Musset and Abbot Prévot
The Villihis first opera, a fairly brief work (about an hour) based on an old Central European legend, was composed in 1883 to participate in a competition for young composers. Puccini did not win, but the opera met with some success, so much so that he was offered a contract for the stable of the competing publisher, Ricordi.
This time, the success is enormous. Puccini will be able to taste the bourgeois life that he dreamed of and which will mark the rest of his career.
Ricordi immediately ordered a second opera from him: it was Edgara love story based on a play by Alfred de Musset, but which was not successful. Puccini will also end up reusing certain passages to Toscaand its Funeral march would be played at his funeral. Then followed, in 1893, his third opera, inspired (like the eponymous operas of Auber then Massenet) by the Manon Lescaut of Abbot Prévot.
This time, the success is enormous. Puccini will be able to taste the bourgeois life that he dreamed of and which will mark the rest of his career: a large villa in the Tuscan coastal town of Torre del Lago, not far from Lucca, elegant clothes (and Borsalino hats!), a the first automobiles – a car accident left him with a slight handicap and the obligation to walk with a cane – and a married life which was not going to be a long, quiet river. Firstly because his beloved, Elvira, is married to another man, a charcutier with a sanguine temperament who seems to ignore this double life (or to put up with it), but will never want to divorce her: he will have to wait that he himself is assassinated by a jealous rival so that Elvira can marry Giacomo in 1904. Then, because Elvira will quickly show herself jealous, Giacomo quickly being suspected of numerous conquests extramarital affairs, particularly among the sopranos to whom he entrusted the leading roles in his operas.
Stromae’s new single with Pomme, “Ma Meilleure Ennemie”, is a huge hit (video)
From Paris to Nagasaki
The turn of the century will be a prosperous period musically, with three immense successes created four years apart: bohemian (Turin 1896), Tosca (Rome, 1900) and Madame Butterfly. Each time, we will admire the melodic quality, the singularity of the subjects (few operas are, as much as those of Puccini, linked to specific places), the conciseness of the librettos – we rarely exceed two hours – and the theatrical sense of the composer. We will then say that Puccini’s operas contain such an intrinsic theatricality that they do without directors.
Each time, we will admire the melodic quality, the singularity of the subjects, the conciseness of the librettos – we rarely exceed two hours – and the theatrical sense of the composer.
These three operas will establish the reputation and prosperity of the composer, who will even be able to acquire a yacht, named Cio-Cio San named after the heroine of Madama Butterfly and anchored in the port of Torre del Lago. But it will also be a period of tragedy. Elvira accuses Giacomo of a relationship with a young servant, Doria Manfredi. Puccini denies it, Doria too, but the humiliation that Elvira inflicts on him will be such that the young girl commits suicide, dying in excruciating suffering after having ingested a toxic liquid. The press seized on the drama, and in particular on the results of the autopsy – which revealed that Doria was a virgin. Elvira will be prosecuted for defamation of the deceased, and only an amicable agreement will allow her to escape prison. The spouses will separate for a while, before meeting again later.
The American adventure
In the meantime, Puccini was called across the Atlantic, where his success could not leave the American public indifferent: he offered them The girl from the Wild Westan astonishing western opera (1910) and, later, The triptych (1918), composed of three one-hour operas with no connection between them: the very verist The cloakthe very moving Sister Angelica and comedy Gianni Schicchiwhich earned him his biggest hit – the tender Oh my dear daddy. In the meantime, Puccini will have created a light comedy in Monte-Carlo, The swallow (1917), initially planned for Vienna.
And as luck would have it, it was in Brussels that the composer breathed his last on November 29, 1924.
He then launches into what will be his swan song, the famous Turandotbased on a Gozzi fable, but he never finished it. And as chance would have it, it was in Brussels that the composer breathed his last on November 29, 1924. He was admitted to a specialized clinic on Avenue de la Couronne for the treatment of throat cancer, diagnosed late by Italian doctors. Some biographers attribute the tumor discovered to smoking (an epicurean in every way, he had an immoderate taste for large Tuscan cigars), others to a pantagruelian meal during which a bird bone (pigeon? ortolan?) would have led to an injury to the larynx which would degenerate.
Radium in Brussels
Arriving by train in the Belgian capital at the beginning of November, Puccini will be treated by a doctor named Louis Ledoux who directed one of the two European clinics there (the other being in Berlin) where this type of carcinoma was treated with radium. Accompanied by his son Tonio, he moved into a private mansion on rue Royale and, between two treatment sessions, even found the opportunity to attend a performance of Madama Butterfly at the Mint. But, little by little, more and more serious treatments become necessary: radiotherapy session, placement of a collar of radium needles, tracheotomy, operation under local anesthesia and placement of radium needles directly into the tumor.
