Puccini : a biography / Mary Jane Phillips-Matz.

Author/creator Phillips-Matz, Mary Jane
Format Book
Publication InfoBoston : Northeastern University Press, ©2002.
Descriptionxxi, 343 pages, 8 pages of plates : illustrations ; 25 cm
Subjects
Puccini, Giacomo, 1858-1924.
Composers--Italy. --Biography.

Contents A musical dynasty 1600-1880 -- Milan and the old guard: 1880-1883 -- Le Willis, later called Le Villi: 1884-1886 -- Edgar, Elvira, and Antonio: 1886-1889 -- Manon Lescaut: 1890-1893 -- La Boheme: 1893-1898 -- Tosca: 1887-1900 -- Madama Butterfly: 1900-1906 -- The international celebrity at home and abroad: 1905-1908 -- La Fanciulla del West and beyond: 1908-1913 -- La Rondine, war, and Il Trittico: 1913-1920 -- The unfinished Turandot: spring 1919-November 1924.
Abstract Descended from four generations of distinguished composers and organists, Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924) was driven by family tradition and an ambitious mother to pursue a career that brought him worldwide recognition as the greatest composer of Italian opera after Giuseppe Verdi. But behind the brilliant creator of such lasting works as La Boheme, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, La Fanciulla del West, La Rondine, and Turandot, there was a person racked with indecision, self-doubt, bouts of depression, and private misfortunes. In this work, the author brings to life both the man and his circle. Setting Puccini's story within the worlds of his beloved Tuscany and the cutthroat opera business, the author follows the composer from boyhood in his ancestral Lucca, to his struggling student years at the Milan Conservatory, to his early successes and failures, to the artistic triumphs that earned him international celebrity and considerable wealth. Filled with colorful details and anecdotes drawn from extensive primary sources as well as interviews with descendents, family friends, and colleagues, the book chronicles Puccini's personal sorrows and scandals and recounts his stormy professional rivalries and associations in England, Europe, and the United States. The author also untangles the threads of the gifted artist's complex and contradictory character. She reveals a sophisticated composer who often drew upon exotic thematic material and an elegant cosmopolite who loved his several villas, expensive cars, boats, and fine clothes. Yet Puccini remained passionately wedded to the simple life of the Tuscan countryside of his youth. This is the place the Maestro returned to in times of turmoil to share the communal joys of hunting and playing cards with his neighbors.
Bibliography noteIncludes bibliographical references (pages 319-325) and index.
LCCN 2002009017
ISBN1555535305 (cloth : alk. paper)

Availability

Library Location Call Number Status Item Actions
Music Music Stacks ML410.P89 P52 2002 ✔ Available Place Hold