Puccini was the last romantic in the history of opera and became the creator of great emotions in the form of unforgettable female characters such as Butterfly, Mimi or Tosca. He drew his life energy and professional creativity to a great extent from the great feelings of passion, which he sought in his real life in the many loves.
We can find these great feelings in his works. Learn about six of his most important operas with commentary and musical examples.
The topic of this blogpost also in video
Manon Lescaut
“Manon Lescaut” is the opera that made Puccini a star in the operatic firmament. The work overwhelms the listener with motifs and melodies. with “Donna non vidi mai”, the Intermezzo and the Love Duet Puccini wrote iconic pieces.
The opera focuses on the two main characters. No other Puccini opera gives the tenor such a presence with 6 independent arias and additional duets, Des Grieux became Puccini’s longest tenor role and “Donna non vidi mai” became Puccini’s first hit song.
Donna non vidi mai
His orchestra glows with color. Listen to the wonderful main theme of the Intermezzo:
Intermezzo
Link to the portrait of this opera in the online opera guide
La Boheme
La Boheme offers Puccini at his finest. Every detail of this work is masterfully composed and the melodies are passionate and tender. The opera is among the most performed in the entire operatic repertoire.
Like Mozart, Puccini was the composer of women’s voices, and Mimi was the first of Puccini’s immortal female roles. Mimi’s opening aria is among his greatest musical inspirations:
Mi chiamano Mimi
A beautiful love duet between Marcello and Mimi unfolds in the garret. Opera cannot not be more emotional.
O soave fanciulla
Link to the portrait of this opera in the online opera guide
Tosca
Love, death and terror. Everything is in this opera. Puccini created three great role portraits, which, with gripping duets and famous arias, made “Tosca” one of the most frequently performed operas.
If one compares “Tosca” with its predecessor “La Bohème” then one is amazed. In Tosca there is nothing left of the playful sweetness of “Bohème”. Tosca” stands out with hard chords, dramatic duets and a permanent presence of a tense atmosphere.
With the famous “Te Deum” Puccini offers us one of the most gripping mass scenes in opera history. Scarpia sings himself into a frenzy of the desire to conquer, ending with the blasphemous words, “Tosca, mi fai dimenticar Iddio!” (“Tosca, you make me forget God!”).
Te Deum (Tre sbirri)
E lucevan le stelle
Cavaradossi’s execution is imminent and he thinks back to Tosca with melancholy. E lucevan le stelle is a great aria written in typical Puccini style. It gives the singer the opportunity to immerse these feelings in different timbres accompanied by a beautiful melody.
Link to the portrait of this opera in the online opera guide
Madama Butterfly
For Puccini, Butterfly was the “most soulful, expressive opera he had written”. None of the heroines of Puccini’s operas can match Butterfly. No wonder Butterfly is one of the most sought-after roles for sopranos in the entire opera literature.
With the famous aria “un bel di vedremo”, where Butterfly shows herself ready to wait for her beloved, Puccini gifts us with a gigantic crescendo to the ecstatic “e un po’ per non morire”, it is a bit like dying. It is an eruption of emotions kept under the surface.
Un bel di vedremo
In the middle of the opera, an interminable love duet unwinds, the longest Puccini wrote. The ending is the ecstatic duet of two lovers, such as we also hear from Puccini only in the greatest moments.
Bimba dagli occhi
Link to the portrait of this opera in the online opera guide
Gianni Schicchi
As a complete theatrical work, Gianni Schicchi is among the most perfect that Italian opera has produced in its history. It lasts only an hour, and every actor knows that comedies are more difficult to play than tragedies. In this piece, every role must be fully formed with acting, a real ensemble performance is required. Every situation must elicit a smile from the audience.
Only Lauretta’s “O mio babbino” in the middle of the opera is a lyrical resting point of the work and is one of the most famous arias for soprano
Link to the portrait of this opera in the online opera guide
Turandot
Puccini showed himself at the peak of his compositional art in his last opera. The melodic power of the over 60-year-old had not diminished.
Turandot has a special position within Puccini’s oeuvre. For the main character is not the emotional woman who dies ready to sacrifice like Manon, Butterfly or Tosca. How far she is from Mimi! Turandot is emotionally cold and deliberate and it cost Puccini a lot of energy to feel his way into this role.
Puccini’s emotions belong to Liù, the little woman, the underdog of the plot. He gives her the most beautiful themes, not Turandot, three of the six arias of this work sound from Liù’s mouth. It is no coincidence that Puccini died in the same place where Liù takes leave of the earth.
Signore ascolta
Puccini gives an important role to the sound of the orchestra. Besides the Chinese color, mass scenes with glistening sound play an important role. Brass and percussion instruments such as glockenspiels, xylophones and celesta bring a new tonal quality to Puccini’s music. With this work, Puccini opened up the orchestra of Italian opera in the direction of contemporaries such as Mahler, Berg or Korngold.
Gravi, enormi ed impotenti
Calaf occupies the most important tenor role in Puccini’s work, along with that of Rodolfo. Calaf is the light figure in this opera and must therefore take on the task of a prominent dramatic role, which Puccini fulfills with a very highly written tessitura.
Nessun dorma
Link to the portrait of this opera in the online opera guide
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