Opera in Milan after Verdi:

1
Chapter 62

• Opera in Milan after Verdi
• Puccini, Toscanini, and Verismo

2
Lecture Overview

• Operas as a business and art in Italy at the turn
  of the 20th century
• Giacomo Puccini
• life and works
• Madama Butterfly, aria Dovunque al mondo
• Rise of the virtuoso conductor
• Arturo Toscanini
• Verismo opera
• Review

3
The Life of Giacomo Puccini (18581924)

• 1858 born in Lucca (near Florence) father a
  church organist
• 1880 enters Milan Conservatory, studies with
  Amilcare Ponchielli
• 1893 first operatic success with Manon Lescaut
• 1904 composes Madama Butterfly
• 1924 dies in Brussels

4
Principal Compositions by Giacomo Puccini

• Operas 12 including
• La Bohème
• Madama Butterfly
• Tosca
• Turandot
• Chorus miscellaneous pieces including a Mass

5
Giacomo Puccini, Madama Butterfly, 1904, aria
Dovunque al mondo
Varied strophic form
6
The Life of Arturo Toscanini (18671957)

• 1867 born in Parma, studies cello at local
  conservatory
• 1886 begins career of operatic conductor in Rio
  de Janeiro, later in Turin
• 1896 conducts the premiere of Puccinis La
  Bohème in Turin
• 1898 appointed chief conductor at La Scala in
  Milan
• 1908 conducts at Metropolitan Opera in New York
• 1928 music director of New York Philharmonic
  Orchestra
• 1937 conducts the NBC Symphony Orchestra, an
  organization created expressly for him
• 1957 dies in New York

7
Review Key Terms

• impresario
• Ricordi
• Arturo Toscanini
• verismo
• Pietro Mascagni
• Ruggero Leoncavallo