Review (PDF) Puccini: His International Art
Puccini's operas are among the most popular and widely performed in the world, yet few books have examined his body of work from an analytical perspective. This volume remedies that lack in lively prose accessible to scholars and opera enthusiasts alike.
Hardcover: 546 pages
Publisher: University of Chicago Press; 1 edition (August 15, 2000)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0226297578
ISBN-13: 978-0226297576
Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 1.4 x 9.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
Best Sellers Rank: #2,406,730 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #85 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Sheet Music & Scores > Composers > Puccini #1763 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Sheet Music & Scores > Forms & Genres > Opera #3264 in Books > Arts & Photography > Music > Instruments > Voice
Michele Girardi's much-honored Italian work is now available in a graceful English translation. This book is more dense, musically speaking, than most opera studies, but it is an extremely refreshing account nonetheless. Girardi's deep understanding of opera history, the Italian music and publishing industry, the various sources for Puccini's operas, and, most important, Puccini's musical fingerprints has produced an essential handbook for singers, instrumentalists, Puccini admirers, and opera fans generally. The emphasis here is on Puccini's musical cosmopolitanism, beginning with his early introduction to Wagner's music, especially "Parsifal." Throughout his life, Puccini had great respect for and curiosity about his contemporaries in the opera world, and Girardi has assembled a wealth of persuasive musical evidence confirming that curiosity.Also, Girardi convincingly shows that, from the start, Puccini's promise was great and fully recognized by the most sophisticated publishers and composers. In particular, his account of the creation of Puccini's first opera, "Le villi," together with a fresh look at the Sonzogno competition in which Puccini entered its score, shows that Giulio Ricordi, Verdi's publisher, knew from the start that Puccini might represent a gold mine for his firm and therefore lavished attention and favors on the 25-year-old musical neophyte. Girardi's account helps to dispel the traditional image of the youthful Puccini as lazy, slipshod, and decidedly unpromising, and it shows Giulio Ricordi to be a man of exquisite taste and judgment.
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