"Giacomo Puccini Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini (; 22 December 1858 29 November 1924) was an Italian opera composer who has been called ""the greatest composer of Italian opera after Verdi"". Puccini's early work was rooted in traditional late-19th-century romantic Italian opera. Later, he successfully developed his work in the realistic ""verismo"" style, of which he became one of the leading exponents. Puccini's most renowned works are ""La bohème"" (1896), ""Tosca"" (1900), ""Madama Butterfly"" (1904), and ""Turandot"" (1924), all of which are among the important operas played as standards. Puccini was born Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria"
"Puccini's from 1897. Osborne describes the scenes that follow—Cavaradossi's interrogation, his torture, Scarpia's sadistic tormenting of Tosca—as Puccini's musical equivalent of ""grand guignol"" to which Cavaradossi's brief ""Vittoria! Vittoria!"" on the news of Napoleon's victory gives only partial relief. Scarpia's aria ""Già, mi dicon venal"" (""Yes, they say I am venal"") is closely followed by Tosca's ""Vissi d'arte"". A lyrical andante based on Tosca's act 1 motif, this is perhaps the opera's best-known aria, yet was regarded by Puccini as a mistake; he considered eliminating it since it held up the action. Fisher calls it ""a Job-like prayer questioning God"
"""Manon Lescaut"" (Manon Lescaut) – opera composed for her voice and interpreted in première for Teatro alla Scala of Milan on 27 March 1897; Giacomo Puccini ""La Bohème"" (Mimì) – opera interpreted in première for America at Teatro Colón of Buenos Aires in 1896 and in première for Romania at Bucharest National Theatre on 15 January 1903; Giacomo Puccini ""Tosca"" (Floria Tosca) – opera composed for her voice; the soprano’s aria was requested to Puccini by Hariclea Darclée suggesting the principal musicals elements, too; the opera was interpreted in prima assoluta at Teatro dell’Opera of Rome on 14 January 1900"
"Nuccia Focile Nuccia Focile (born November 25, 1961 in Militello in Val di Catania), is an Italian operatic soprano. Nuccia Focile was born in Sicily, studied in Turin under Elio Battaglia, and made her opera debut in 1983 as Serpina in ""La Serva Padrona"" by Pergolesi in Spoleto. In 1984 she sang her first Mimi in ""La Boheme"" by Puccini at the Teatro Regio in Turin and made her debut as Oscar in Verdi's ""Un ballo in maschera"" at La Scala in 1986. Also in that year, she won the International Pavarotti Competition in Philadelphia, following which she made many"
"with the song, arguing that the melody was lifted from """". Puccini and his publisher prevailed in the case and were awarded $25,000 in damages and all future royalties for the song. E lucevan le stelle """" (""And the stars were shining"") is a romantic aria from the third act of Giacomo Puccini's opera ""Tosca"" from 1900, composed to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It is sung by Mario Cavaradossi (tenor), a painter in love with the singer Tosca, while he waits for his execution on the roof of Castel Sant'Angelo. Written in B minor, it"
"La bohème (Leoncavallo) La bohème is an Italian opera in four acts, with music and libretto by Ruggero Leoncavallo, based on ""Scènes de la vie de bohème"" by Henri Murger. The opera received a successful premiere at the Teatro la Fenice, Venice on 6 May 1897. Leoncavallo wrote his opera ""La bohème"" contemporaneously with Giacomo Puccini's own treatment of the same story. Leoncavallo later revised the work, titling it ""Mimì Pinson"", but despite initial respect, it did not survive. Puccini's version has become a standard in the operatic repertoire, whereas Leoncavallo's opera is rarely performed. Leoncavallo's version did not receive"
"as a link between the glorious tradition of Italian opera (Giuseppe Giordani and Albinoni) and the twentieth century (Leonard Bernstein, George and Ira Gershwin, Francesco Cilea, Astor Piazzolla). All songs are reworked and arranged by Gianni Ferrio. The aim of this album is to turn the classic music pieces in the songs, in the modern sense of the term. The opening track is ""Mi chiamano Mimì"" an soprano aria from the opera ""La bohème"" written by Giacomo Puccini. The interpretation is essentially identical to the one presented in ""Teatro 10"" in 1972 (""available on the album ""Gentlemen ... Mina! Vol."
