Review (PDF) The Puccini Companion
This informative volume offers 27 photographs and drawings, select bibliographies, a chronology of Puccini’s life and works, a dramatis personae of the countless individuals who played a role in Puccini’s career, a list of first performances, and plot summaries of all the operas. What forces helped shape the output of this high-living, often arrogant, but immensely talented composer? This fascinating collection includes Simonetta Puccini's essay full of intimate details about her family, as well as writings by experts on the racist politics behind the creation of Madama Butterfly; Puccini's fascination with American culture as exemplified in Fanciulla del West; his grappling with twentieth-century musical practices in Trittico and Turandot; and the changes that early recording technology sparked in turn-of-the-century operatic performance style.
Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (August 17, 2000)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0393320529
ISBN-13: 978-0393320527
Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 1.2 x 9.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #1,998,185 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #70 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Sheet Music & Scores > Composers > Puccini #702 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Sheet Music & Scores > Historical Period > Late Romantic #828 in Books > Arts & Photography > Music > Biographies > Classical
The Companion is a collection of generally fascinating and tremendously informative essays about various aspects of the development of each of Puccini's operas by scholars who write in an accessible manner. The composer's granddaughter is one of the editors. No effort is spared to shed clear light on the often confusing genesis of a beloved body of work often subjected by its composer to endless revisions. Puccini was a complex, sometimes deeply conflicted man and this book helps unravel the confusing but always interesting story of how his operas came to be.
Excellent and informative. I am interested in Toscanini's relationship with Puccini. I found this book most revealing and helpful. I was fascinated by their character opposites.
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