Download or read book Puccini Among Friends written by Vincent Seligman and published by Read Books Ltd. This book was released on 2013-05-31 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Puccini was an Italian, a musician, highly strung, temperamental, diffident and easily discouraged, changing quickly from exaltation to despair. Nearly all of Puccini's biographers remark on his distaste for writing letters, nevertheless when my mother died nearly two years ago I found amongst her papers more than seven hundred letters from him, all written during the last twenty years of his life. From these I have selected, in whole or in part, some three hundred letters to form the basis of this memoir. In no sense of the word can it be considered a formal biography, but rather a portrait, largely self-drawn, of a very lovable character, and the record of a singularly beautiful friendship.
Download or read book Puccini Among Friends written by Vincent Seligman and published by Sullivan Press. This book was released on 2008-11 with total page 420 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: PUCCINI AMONG FRIENDS by VINCENT SELIGMAN. Originally published in 1938. Contents include: INTRODUCTION ..... 1 PART I THE ROAD TO SUCCESS 1858-1904 CHAPTER ONE LH VlLU AND EDGAR 1858-1889 ... 9 CHAPTER TWO MANON LESCAUT 1890-1893 . . - .2,1 CHAPTER THREE LA BonfeMB 1894-1896 . . 3 CHAPTER FOUR LA TOSCA 1897-1900 . . .41 CHAPTER FIVE 4 MADAMA BUTTERFLY 1901-1904 . . .5 PART II OUT OF WORK 1904-1907 CHAPTER ONE RESEARCHES AND REHEARSALS October 1904-April 1906 . 63 CHAPTER TWO D ANNUNZIO, CONCHITA AND OTHERS June igoS-January 1907 79 ix x CONTENTS CHAPTER THREE GODS AND GODDESSES OF SONG An Interlude . . 104 CHAPTER FOUR NEW YORK AND AFTER January 1907 May 1907 . .116 PART III LA FANCIULLA DEL WEST 1907-1910 CHAPTER ONi THE MAKINGS OF A LIBRETTO June --September 1907, MI CHAPTER TWO A LIBRETTO IN THE MAKING October ic 07- eptember U o8 142, CHAPTER THRKli TRAGIC INTERRUPTION October J9o8 juty 1909 . 161 CHAPTER FOUR WORK RESUMED August og-Octobet 1910 . . 184 CHAPTER FIVE THE FIRST NIGHT December xoch, 1910 ., 195 PART IV OUT OF WORK AGAIN 1911-1914 CHAPTER ONE THE SEARCH RENEWED 0anuary xgn-Fefaruaty 1912 205 CHAPTER TWO DEATH OF Giutio RICORDI Jane igu-Fcktaty 1914 zi7 CHAPTER THREE 1 Two LITTLE WOOD BTC., ETC, March i9i4 July 1914 CONTENTS xi PART V WAR-TIME 1914-1918 CHAPTER ONE PAGE LA RONDINE September I9i4-April 1917 - 2 49 CHAPTER TWO IL TRITTICO June I9i7-January 1919, .271 PART VI LAST YEARS 1919-1924 CHAPTER ONE AFTERMATH OF THE WAR March i9i9 July 1920 . . 289 CHAPTER TWO THE BIRTH OF TURANDOT July i92o-August 1921 . 311 CHAPTER THREE TURANDOT LANGUISHES AND RECOVERS September 1921-May 1923 . . - 33 2 CHAPTER FOUR THE LAST ACT 0une i923 November 29th, 1924 . . 349BIBLIOGRAPHY . INDEX 3 6 5. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Puccini at his piano in Milan 1906 . . Frontispiece FACING PAGE That queer capricious fellow, Savoia Tito Ricordi . .25 To the youthful defiler of his blotting-pad . . 3 The beginning of a twenty-year friendship 1904 . 63 Tell Ciccio that 1 love him -Sir Paolo Tosti . . .66 A collaborator manque Gabriele DAnnunzio . . .84 After the premiere of Butterfly in Paris 1906 . . . 101 Your Tenor -Caruso sees himself .... 109 To dearest Sybil, unique and rare creature 1907 . .135 A Friend in Need Lady Tosti . . . . .173 After the Fanciulla del West 1912 . . . .215 A thundering victory Facsimile of Puccinis letter dated November 5th, 1918 . 282 1 believe now that he is my friend Mr. HL V Higgins . 297 After the Trittico at Covent Garden 1920 . . 3 2 His favourite sport - and an allusion to the Covent Garden Programme see p. 9 1922 . . 343 Puccinis last resting-place at Torre del Lago, . .362 Xlll
Download or read book Puccini written by Mary Jane Phillips-Matz and published by UPNE. This book was released on 2002-10-03 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This masterful biography provides the most authentic and revealing portrait to date of this major operatic composer
Download or read book Puccini written by Julian Budden and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 538 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Julian Budden, one of the world's foremost scholars of Italian opera, here offers music lovers a major biography of Giacomo Puccini--a volume in the esteemed Master Musicians series. Blending astute musical analysis with a colorful account of Puccini's life, Budden providess an illuminating look at some of the most popular operas in the repertoire, including Manon Lescaut, La Boheme, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot. Budden also paints an intriguing portrait of Puccini the man--talented but modest, a man who had friends from every walk of life: shopkeepers, priests, wealthy landowners, fellow artists.