"Villi"", or with other two-act operas which might be used to round out the evening's entertainment. Finally, librettist Giovacchino Forzano presented the composer with two works of his own, which became ""Suor Angelica"" and ""Gianni Schicchi"". The latter would be Puccini's first setting of a comic text; although his earlier operas, for example ""La bohème"", contain comic episodes, these are merely ancillary to the drama to provide contrast. Forzano wrote to Tito Ricordi, Giulio's son, on 3 March 1917: I sent the libretto of ""Suor Angelica"" to Maestro Puccini some days ago. He has declared himself – kind as he"
"Ida Quaiatti Ida Quaiatti (sometimes Cajatti) (1890 – February 1, 1962) was an Italian lyric soprano known especially for her performances in the work of Giacomo Puccini. Born in Split, Quaiatti studied music at the conservatory in Trieste, making her operatic debut in that city as Frasquita in ""Carmen"" in 1907. Two years later she sang the title role in ""Madama Butterfly"" in Ascoli Piceno, and soon thereafter performed in ""La bohème"" at the Teatro Sociale in Bergamo. In 1912 she won plaudits for her performance of Amilcare Ponchielli's ""Lina"" in Cremona. During her career she would go on to"
"the opera, ""Ch'ella mi creda"", has become a staple of compilation albums by operatic tenors. It is said that during World War I, Italian soldiers sang this aria to maintain their spirits. The 2008 Italian film, ""Puccini e la fanciulla"" (""Puccini and the Girl""), is based on the period of his life when he was composing the opera. Puccini completed the score of ""La rondine"", to a libretto by Giuseppe Adami in 1916 after two years of work, and it was premiered at the Grand Théâtre de Monte Carlo on 27 March 1917. The opera had been originally commissioned by"
"La fanciulla del West La fanciulla del West (""The Girl of the West"") is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by and , based on the play ""The Girl of the Golden West"" by the American author David Belasco. ""Fanciulla"" followed ""Madama Butterfly"", which was also based on a Belasco play. The opera has fewer of the show-stopping highlights that are characteristic of other Puccini works, but is admired for its impressive orchestration and for a score that is more melodically integrated than is typical of his previous work. ""Fanciulla"" displays influences from composers"
"Giacomo Puccini, Pietro Mascagni and Umberto Giordano. In 1881, Ponchielli was appointed ""maestro di cappella"" of the Bergamo Cathedral, and from the same year he was a professor of composition at the Milan Conservatory, where among his students were Puccini, Mascagni and Emilio Pizzi. He died of pneumonia in Milan in 1886 and was interred in the city's Monumental Cemetery. Although in his lifetime Ponchielli was very popular and influential, in introducing an enlarged orchestra and more complex orchestration, the only one of his operas regularly performed today is ""La Gioconda"". It contains the great tenor romanza ""Cielo e mar"","
"Giuliano"", ""Charlotte Corday"", ""La Conquista"", and ""Risorgimento!"", the first Piano Concerto, the Concerto for Violin, Cello, Piano and Orchestra, the set of six symphonic poems ""La Nueva España"", the song cycle ""Canzoni d'amore"", the Capriccio for Piano and String Orchestra, ""Parodia"", ""Ostinato"", ""Glamorama Spies"", ""Tempi di quartetto"" for string quartet, and the ballet ""Franca Florio, regina di Palermo"". In 1986 he participated in the Prix Italia with his work ""La fuga di Foscolo"". His music is published by Casa Ricordi, Milan. As an active manager of art events, he has served as artistic director of the Festival Puccini in Torre"
