Giacomo Puccini
Late Romantic · 1858–1924
Giacomo Puccini came from four generations of church musicians in Lucca, Italy, and was expected to become the fifth. As a teenager he walked to Pisa to hear Verdi's Aida, and opera won. After studies in Milan he found his subject: ordinary people, usually in love, usually headed for heartbreak, set to melodies that land on first hearing.
La bohème, Tosca, and Madama Butterfly made him wealthy and famous across the world. He spent the money on hunting, motorboats, and fast cars at his lakeside villa at Torre del Lago, and left his final opera, Turandot, unfinished when he died in 1924. At its premiere, the conductor laid down his baton at the point where Puccini's music stopped.
La bohème is the classic first opera, for good reason. Follow it with Tosca, a thriller compressed into a single Roman day.
47 works in the catalog, across 5 genres. Log what you listen to with Opus, the classical music journal for iPhone.
Chamber
- 3 Fugues for String Quartet
- 3 Minuets for String Quartet in A
- Crisantemi, elegy for string quartet
- Scherzo for String Quartet in A minor
- String Quartet in D
Keyboard
- Adagio in A major, for piano
- Foglio d'album, for piano
- Pezzo, per pianoforte
- Piccolo tango, for piano
- Piccolo valzer, for piano
Orchestral
- Adagetto in F major, for small orchestra
- Capriccio sinfonico
- Preludio sinfonico in A
Stage
- La bohème Opera
- Madama Butterfly Opera
- Manon Lescaut Opera
- Tosca Opera
- Turandot Opera
- Edgar Opera
- Gianni Schicchi Opera
- Il tabarro Opera
- La fanciulla del West Opera
- La Rondine Opera
- Le villi Opera
- Suor Angelica Opera
Vocal
- Ad una morta!
- A te, "O quanto è vano"
- Avanti, Urania!
- Canto d'anime
- Casa mia, casa mia
- Cessato il suon dell'armi, cantata for tenor solo, chorus, and orchestra
- Ecce sacerdos magnus, for a cappella choir
- E l'uccellino
- E lucevan le stelle
- Inno a Diana
- Inno di Roma
- Mentì all'avviso
- Messa di Gloria, for tenor, baritone, bass, chorus, and orchestra in A flat major
- Morire?
- Motet et Credo, for baritone, chorus, and orchestra, "Per San Paolino"
- Nessun Dorma
- O soave fanciulla
- Requiem, for chorus and chamber ensemble
- Salve del ciel regina, for soprano and organ
- Sole e amore
- Storiella d'amore
- Vexilla regis, for tenor, bass, and organ
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