| |
Giacomo Puccini had a rake's moustache, deep-set eyes, and a fine head of hair. He was a fastidious dresser and chain-smoker who scoffed at conductors and composers "who think they have to have dandruff to be geniuses." Puccini was a man of many passions who described himself as "a mighty hunter of wild fowl, opera librettos and attractive women," yet he had few close friends, perhaps because most of these passions invariably centered on himself.
Unlike Verdi, this composer had no taste for 19th century Italian politics, little interest in his musical contemporaries, and even less regard for the intellectual currents of his time. In between avidly hunting ducks, driving fast cars, and looking for his next good hand of poker, Puccini composed several of the world's best loved operas, seemingly generated from within and which, musically speaking, are indebted to virtually no one.
Puccini was born in Lucca, Italy on December 22, 1858, a fifth-generation musician who didn't get off to a very good start. His teachers found him incredibly lazy: "He comes to school only to wear out the seat of his pants," one wrote. Nevertheless, he showed enough innate talent to earn a scholarship to the Milan Conservatory where he studied, chiefly, under Amilcare Ponchielli.
Melody came naturally to Puccini. He had a gift for creating memorable characters, particularly heroines, with whom this most rugged of males identified. Puccini was a musical craftsman with an unparalleled sense of theater, though he was not a particularly cerebral composer. His first success, Le villi in 1884 attracted the attention of Giulio Ricordi, the head of a renowned publishing firm. Initially, their partnership was vital to Puccini's survival-and later on, to his career.
Following a string of hits (Manon Lescaut in 1893, La bohème in 1896, and Tosca in 1900), the composer married his long-time mistress, Elvira Gemignani, but the match was an unhappy one. Elvira was sullen, controlling, quarrelsome, and insanely jealous-driving a young servant girl to suicide with her unfounded accusations of an affair (the girl's innocence was proven by an autopsy, resulting in a bitter lawsuit against Elvira which, eventually, was settled out of court). Although Puccini and his wife reconciled, he never recovered from the incident. His creative streak was shattered for many years thereafter and his marriage turned to ice.
Puccini's composing style was slow and mostly steady (so long as he maintained an interest in the libretto). He carefully researched the physical, historical, and psychological aspects of each drama. In rehearsal, the composer was patient and expressive yet demanded the same perfectionism and attention to detail he sought from himself. During rehearsals for a European tour of Manon Lescaut in 1910, Puccini was careful to praise his leading lady before mentioning she was a bit too clean for the last act. The composer then fixed things by pitching his cup of coffee on the front of her dress!
He spoke to reporters only on rare occasions and endeavored to keep his private life under wraps. Most of the time, Puccini succeeded in presenting himself as a handsome, well-dressed enigma and was, in fact, being treated, quietly, for throat cancer when he died in Brussels, Belgium, on November 29, 1924.
|
