Oh. My. Word.
What an AMAZING performance. Everything seemed to go perfectly - and the performances - I was just overwhelmed.
I will post photos as soon as I am coherant!
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
Laurie Justus Pace, artist of 'Un bel di"
Here's a picture of Laurie from her website: http://ellepace.com/Laurie_Pace.htmlEarlier this year, when James Stahlman (who filled in for me when I was out caring for my injured daughter) was soliciting artists to submit art work for our A Night in Monaco project, Laurie's work came to our attention. Artists were asked to submit something in line with our Fall Japanese theme for Madama Butterfly; Laurie went a step further, and created something especially for us. We were so excited by it that we asked if we could have the rights to use it in our marketing efforts, to which she very graciously agreed. Further, when the piece was auctioned off, the buyer also allowed us to keep it until we could get good photographs of it to use. That meant that the office staff was blessed for a couple month by having it in the office. It's such an amazing piece - the two dimensional rendering really doesn't do it justice.
Here's the story behind the piece: Laurie's grandfather used to play organ to accompany silent films. When she heard we were doing Madama Butterfly, she found his old score, and incorporated the actual pages as the background for the paint.
Here is one piece of it - you can see where the actual pages go, how the paint is layered on top. It's really quite something.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Puccini, from soup to nuts...
This is the BEST Puccini bio I've found - and rather than re-write (which would have taken FOREVER!!), I've copied it in it's entirety from: http://www.geocities.com/airepuccini_english/BIOGRAPHY.html.
It's long, but worth it!! There is LOTS of information here that I've seen in bits and pieces elsewhere.
Here we go...
BIOGRAPHY OF GIACOMO PUCCINI (1858 - 1924)
Giacomo Puccini was born on December 22th, 1858 in Lucca, Toscana. He was Michele Puccini (1813-1864) and Albina Magi's (1831-1884) sixth child and was baptized with the name of Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo María Puccini. Giacomo belonged to the fifth generation of the remarkable Puccini dynasty which gave the Republic and the Church many composers and organists.
When Giacomo was six years old, his father died and left a widow and seven orphans in poverty. The local authorities of Lucca gave the organist’s job to his uncle Fortunato Magi on the condition that he cede it to Giacomo Puccini when he was prepared. Puccini began his music lessons with his uncle Fortunato, the director of the Instituto musicale Pacini, and then with his Uncle’s teacher, Carlo Angeloni. Since he was a child, Puccini sang in the choir of the Cathedral of San Matino and the church of San Michele, and then at 14 he was able to fill in as organist in the neighborhood.
In 1876, when he was 18 years old, he made an 18-kilometre journey on foot from Lucca to Pisa to see a performance of "Aida". On this occasion he discovered of the world of opera and his future was decided. That same year he composed "Prelude in e minor for orchestra" and in 1877 "Plaudite Populi" for baritone, chorus and orchestra, followed by "Credo" in 1878.
With a scholarship from Queen Margherita and the financial aid of a family, Puccini entered the Milan Conservatory in 1880. Although he was over the age limit for entrance — he was 22 years old — he received good enough marks in the entrance examination to be accepted into the senior composition class. The first year he studied with the famous composer and violinist Antonio Bazzini, one of the few Italian musicians with a European background. Puccini composed a string quartet for him in the style of Mendelssohn. The next year he began study with Ponchielli. Ponchielli, composer of the opera "La Gioconda", awakened Puccini's interest in the theatre and encouraged him to compose operas. He did all he could to develop and promote Puccini's career as an opera composer.
In addition to the lessons with his principal teacher Ponchielli, Puccini had the chance in Milan to rub elbows with illustrious interpreters of the time. The encounters and conversations with them were most interesting. His young intelligence was enriched considerably by the performances that he witnessed. In fact, his true passion for opera had already begun when he went to Pisa to see the performance of Verdi's Aida.
The fruits of his study at the Conservatory were Preludio Sinfonico and Capriccio Sinfonico, with which he graduated in 1883 with the degree "Maestro di Musica". Both works show rich orchestral imagination and his characteristic harmony and melody.