Download or read book Giacomo Puccini and His World written by Arman Schwartz and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2016-08-09 with total page 361 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Giacomo Puccini (1858–1924) is the world's most frequently performed operatic composer, yet he is only beginning to receive serious scholarly attention. In Giacomo Puccini and His World, an international roster of music specialists, several writing on Puccini for the first time, offers a variety of new critical perspectives on the composer and his works. Containing discussions of all of Puccini’s operas from Manon Lescaut (1893) to Turandot (1926), this volume aims to move beyond clichés of the composer as a Romantic epigone and to resituate him at the heart of early twentieth-century musical modernity. This collection’s essays explore Puccini’s engagement with spoken theater and operetta, and with new technologies like photography and cinema. Other essays consider the philosophical problems raised by "realist" opera, discuss the composer’s place in a variety of cosmopolitan formations, and reevaluate Puccini’s orientalism and his complex interactions with the Italian fascist state. A rich array of primary source material, including previously unpublished letters and documents, provides vital information on Puccini’s interactions with singers, conductors, and stage directors, and on the early reception of the verismo movement. Excerpts from Fausto Torrefranca’s notorious Giacomo Puccini and International Opera, perhaps the most vicious diatribe ever directed against the composer, appear here in English for the first time. The contributors are Micaela Baranello, Leon Botstein, Alessandra Campana, Delia Casadei, Ben Earle, Elaine Fitz Gibbon, Walter Frisch, Michele Girardi, Arthur Groos, Steven Huebner, Ellen Lockhart, Christopher Morris, Arman Schwartz, Emanuele Senici, and Alexandra Wilson.
Download or read book Puccini and The Girl written by Annie Janeiro Randall and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Set in the American West during the California Gold Rush, La fanciulla del West marked a significant departure from Giacomo Puccini's previous and best- known works. Puccini and the Girl is the first book to explore this important but often misunderstood opera that became the earliest work by a major European composer to receive an American premiere when it opened at New York's Metropolitan Opera House in 1910. Adapted from American playwright David Belasco's Broadway production, The Girl of the Golden West, Fanciulla was Puccini's most consciously modern work, and its Met debut received mixed reviews. Annie J. Randall and Rosalind Gray Davis base their account of its creation on previously unknown letters from Puccini to his main librettist, Carlo Zangarini. They mine musical materials, newspaper accounts, and rare photographs and illustrations to tell the full story of this controversial opera. Puccini and the Girl considers the production and reception of Puccini's "cowboy" opera in the light of contemporary criticism, providing both fascinating insight into its history and a look to the future as its centenary approaches. “Engrossing. . . . An eminently readable, ideally direct and information-packed book.”—William Fregosi, Opera Today
Download or read book Il Trittico Turandot and Puccini s Late Style written by Andrew Davis and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2010-09-09 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Giacomo Puccini is one of the most frequently performed and best loved of all operatic composers. In Il Trittico, Turandot, and Puccini's Late Style, Andrew Davis takes on the subject of Puccini's last two works to better understand how the composer creates meaning through the juxtaposition of the conventional and the unfamiliar -- situating Puccini in past operatic traditions and modern European musical theater. Davis asserts that hearing Puccini's late works within the context of la solita forma allows listeners to interpret the composer's expressive strategies. He examines Puccini's compositional language, with insightful analyses of melody, orchestration, harmony, voice-leading, and rhythm and meter.
