We should remember that successful composers of opera in Italy, for example Giuseppe Verdi, became objects of adoration by the crowds. Being in Milano at the time for a composer intent on writing operas was like moving to New York or Los Angeles for an American musician of our time: a center teeming with talent and opportunities, where the managers and impresarios were competing, sometimes ruthlessly, to back the best works, and where one hit on the stage would secure a composer’s reputation. Milano was then one of the most important centers of opera and of music publishing, thanks to the famous La Scala opera house and to the music publishing firm established by the Ricordi family in 1808 and still extant today.ĭuring his time at the conservatory in Milano Puccini studied with opera composer Amilcare Ponchielli and became friends with fellow student Pietro Mascagni, who later became famous with his Cavalleria rusticana. Given the financial difficulties of the Puccini family, his move and his studies in Milan would not have been possible without the tireless work of his mother, who moved heaven and earth to get some important people to grant Giacomo a scholarship.
In 1880, after graduating from the local conservatory, Puccini moved to Milan to continue his studies, concentrating on opera composition. Even though he continued to be tagged as an indifferent student by his teachers, once he started studying at the local conservatory, he quickly showed his talent in composition and organ playing, and from the age of fourteen, he helped his family financially by playing organ in several churches, as well as playing piano for the entertainment of the patrons of a local café. As a result, Giacomo was sent to study music with an uncle, who was not impressed by his pupil and disparaged his lack of commitment and hard work. His father, a professor of composition at the local conservatory, died when Giacomo was five. Puccini came from a family of musicians who had served the Duke of Lucca as “maestri di cappella,” that is, directors of music at the cathedral in Lucca, for four generations.
Puccini is one of the most important composers of Italian opera and without a doubt the heir to the great Giuseppe Verdi. Dean and Professor College of Performing Arts View Bio “Only with emotion, can one achieve a triumph which endures.”Ĭritical Essay By Giulio M.
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