Franchetti, Mascagni and Puccini
Through Ponchielli, Puccini met his first librettist, Ferdinando Fontana. Their first collaboration was "Le Villi". Puccini wrote this opera while still a student to participate in a competition announced by Sonzogno in 1882. Although he failed to win, this opera attract the attention of Giulio Ricordi who not only published the score, but also arranged the première at Teatro del Verme in Milán. The première was so successful that the Teatro della Scala accepted it for the following season. With this production Ricordi established a lasting relationship with Puccini and commissioned him to compose his second opera, "Edgar".
At the age of 25, Puccini met Elvira, the wife of a rich merchant of Lucca, who decided to exchange her safe bourgeois existence for the freedom of an artist’s life. She left Lucca with her daughter to live together with Puccini at Monza. Puccini's only son, Antonio, was born on December 23rd 1886. Elvira, who was endowed with both beauty and a strong will, endured all kinds of criticism from a strict Catholic society and took upon herself the impoverished life she chose. Nevertheless, the relationship could not be legalized until 1904, after the death of her husband.
After almost 4 years of work, Puccini's second opera, "Edgar", was premiered in 1889. However it was not a success due to a weak libretto. Puccini had to revise the score several times. This failure was a hard blow for Puccini because he was 31 years old and another failure would mean the end of his career. His publisher, Giulio Ricordi, told him "Remember, Puccini, you are at the most difficult moment of your artist life.... I will not allow you to stagnate .... We must stop torturing ourselves, start working and attempt to find a good subject and a good librettist."
The composer wrote on April 3rd 1890 to his younger brother Michele, who was in Argentina: "If you could find a way for me to earn money, I would join you. Are there any possibilities? I'll give up all I have here. Write me frequently and tell me everything you are doing. .... I worked until 3 o'clock at the early morning yesterday and then ate a meal consisting of a few onions. The theaters here are stingy and the audiences are getting more and more difficult to please. May God help me. I'm prepared to go if you write me. However, I need money for the trip, I warn you." His brother's letter avoided the trip. Michele wrote: "Don't come here. You can not imagine what has happened to me. I have been working like a slave without being able to save any money because of the high cost of living..."
What Puccini did to change his life was to redouble his efforts, this time with "Manon Lescaut". In order to not repeat the mistake he made with "Edgar", Puccini worked with eight librettists (including Ricordi and himself). It was the first time that he picked his own subject, although Ricordi wanted him to change his mind because of fear of comparison with Massenet. , Puccini wanted to translate what Massenet expressed in a French way into Italian terms - with desperate passion. Its première was an immense success which spread outside of Italy. At this glorious moment, the composer told a friend, "I think I understand well the operatic language and the operatic stage. I'm sure I'll succeed in this art." "Manon Lescaut" made Puccini a well-known composer throughout the world. It was performed within a few years in Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, St. Petersburg, Madrid and Hamburg, and then in London, Lisbon, Budapest, Prague, Philadelphia, etc. Puccini's financial circumstances were changed completely and allowed him to build his own villa in Torre del Lago.
After the immense successful première of "Manon Lescaut", Puccini wanted to take his brother back to Italy. However this intention was not to be fulfilled. Michele's death was a mystery; the details remain unknown and Puccini, at least in the public eye, never talked about it. On one occasion, Puccini confessed "I always feel melancholy and with a heavy heart. I have no reason for it, but this is how I feel." There are many reasons to suppose that this melancholy had its origin in the loss of his father. The death of his brother in a dramatic condition also left a scar in his heart.
Puccini produced his operas at great intervals because of his fastidiousness in choosing subjects. He was extremely fussy with the text, seldom satisfied, and paid close attention to small nuances so that the delivery of the words and the logical order of the sentences conformed with his wishes. Puccini also involved himself in many matters relating to the production of his operas, from selecting singers and conductors to supervising rehearsals. He did all he could to be present at all the rehearsals and performances. After "Manon Lescaut", the problem of librettists was solved by Ricordi. He secured for Puccini the team of Luigi Illica, who worked out the plot and drafted the dialogue, and Giuseppe Giacosa, who put the lines into verse. The first fruit of their collaboration was "La Bohème", based on Henry Murger's novel "Scènes de la vie de Bohème."