Download or read book Puccini Without Excuses written by William Berger and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2009-07-01 with total page 482 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Puccini is the most beloved composer of opera in the world: one quarter of all opera performances in the U.S. are of his operas, his music pervades movie soundtracks, and his plots have infiltrated our popular culture. But, although Puccini’s art still captivates audiences and the popularity of such works as Tosca, La Bohéme, and Madama Butterfly has never waned, he has long been a victim of critical snobbery and cultural marginalization. In this witty and informative guide for beginners and fans alike, William Berger sets the record straight, reclaiming Puccini as a serious artist. Combining his trademark irreverent humor with passionate enthusiasm, Berger strikes just the right balance of introductory information and thought-provoking analysis. He includes a biography, discussions of each opera, a glossary, fun facts and anecdotes, and above all keen insight into Puccini’s enduring power. For anyone who loves Puccini and for anyone who just wonders what all the fuss is about, Puccini Without Excuses is funny, challenging, and always a pleasure to read. INCLUDES: • Why Puccini’s art and its message of hope is crucial to our world today • How Anglo audiences often miss the mythic significance of his operas • The use of his music as shorthand in films, from A Room with a View to Fatal Attraction • A scene-by scene analysis of each opera • A guide to the wealth of available recordings, books, and videos
Download or read book Puccini written by Julian Budden and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2005-09-22 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Julian Budden, one of the world's foremost scholars of Italian opera and author of a monumental three-volume study of Verdi's works, now offers music lovers a major new biography of one of the giants of Italian opera, Giacomo Puccini. Blending astute musical analysis with a colorful account of Puccini's life, here is an illuminating look at some of the most popular operas in the repertoire, including Manon Lescaut, La Boheme, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot. Budden provides an illuminating look at the process of putting an opera together, the cut-and-slash of nineteenth-century Italian opera--the struggle to find the right performers for the debut of La Boheme, Puccini's anxiety about completing Turandot (he in fact died of cancer before he did so), his animosity toward his rival Leoncavallo (whom he called Leonasino or "lion-ass"). Budden provides an informative analysis of the operas themselves, examining the music act by act. He highlights, among other things, the influence of Wagner on Puccini--alone among his Italian contemporaries, Puccini followed Wagner's example in bringing the motif into the forefront of his narrative, sometimes voicing the singer's unexpressed thoughts, sometimes sending out a signal to the audience of which the character is unaware. And Budden also paints an intriguing portrait of Puccini the man--talented but modest, a man who had friends from every walk of life: shopkeepers, priests, wealthy landowners, fellow artists. Affable, well mannered, gifted with a broad sense of fun, he rarely failed to charm all who met him. A new volume in the esteemed Master Musicians series, Puccini offers a masterful portrait of this beloved Italian composer.
Download or read book Puccini in Context written by Alexandra Wilson and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2023-09-14 with total page 517 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Exploring the many dimensions of Giacomo Puccini's historical legacy and significance, this book situates the much-loved opera composer within the cultural, social, political, and aesthetic contexts of his time and demonstrates how political concerns shape the way we approach and interpret his works in the present day.
Download or read book Puccini written by Michele Girardi and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2000-08-15 with total page 558 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Puccini's operas are among the most popular and widely performed in the world, yet few books have examined his body of work from an analytical perspective. This volume remedies that lack in lively prose accessible to scholars and opera enthusiasts alike.
