise of musical genius.
On the opera "Turandot" Puccini worked already during a serious illness. But the body could not cope with the disease. On November 29, 1924, the composer's heart stopped.