Puccini and Toscanini
At first, his colleague, Leoncavallo, offered him the libretto, but Puccini, probably thinking that it couldn't be good enough, declined it, and suggested that he set it to music himself. That was exactly what Leoncavallo did, and this led Puccini to decide to compose the opera after all. Although Puccini had a comfortable life at Torre del Lago, and enjoyed the companionship of his friends in the village - they founded the "Club la Bohème" - the composer worked as quickly as his librettists did. The opera was premiered before Leoncavallo's. Although Puccini preferred a more famous conductor, he accepted Ricordi's recommendation of a young musical director of the Teatro Regio, Arturo Toscanini. The premiere was a success, but not so great as "Manon Lescaut". The critics gave this opera a cool reception. Nevertheless, the public took to La Bohème more and more enthusiastically with each performance and finally the maestro triumphed with the production in Palermo. This opera was acclaimed in the biggest theatres of the world within two years, even if it took a few seasons longer to become established in Vienna. Gustav Mahler, who had just joined the Vienna Court Opera as conductor, was sent to Venice in May 1897 to hear the world premiere of Leoncavallo’s and a performance of Puccini’s Bohème. He reported back to the director of the opera that Puccini’s version was by far the better of the two works ("One measure of Puccini is worth more than all of Leoncavallo"), however director Jahn was on good terms with Leoncavallo and had already decided to produce Leoncavallo’s version. After Mahler took over as director of the Court Opera, he produced Puccini’s Bohème in 1903.
In 1889 Fontano, the librettist of "Le Villi" and Edgar", suggested "La Tosca" to Puccini as the subject of a new opera, but it took time for the publisher Ricordi to arrange for the rights to the play. While negotiations proceeded, Puccini worked on "Manon Lescaut" and "La Bohème". Since the author of "La Tosca", Victorien Sardou, didn't like Puccini's music — in fact, he only listened to fragments of "Le Villi" and "Edgar" — Ricordi acquired the play for Alberto Franchetti, Puccini's rival, and Luigi Illica. At first, Puccini was not so interested in "Tosca" because he still had qualms about the subject matter, but the interview of Franchetti and Illica with Sardou in Paris, and the assistance of Verdi there, awakened Puccini's interest, and he decided that he wanted to compose Tosca after all. This may have been what Ricordi had intended, believing that Puccini would have more success. At last, Ricordi diplomatically dissuaded Franchetti from setting it to music, which left Puccini free to compose the opera with Illica as librettist.
Although Puccini had to interrupt his work for trips abroad to supervise rehearsals and be present at performances of "Manon Lescaut" and "La Bohème", he continued the composition, including going to Rome to listen to the church bells in the early morning, talking to priests about details of the liturgy of the "Te Deum", and consulting Luigi Zanazzo, poet and librarian, for the lines of the shepherd's song. The premiere was successful, and like "Manon Lescaut" and "La Bohème", this piece became one of the best-known operas in the repertory of the major opera houses of the world.
David Belasco's play "Madama Butterfly" left a deep impression on Puccini when he saw it in London, 1900, although the composer didn't understand English. The following year Puccini sent an Italian translation of the story to Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa with whom he convinced Ricordi to undertake this project. The work was complicated by Giacosa's health problems in May 1901 and the automobile accident in which Puccini was involved on February 25, 1903. The maestro was confined to a wheel chair for 8 months and then he was diagnosed with diabetes, from which he would never completely recover. However, Puccini returned to composing as soon as he could. In the course of composition, he became more and more interested in all about Japan, including discussed with the wife of the Japanese ambassador about the authentic motives of Japanese folk songs, and consulted Japanese actresses on tour in Milan about the details of Butterfly's behavior.
Nevertheless, the première did not enjoy the success that Puccini expected. It was a fiasco. Puccini said: "It was a real lynching. Those cannibals didn't listen to one note. What a horrible orgy of madmen, drunk with hate! But my Butterfly will not die. It is the most deeply felt and imaginative opera I have yet conceived."