Download or read book The Romantic World of Puccini written by Iris J. Arnesen and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2009-10-21 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Giacomo Puccini, composer of some of the world's most popular operas, including La Boheme, Tosca, and Madama Butterfly, was also a highly literary person who based his librettos on existing works of literature. This work explores that literary inheritance in an effort to enhance the listener's appreciation of the operatic experience. The author argues that the majority of Puccini's operas compose a grand cycle that finds its roots in the romance genre of 12th century France, serving to celebrate the strong, independent heroine. Via a close examination of the source works, the librettos, and the scores, this book offers fresh perspective on Puccini's legacy.
Download or read book Opera and the Golden West written by John Louis DiGaetani and published by Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press. This book was released on 1994 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Opera and the Golden West is a celebration of opera's difficult past in America. It focuses in part on early repertory and how European operatic masterpieces became part of American culture. This book also calls attention to the efforts of American composers as they continually tried to make original contributions to a foreign musical form. Throughout this anthology the contributors use a variety of approaches and styles to analyze the many aspects of opera, and how the form fared in the U.S. In addition to observing where opera has been in this country, this anthology also has an eye to the future. Opera presentation in the coming century may be very different from the current experience. Economics, always a critical factor, may well dictate a different scale of production. Changing tastes in directorial and production values and the expansion of television and video into the home are indicators that a new era has arrived.
Download or read book Giacomo Puccini written by Linda B. Fairtile and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-10-08 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scholarly recognition of Giacomo Puccini's achievements as a musical dramatist has been growing steadily for more than 75 years. This useful volume surveys and evaluates close to 700 books and articles about the composer, written in English, Italian, German, French and Spanish. Additional features include an essay on the evolution of Puccini studies, an annotated discography/videography, a guide to manuscript materials, and a list of organizations devoted to Puccini. This useful volume surveys and evaluates close to 700 books and articles about the composer, written in English, Italian, German, French and Spanish. Additional features include an essay on the evolution of Puccini studies, an annotated discography/videography, a guide to manuscript materials, and a list of organizations devoted to Puccini.
Download or read book The Operas of Puccini written by William Ashbrook and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 1985 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The performance history of each of Puccini's operas are reviewed and related to events in his life.
Download or read book Puccini s La fanciulla del West and American Musical Identity written by Kathryn Fenton and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-08-30 with total page 301 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On 10 December 1910, Giacomo Puccini’s seventh opera, La fanciulla del West, had its premiere before a sold-out audience at New York City’s Metropolitan Opera House. The performance was the Metropolitan Opera Company’s first world premiere by any composer. By all accounts, the premiere was an unambiguous success and the event itself recognized as a major moment in New York cultural history. The initial public opinion matched Puccini’s own evaluation of his opera. He called it "the best he had ever written" and expected it to become as popular as La Bohème. Yet the music reviews tell a different story. Marked by ambivalence, the reviews expose the New York City critics’ struggle to reconcile the opera they expected to see with the one they actually saw, and the opera itself became embroiled in controversy over the essence of musical Americanness and the nativist perception that a uniquely American national opera tradition continued to elude both American- and foreign-born opera composers. This book seeks to account for the differences between Puccini’s own assessments of the opera and those of its first audience. Offering transcriptions of the central reviews and of letters unavailable elsewhere, the book provides a historically informed understanding of La fanciulla del West and the reception of this European work as it intersected with both opera production and consumption in the United States and with the process of American musical identity formation during the very period that Americans actively sought to eradicate European cultural influences. As such, it offers a window into the development of nativism and "cosmopolitan nationalism" in New York City’s musical life during the first decade of the twentieth century.
Download or read book The Biography Book written by Daniel S. Burt and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2001-02-28 with total page 636 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Marilyn to Mussolini, people captivate people. A&E's Biography, best-selling autobiographies, and biographical novels testify to the popularity of the genre. But where does one begin? Collected here are descriptions and evaluations of over 10,000 biographical works, including books of fact and fiction, biographies for young readers, and documentaries and movies, all based on the lives of over 500 historical figures from scientists and writers, to political and military leaders, to artists and musicians. Each entry includes a brief profile, autobiographical and primary sources, and recommended works. Short reviews describe the pertinent biographical works and offer insight into the qualities and special features of each title, helping readers to find the best biographical material available on hundreds of fascinating individuals.