"is introduced in the second part of Rinuccio's aria ""Avete torto"". The theme is briefly played on clarinet and violin as Lauretta enters with Schicchi, before its full expression in ""O mio babbino caro"". Budden dismisses the view that Lauretta's aria, at the midpoint of the opera, was a concession to popular taste; rather, ""its position at the turning point of the action is precisely calculated to provide a welcome moment of lyrical repose"". Andrew Davis, in his book on Puccini's late style, notes that Lauretta's aria, and the two interruptions by the young lovers (""Addio, speranza bella"") as Schicchi"
"The most famous vocal piece from the opera is the rondò ""Luci belle, se piagente,"" which was widely disseminated in Europe until the early 19th century and was indeed one of the most outstanding vocal compositions of its era. It was originally sung by Tommaso Consoli in the role of Arsace. All of the original performers in the opera were male, since women were prohibited from appearing on stage in Roman theaters until Pius VII was elevated to the Holy See in the year 1800. Act I, scene 1 - Cavatina of Arsace, ""Deh, s'affretti, astri tiranni"" <br> Act I,"
"noted composer Giacomo Puccini. On 9 January 1883, Mascagni's sister, Maria, died. The cantata ""In Filanda"" became ""Pinotta"", and was proposed for the musical contest of the Conservatorio, but as his registration was late, it was not accepted. In 1884, he composed ""Ballata"" for tenor and piano; ""M'ama non m'ama"", scherzo for soprano and piano; ""Messagio d'amore"", and ""Alla luna"". In 1885, Mascagni composed ""Il Re a Napoli in Cremona"", a romance for tenor and orchestra, on a text by Andrea Maffei. He left Milan without completing his studies. That year, he began touring as a conductor in the operetta"
"E lucevan le stelle """" (""And the stars were shining"") is a romantic aria from the third act of Giacomo Puccini's opera ""Tosca"" from 1900, composed to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It is sung by Mario Cavaradossi (tenor), a painter in love with the singer Tosca, while he waits for his execution on the roof of Castel Sant'Angelo. Written in B minor, it is one of the most famous opera arias. The vocal range extends from F to A. The aria is considered part of the spinto tenor repertoire. The aria is introduced by a"
"in Paris in 1821, but it was unsuccessful. In modern times, this opera was revived for the first time at the Teatro Coccia in Novara, on 7 November 2003. This production was recorded and published on CD. In his review of the Novara performance, produced making use of different versions of the opera, the Italian music critic Giangiorgio Satragni noted ""the resounding of features of Rossini's style"" and emphasized, among the pieces of the opera, Emerico's cavatina ""Soave all'anima"" and Clotilde's aria ""Deh! Tu guida"", but judged the work on the whole as ""implacable nineteenth-century operatic routine"". The marriage between"
"d'arte"" and ""E lucevan le stelle"". The work remains popular today: according to Operabase, it ranks as fifth in the world with 540 performances given in the five seasons 2009/10 to 2013/14. By the end of the 19th century the classic form of opera structure, in which arias, duets and other set-piece vocal numbers are interspersed with passages of recitative or dialogue, had been largely abandoned, even in Italy. Operas were ""through-composed"", with a continuous stream of music which in some cases eliminated all identifiable set-pieces. In what critic Edward Greenfield calls the ""Grand Tune"" concept, Puccini retains a limited"
"Gianni Schicchi Gianni Schicchi () is a comic opera in one act by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Giovacchino Forzano, composed in 1917–18. The libretto is based on an incident mentioned in Dante's ""Divine Comedy"". The work is the third and final part of Puccini's ""Il trittico"" (The Triptych)—three one-act operas with contrasting themes, originally written to be presented together. Although it continues to be performed with one or both of the other ""trittico"" operas, ""Gianni Schicchi"" is now more frequently staged either alone or with short operas by other composers. The aria ""O mio babbino caro"" is"