Immediately Puccini and his librettists started working and revising the whole opera. The second act was divided into two parts and some details were eliminated from the first one. The revised version was a great success.
When Puccini arrived in Argentina in 1905, he was not the struggling young artist with the foolish idea of emigrating to escape poverty, but rather a famous and successful maestro who would soon be present at performances of his five operas - "Edgar", "Manon Lescaut", La Bohème", "Madama Butterfly" and "Tosca" - under the musical direction of Leopoldo Mugnone and Arturo Toscanini.
One of the reasons for the silence of six years between the premières of "Madama Butterfly" and "La Fanciulla del West" was the death of a servant girl named Doria Manfredi. The friendship which developed between the composer and this girl led to rumors in the village and incited his wife's jealousy. At last, the maestro went away to Rome, supposedly for musical reasons. A short time after his departure, on January 28th 1909, Doria committed suicide by taking poison. The post mortem examination certified her virginity. Thereupon Elvira, Mrs. Puccini, was condemned to prison for several months for libel and the couple was fined a large sum for damages and injury.
Puccini, Toscanini, David Belasco, and Guilio Gatti Casazzo
When Puccini went to America in 1907 to attend the rehearsals and premières of his four operas at the Metropolitan Opera, he was looking for a new subject for his next opera and took the opportunity to see several plays while staying in New York, including three by David Belasco. One was "Madama Butterfly" and the other was "La Fancuilla del West". The history of the West impressed him, and after his friend Sybil Seligman had translated the play into Italian, he decided to use it as the basis for his new opera. At that time, one of his old librettists, Giuseppe Giacosa, had died, and conflicts with the other, Luigi Illica, led him to engage a new collaborator, Carlo Zangarini. Nevertheless, Zangarini completed only two acts and Puccini had to seek help from Guelfo Civinini, who wrote the third act according to the composer's suggestions and revised all that Zangarini had written. The orchestration was finished in July, 1910, and Puccini and his son, Tonio, sailed to New York for the première, which was a great success. The music of "La Fanciulla del West" is the most progressive and most modern that Puccini had written. Within a short time, the opera was premiered in Chicago, Baltimore, Philadelphia, etc. and was performed at the Met in the following three seasons.
1912 was a sad year for Puccini. The publisher, Giulio Ricordi, who had encouraged and promoted his opera career, died. Puccini’s favorite sister, Ramelda, also died the same year.
Since Offenbach, all composers have tried, at least once, to summon the joyful muse and have attempted an operetta.
In truth, Puccini didn't want to compose just an operetta, but a tragic operetta. He said in a letter "I still want to make the audience cry." In the autumn of 1913 Puccini accepted a commission for an operetta from the directors of the Vienna Karltheater. The result was "La Rondine", and it was called "Commedia Lirica", a light-hearted work, with a conversational tone and lyric mood. Some consider it the weakest of his operas because of the lack of the pure Puccinian lyrical melody. The entrance of Italy to the Alliance in the World War I prevented the première of "La Rondine" in Vienna. At last, it was premiered in Monte Carlo in 1917.
The idea of joining various works in an only one constitute an expression of originality. The beginnings belong to a slow process to abandon little by little the conservative world from which Puccini had arisen. "Il Tabarro", "Suor Angelica" and "Gianni Schicchi" remain, with all their harsh realism, sentiment and calmness, a fascinating theatrical idea. For the composer, who started work on "Il Tabarro" in his 50s and completed the project happily with "Gianni Schicchi" in his 60s, this opera represented an important expression of his art.
The première took place in New York because the majority of the artists in Italy were in military service, and operatic life suffered because of this. How he wished that his opera could have been premiered "at home"! He could not travel to the United States, since travel in Europe was dangerous because of mines, and it was also difficult to get a visa. In spite of the absence of the composer, the premiere of "Il Trittico" was a triumphant success, especially "Gianni Schicchi".