Far from improving, the composer’s health deteriorated, until he suffered a heart attack on November 28 late in the afternoon. He took his last breath on November 29 at 11 a.m. A first official mourning ceremony will be organized in the Sainte-Marie church in Schaerbeek on December 1, in the presence of an impressive crowd of music lovers. Then, the body having returned by train to Italy, the official funeral will be celebrated at the Duomo in Milan on December 3, before a third farewell ceremony at Torre de Lago.
Ten operas, or twelve?
Giacomo Puccini’s catalog of operas includes ten titles. But one of these titles, The Triptychactually includes three operas, like its title Triptych suggests it. Which brings the count to twelve. But as the first two are very rarely played or recorded, we come back to ten… familiar titles.
The Villi (Title) Milan (Creation) 31.5.1884 (Date) Black Forest (Place of action) Back to happy days (Famous moment)
Edgar/Milan/21.4.1889/Flanders/Funeral march
Manon Lescaut/Turin/1.2.1893/France/USA/Alone, lost, abandoned
Bohemia/Turin/1.2.1896/Paris/They call me Mimi
Tosca/Rome/14.1.1900/Rome/Lived by art, lived by love
Madama Butterfly/Milan/17.2.1904/Nagasaki/We’ll see a lot
The Maiden of the West/New York/10.12.1910/Far West/May she believe me to be free and distant
The Swallow/Monte-Carlo/17.3.1917/Paris/Côte d’Azur/Who is Doretta’s beautiful dream
The Triptych/The Tabarro/New York/14.12.1918/Paris/Because you don’t love me anymore
The Triptych/Sister Angelica/New York/14.12.1918/Sienne Without mother
The Triptych/Gianni Schicchi/New York/14.12.1918/Florence/Oh my dear daddy
Turandot/Milan/25.4.1926/Beijing/Nobody sleeps
A box
Under a quasi-Magrittian cover (a tribute to Belgium where the composer died?) and at a low price, Warner Classics is offering a Puccini edition to celebrate the centenary of the composer’s death.
Missing are the two youth operas (The Villi et Edgar), but the other ten are there, in back catalog versions which are not all first choices, but which do the job: Conlon (Bohemia), Priest (Tosca), Seraphim (Sweat Angelica) or Pappano (The Rondine) among the conductors, Caballé, Hendricks, Bisson, Scotto, Callas or Los Angeles on the sopranos side and Bergonzi, Carreras, Domingo, Alagna on the tenor side. We even added a few bonus CDs: the Glory Mass (Scimone) and recitals by Callas, Caballé, Te Kanawa, Gheorghiu and Alagna as well as Cura.
→ 23 CD Warner Classics, env. 75€.
on radio
All week, Musiq3 will discuss Puccini in its programs. On the menu, in particular, a theme every morning in The Odysseythe Glory Mass in concert from Munich (Thursday 28), the Pucciniana concert live from the ORW (Friday 29), the broadcast of the Madama Butterfly given last summer at the Aix-en-Provence Festival (Saturday 30) and a Listening Table around Bohemia (Sunday 1st).
On Auvio, RTBF also offers the production of The Triptych captured at La Monnaie in March 2022, directed by Tobias Krätzer.
Concerts
No operas on show in Belgium this week (La Monnaie and Operaballet Vlaanderen anticipated the centenary, respectively with Turandot et Madama Butterfly), but concerts are planned.
In Brussels, the royal church of Sainte-Marie de Schaarbeek will host a concert bringing together the Glory MassPuccini’s major liturgical composition, works performed at his three funeral ceremonies and excerpts from his operas. Liège conductor Patrick Baton will conduct the Jean-Noël Hamal Orchestra, the Sammartini Choir of Brussels and the Liège Symphonic Choir. After Brussels, Friday 29 (www.sammartini.org)the concert will be held again in Liège on Sunday 1st (www.csliege.be).
In Spa, Friday evening, a special Puccini evening will be organized with first a conference by musicologist Jean-Marc Onkelinx, then a recital by soprano Louise Foor who, accompanied by Marie Datcharry, will sing arias by Puccini, Mascagni, and Catalani (ccspa-jalhay-stoumont.be).
In Liège, also on Friday, the Opéra Royal de Wallonie will offer a concert in two parts. Puccinianafirstly, a cantata in five scenes for soprano, tenor, choir and orchestra, commissioned by the ORW from the conductor and composer Andrea Battistoni and created for the occasion by the forces of the house led by their musical director Giampaolo Bisanti as well as the soprano Marigona Qerkezi and the tenor Galeano Salas. In the second part of the evening, the performers will offer an anthology of arias and extracts from operas (www.operaliege.be).