"Le Villi Le Villi (""The Willis"" or ""The Fairies"") is an opera-ballet in two acts (originally one) composed by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Ferdinando Fontana, based on the short story ""Les Willis"" by Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr. Karr's story was in turn based in the Central European legend of the Vila, also used in the ballet ""Giselle"". The opera, in its original one-act version, was first performed at the Teatro Dal Verme, Milan, on 31 May 1884. ""Le Villi"" is Puccini's first stage work. It was written for an 1883 competition of one-act operas by the publisher Sonzogno"
"on the Operabase list of the most-performed operas worldwide in the five seasons between 2008 and 2013. There are a large number of recordings. It contains the popular tenor aria ""Una furtiva lagrima"", a ""romanza"" that has a considerable performance history in the concert hall. Donizetti insisted on a number of changes from the original Scribe libretto. The best known of these was the insertion of ""Una furtiva lagrima"" and the duet between Adina and Nemorino in the first act, ""Chiedi all'aura lusinghiera"". The melody to the duet ""Io son ricco e tu sei bella"" in act 2, scene 1"
"the serious type in Italian language referred to as opera seria. The opera was first performed at the Teatro Nuovo in Pavia on 24 May 1773. It was commissioned to serve as the first opera to be played in a newly constructed theater in the city, and it was considered to be a great honor for Mysliveček to compose the inaugural opera. The organizers were able to attract only one distinguished singer for the cast, however: the soprano Lucrezia Aguiari, whose name has been linked romantically to Mysliveček's erroneously in earlier musicological literature. Her aria ""Agitata in tanti affanni"" was"
"Kate Pinkerton's handful of lines in Act 3. Cesira Ferrani Cesira Ferrani (May 8, 1863 in Turin – May 4, 1943 in Pollone) was an Italian operatic soprano who is best known for debuting two of the most iconic roles in opera history, Mimì in the original 1896 production of Giacomo Puccini's ""La bohème"" and the title role in Puccini's ""Manon Lescaut"" in its 1893 world premiere. Ferrani sang a wide repertoire that encompassed not only verismo opera but the works of composers like Verdi, Gounod, Wagner, and Debussy. Born Cesira Zanazzio, Ferrani studied with Antonietta Fricci in Turin before"
"operas of this period are ""La Rosaura"" (1690, printed by the Gesellschaft für Musikforschung), and ""Pirro e Demetrio"" (1694), in which occur the arias ""Le Violette"", and ""Ben ti sta, traditor"". From about 1697 onwards (""La caduta del Decemviri""), influenced partly perhaps by the style of Giovanni Bononcini and probably more by the taste of the viceregal court, his opera arias become more conventional and commonplace in rhythm, while his scoring is hasty and crude, yet not without brilliance (""L'Eraclea"", 1700), the oboes and trumpets being frequently used, and the violins often playing in unison. The operas composed for Ferdinando"
"concert arias. The aria was originally sung by Mysliveček's friend and professional collaborator Luigi Marchesi in the role of Rinaldo. The tenor Valentin Adamberger, who would create the role of Belmonte in Mozart's opera ""Die Entführung aus dem Serail"" in Vienna in 1782, was also present as a cast member. (taken from the score in the Ajuda Palace in Lisbon,<br> the only complete score of the opera) Act I, scene 1 - Aria of Fenicia, ""Perche d'affano oppressa"" <br> Act I, scene 2 - Aria of Sidonia, ""Vuoi che turbi"" <br> Act I, scene 3 - Aria of Armida, ""So"
"Sì (operetta) Sì is an operetta in three acts composed by Pietro Mascagni to a libretto by Carlo Lombardo with verses by Arturo Franci. The libretto is based on Lombardo's operetta ""La duchessa del Bal Tabarin"" and Felix Dörmann's libretto for ""Majestät Mimi"" set by Bruno Granichstaedten in 1911. Mascagni's only venture into operetta, it premiered on 13 December 1919 at the Teatro Quirino in Rome. The operetta takes its name from its central character, Sì, an actress at the Folies Bergère, so called because she could never say no. (""Si"" is the Italian word for ""yes"".) The friendship of"