During the two years after "Il Trittico", Puccini could not find a subject for a new opera. Various projects were considered. He began setting to music "Christopher Sly" by Giovacchino Forzano, but then gave it up. This desperate situation changed when a conversation turned to "Turandot" during a lunch with Giuseppe Adami, the librettist of "La Rondine" and "Il Tabarro", and Renato Simoni, who had adapted it for the stage. Puccini started working with his librettists, created characters with humanity and deep psychology, and also retained the "Commedia dell'Arte" in the three masks: Ping, Pang, Pong.
The composer began the first act on January 1st 1921, and completed the orchestration in November 1922. While he was working on the orchestration of the second act at the end of 1923, pains in his throat and persistent coughs began to give him trouble. However, the maestro decided to ignore it. In February 1924 he completed the second act. During the following months he worked fast on the orchestration of the third act up to the death of Liù. When the pains were more and more intense, Puccini decided consulting doctors. At first the diagnosis was rheumatic inflammation of the throat. In the autumn of 1924, Puccini began working with Toscanini, who was to be the conductor of the première.
Nevertheless, the two scenes beyond Liù's death were not written, because Puccini wanted to await the definite text of the duet of Turandot and Calaf to compose the transformation of Turandot's personality. On October 8th 1924, two days before he was diagnosed as having throat cancer, the disease that killed him a few weeks laterPuccini accepted, at last, Adami's fourth version of the text of the duet. The composer was sent to a clinic in Brussels on November 4th. There, he continued to work on "Turandot". He was operated on the 24th of the same month, but five days later, he died of heart failure.
When the maestro died on November 29th 1924, he left many pages of drafts for duet and the last scenes of Turandot. Toscanini wanted Riccardo Zandonai to complete this opera, but Puccini's son Tonio objected because he thought Zandonai was too famous. Finally they entrusted it to Franco Alfano who completed the opera six months later.
On the night of the première, after Liù's death when the chorus sang, "Liù, bontà perdona! Liù, docezza, dormi! Oblia! Liù! Poesia!", Toscanini laid down his baton, while the curtain was lowered slowly, and faced the audience with the words "Here ends the opera, because at this point the Maestro died".
The version that Alfano completed was given at the second performance. After Puccini's death, the question of whether "Turandot" should be performed as an incomplete opera or in Alfano's version was still undecided.
Two years after his death, Puccini’s remains were moved to the village of Torre del Lago, where the Puccini museum now stands.
It's long, but worth it!! There is LOTS of information here that I've seen in bits and pieces elsewhere.
Here we go...
BIOGRAPHY OF GIACOMO PUCCINI (1858 - 1924)
Giacomo Puccini was born on December 22th, 1858 in Lucca, Toscana. He was Michele Puccini (1813-1864) and Albina Magi's (1831-1884) sixth child and was baptized with the name of Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo María Puccini. Giacomo belonged to the fifth generation of the remarkable Puccini dynasty which gave the Republic and the Church many composers and organists.
When Giacomo was six years old, his father died and left a widow and seven orphans in poverty. The local authorities of Lucca gave the organist’s job to his uncle Fortunato Magi on the condition that he cede it to Giacomo Puccini when he was prepared. Puccini began his music lessons with his uncle Fortunato, the director of the Instituto musicale Pacini, and then with his Uncle’s teacher, Carlo Angeloni. Since he was a child, Puccini sang in the choir of the Cathedral of San Matino and the church of San Michele, and then at 14 he was able to fill in as organist in the neighborhood.
In 1876, when he was 18 years old, he made an 18-kilometre journey on foot from Lucca to Pisa to see a performance of "Aida". On this occasion he discovered of the world of opera and his future was decided. That same year he composed "Prelude in e minor for orchestra" and in 1877 "Plaudite Populi" for baritone, chorus and orchestra, followed by "Credo" in 1878.
With a scholarship from Queen Margherita and the financial aid of a family, Puccini entered the Milan Conservatory in 1880. Although he was over the age limit for entrance — he was 22 years old — he received good enough marks in the entrance examination to be accepted into the senior composition class. The first year he studied with the famous composer and violinist Antonio Bazzini, one of the few Italian musicians with a European background. Puccini composed a string quartet for him in the style of Mendelssohn. The next year he began study with Ponchielli. Ponchielli, composer of the opera "La Gioconda", awakened Puccini's interest in the theatre and encouraged him to compose operas. He did all he could to develop and promote Puccini's career as an opera composer.
