5.14.+Giacomo+Puccini

=__​GIACOMO PUCCINI__=

Giacomo** Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria **Puccini** (22 December 1858 – 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer whose operas, including "La bohème", "Tosca", "Madama Butterfly" and "Turandot", are among the most frequently performed in the standard repertoire. Some of his arias, such as "O mio babbino caro" from Gianni Schicchi, "Che gelida manina" from La bohème, and "Nessun dorma" from Turandot, have become part of popular culture.
 * SOME BIOGRAPHY:

Puccini was born in Lucca in Tuscany, into a family with five generations of musical history behind them, including composer Domenico Puccini. His father died when Giacomo was five years old, and he was sent to study with his uncle Fortunato Magi, who considered him to be a poor and undisciplined student. Later, Puccini took the position of church organist and choir master in Lucca, but it was not until he saw a performance of Verdi's //Aida// that he became inspired to be an opera composer. He and his brother, Michele, walked 18.5 mi (30 km) to see the performance in Pisa. In 1880, with the help of a relative and a grant, Puccini enrolled in the Milan Conservatory to study composition with Amilcare Ponchielli and Antonio Bazzini. In the same year, at the age of 21, he composed the //Messa//, which marks the culmination of his family's long association with church music in his native Lucca. Although Puccini himself correctly titled the work a //Messa//, referring to a setting of the full Catholic Mass, today the work is popularly known as his //Messa di Gloria//, a name that technically refers to a setting of only the first two prayers of the Mass, the Kyrie and the Gloria, while omitting the Credo, the Sanctus, and the Agnus Dei. The work anticipates Puccini's career as an operatic composer by offering glimpses of the dramatic power that he would soon bring forth onto the stage; the powerful "arias" for tenor and bass soloists are certainly more operatic than is usual in church music and, in its orchestration and dramatic power, the //Messa// compares interestingly with Verdi's //Requiem//. While studying at the Conservatory, Puccini obtained a libretto from Ferdinando Fontana and entered a competition for a one-act opera in 1882. Although he did not win, //Le Villi// was later staged in 1884 at the Teatro Dal Verme and it caught the attention of Giulio Ricordi, head of G. Ricordi & Co. music publishers, who commissioned a second opera, //Edgar//, in 1889.
 * HIS FIRST STEPS:**

A habitual Toscano cigar and cigarette chain smoker, Puccini began to complain of chronic sore throats towards the end of 1923. A diagnosis of throat cancer led his doctors to recommend a new and experimental radiation therapy treatment, which was being offered in Brussels. Puccini and his wife never knew how serious the cancer was, as the news was only revealed to his son. Puccini died there on 29 November 1924, from complications from the treatment; uncontrolled bleeding led to a heart attack the day after surgery. News of his death reached New York during a performance of //La bohème//. The opera was immediately stopped, and the orchestra played Chopin's //Funeral March// for the stunned audience. He was buried in Milan, but in 1926 his son arranged for the transfer of his father's remains to a specially-created chapel inside the Puccini villa at Torre del Lago.
 * LAST YEARS:**

//(If you want to see more information about Puccini, go to:// //http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giacomo_Puccini////).//

Giacomo Puccini wrote specialy operas, but he also wrote sacred music, orchestral music, chamber music, and songs for voices and pianos.
 * SOME SELECTED WORKS:**

//__OPERAS:__//

 * Le Villi, libretto by Ferdinando Fontana (in one act – premiered at the Teatro Dal Verme, 31 May 1884)
 * Edgar, libretto by Ferdinando Fontana (in four acts – premiered at the Teatro alla Scala, 21 April 1889)
 * Manon Lescaut, libretto by Luigi Illica, Marco Praga and Domenico Oliva (premiered at the Teatro Regio, 1 February 1893)
 * La bohème, libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa (premiered at the Teatro Regio, 1 February 1896)
 * Tosca, libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa (premiered at the Teatro Costanzi, 14 January 1900)
 * Madama Butterfly, libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa (in two acts – premiered at the Teatro alla Scala, 17 February 1904)
 * La fanciulla del West, libretto by Guelfo Civinini and Carlo Zangarini (premiered at the Metropolitan, 10 December 1910)
 * La rondine, libretto by Giuseppe Adami (premiered at the Opéra of Monte Carlo, 27 March 1917)
 * Il trittico (premiered at the Metropolitan, 14 December 1918)
 * O mio babbino caro (1918) **video!**
 * Turandot, libretto by Renato Simoni and Giuseppe Adami (incomplete at the time of Puccini's death, completed by Franco Alfano: premiered at the Teatro alla Scala, 25 April 1926; an alternative completion was commissioned from Luciano Berio in 2002)

//__OTHER WORKS AND VERSIONS:__//
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 * A te (c.1875)
 * Preludio a orchestra (1876)
 * Plaudite populi (Lucca, 1877)
 * Credo (Lucca, 1878)
 * Vexilla Regis (1878)
 * Messa a 4 voci con orchestra (Lucca, 1880) Published in 1951 as Messa di Gloria
 * Adagio in A major (1881)
 * Largo Adagetto in F major (c.1881-83)
 * Salve del ciel Regina (c.1882)
 * Mentìa l’avviso (c.1882)
 * Preludio Sinfonico in A major (Milan, 1882)
 * Fugues (c.1883)
 * Scherzo in D (1883)
 * Storiella d’amore (1883)
 * Capriccio Sinfonico (Milan, 1883)
 * Sole ed amore (1888)
 * Crisantemi (String Quartet, 1890, "Alla memoria di Amadeo di Savoia Duca d'Aosta")
 * Minuetto n.1 (String Quartet, published about 1892, "A.S.A.R. Vittoria Augusta di Borbone, Principessa di Capua")
 * Minuetto n.2 (String Quartet, published about 1892, "All'esimio violinista prof. Augusto Michelangeli")
 * Minuetto n.3 (String Quartet, published about 1892, "All'amico maestro Carlo Carignani")
 * Piccolo valzer (1894)
 * Avanti Urania! (1896)
 * Scossa elettrica (1896)
 * Inno a Diana (1897)
 * E l'uccellino (1899)
 * Terra e mare (1902)
 * Canto d’anime (1904)
 * Requiem (27 January 1905, Milan)
 * Casa mia, casa mia (1908)
 * Sogno d'or (1913)
 * Pezzo per pianoforte (1916)
 * Morire? (c.1917) - This song was transposed by a half step (into G-flat major) and set to different text in the 1st revision of his work La Rondine called "Parigi è la città dei desideri" which is sung by Ruggero in the 1st act. Besides the key and text changes, it is the exact music to the aria.

This opera is very famous, sang by a soprano (Angela Gheorghiu), was wrote in the year 1918, it is in the poliphonic style, because it has both instruments and voices in it. It is sang by a woman, in a very high voice with a piano back. It is only sang by a woman. This opera has been used many times in films or movies.
 * SOME PHOTOS:**



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XAVI FERNÀNDEZ USÓN 17-XII-2009 4t ESO"c"