"Gianni Schicchi discography This is a list of the recordings of ""Gianni Schicchi"", the third of a group of three one-act operas by Giacomo Puccini collectively known as ""Il trittico""; the other operas are ""Il tabarro"" and ""Suor Angelica"". The three were premiered at the Metropolitan Opera on 14 December 1918, and for the next three years were always played together. After 1921, however, Puccini agreed that the operas could be performed separately. ""Gianni Schicchi"" became the most popular and most frequently performed of the three, often paired with other works such as Maurice Ravel's ""L'heure espagnole"" and Richard Strauss's"
"series ""Sabato sera"", accompanied by the NATO naval band. The series also included ""La coppia più bella del mondo"" (""The Most Beautiful Couple in the World""), a duet with Adriano Celentano. The title of the song ""Sono, come tu mi vuoi"" (""I Am, as You Want Me to Be"") was taken from Luigi Pirandello's play """". The lyrics talk about the manic attention of the press on an artist's private life. Another hit from ""Sabato sera"" was ""L'immensità"" (""Immensity""), which was re-scored by Augusto Martelli and released as ""La inmensidad"" in Spain and Latin American countries. RAI broadcast the third"
"with the help of Amilcare Ponchielli, Antonio Bazzini and Cesare Domeniceti. Angelo Zanardini translated Scribe's libretto from the original French into Italian. The names of the two lovers 'Henri' and 'Hélène' (which by that time had been used in ""Les vêpres siciliennes"") were changed to 'Marcello' and 'Amelia'. When Donizetti abandoned the opera, he re-cycled the famous tenor aria, 'Ange si pur' ( 'Spirto gentil' in the Italian version) for his 1840 opera ""La favorite"". For the premiere, Salvi composed a replacement aria, 'Angelo casto e bel'. He also added recitatives and combined acts 3 and 4 into a single"
"been recognized by contemporary audiences. The aria was performed by actress Daniela Vega for the final scene of Sebastián Lelio's 2017 film ""A Fantastic Woman"". Ombra mai fu """" is the opening aria from the 1738 opera ""Serse"" by George Frideric Handel. The opera was a commercial failure, lasting only five performances in London after its premiere. In the 19th century, however, this aria was rediscovered and became one of Handel's best-known pieces. Handel adapted the aria from the setting by Giovanni Bononcini, who, in turn, adapted it from the setting by Francesco Cavalli. All three composers had produced settings"
"""L'istituto delle fanciulle"" (1841), ""Il gobbo del Giappone"" (1841), ""La conquista del Messico"" (1842), ""Erissena"" (1845), ""L'orfanella africana"" (1845), ""Merope"" (1846), ""Alcidoro"" (1847), ""Ifigenia in Aulide"" (1847), ""Il trionfo d'amore"" (1848), ""Olema"" (1848), ""Paquita"" (1848), ""Gisella"" (1849), ""I Candiano"" (1849), ""Schariar ovvero Le mille e una notte"" (1849), ""Mocanna"" (1850), ""La stella del marinajo"" (1851). Other ballets were ""Le spose veneziane"" and ""Stefano re di Napoli"". In 1840 he was appointed musical director of the Royal Theatre of San Carlo in Naples, a position that enabled him to travel all over Italy and abroad and make acquaintance with the international"
"Cesira Ferrani Cesira Ferrani (May 8, 1863 in Turin – May 4, 1943 in Pollone) was an Italian operatic soprano who is best known for debuting two of the most iconic roles in opera history, Mimì in the original 1896 production of Giacomo Puccini's ""La bohème"" and the title role in Puccini's ""Manon Lescaut"" in its 1893 world premiere. Ferrani sang a wide repertoire that encompassed not only verismo opera but the works of composers like Verdi, Gounod, Wagner, and Debussy. Born Cesira Zanazzio, Ferrani studied with Antonietta Fricci in Turin before making her professional opera début in 1887 as"