In addition to the lessons with his principal teacher Ponchielli, Puccini had the chance in Milan to rub elbows with illustrious interpreters of the time. The encounters and conversations with them were most interesting. His young intelligence was enriched considerably by the performances that he witnessed. In fact, his true passion for opera had already begun when he went to Pisa to see the performance of Verdi's Aida.
The fruits of his study at the Conservatory were Preludio Sinfonico and Capriccio Sinfonico, with which he graduated in 1883 with the degree "Maestro di Musica". Both works show rich orchestral imagination and his characteristic harmony and melody.
Franchetti, Mascagni and Puccini
Through Ponchielli, Puccini met his first librettist, Ferdinando Fontana. Their first collaboration was "Le Villi". Puccini wrote this opera while still a student to participate in a competition announced by Sonzogno in 1882. Although he failed to win, this opera attract the attention of Giulio Ricordi who not only published the score, but also arranged the première at Teatro del Verme in Milán. The première was so successful that the Teatro della Scala accepted it for the following season. With this production Ricordi established a lasting relationship with Puccini and commissioned him to compose his second opera, "Edgar".
At the age of 25, Puccini met Elvira, the wife of a rich merchant of Lucca, who decided to exchange her safe bourgeois existence for the freedom of an artist’s life. She left Lucca with her daughter to live together with Puccini at Monza. Puccini's only son, Antonio, was born on December 23rd 1886. Elvira, who was endowed with both beauty and a strong will, endured all kinds of criticism from a strict Catholic society and took upon herself the impoverished life she chose. Nevertheless, the relationship could not be legalized until 1904, after the death of her husband.
After almost 4 years of work, Puccini's second opera, "Edgar", was premiered in 1889. However it was not a success due to a weak libretto. Puccini had to revise the score several times. This failure was a hard blow for Puccini because he was 31 years old and another failure would mean the end of his career. His publisher, Giulio Ricordi, told him "Remember, Puccini, you are at the most difficult moment of your artist life.... I will not allow you to stagnate .... We must stop torturing ourselves, start working and attempt to find a good subject and a good librettist."
The composer wrote on April 3rd 1890 to his younger brother Michele, who was in Argentina: "If you could find a way for me to earn money, I would join you. Are there any possibilities? I'll give up all I have here. Write me frequently and tell me everything you are doing. .... I worked until 3 o'clock at the early morning yesterday and then ate a meal consisting of a few onions. The theaters here are stingy and the audiences are getting more and more difficult to please. May God help me. I'm prepared to go if you write me. However, I need money for the trip, I warn you." His brother's letter avoided the trip. Michele wrote: "Don't come here. You can not imagine what has happened to me. I have been working like a slave without being able to save any money because of the high cost of living..."
What Puccini did to change his life was to redouble his efforts, this time with "Manon Lescaut". In order to not repeat the mistake he made with "Edgar", Puccini worked with eight librettists (including Ricordi and himself). It was the first time that he picked his own subject, although Ricordi wanted him to change his mind because of fear of comparison with Massenet. , Puccini wanted to translate what Massenet expressed in a French way into Italian terms - with desperate passion. Its première was an immense success which spread outside of Italy. At this glorious moment, the composer told a friend, "I think I understand well the operatic language and the operatic stage. I'm sure I'll succeed in this art." "Manon Lescaut" made Puccini a well-known composer throughout the world. It was performed within a few years in Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, St. Petersburg, Madrid and Hamburg, and then in London, Lisbon, Budapest, Prague, Philadelphia, etc. Puccini's financial circumstances were changed completely and allowed him to build his own villa in Torre del Lago.After the immense successful première of "Manon Lescaut", Puccini wanted to take his brother back to Italy. However this intention was not to be fulfilled. Michele's death was a mystery; the details remain unknown and Puccini, at least in the public eye, never talked about it. On one occasion, Puccini confessed "I always feel melancholy and with a heavy heart. I have no reason for it, but this is how I feel." There are many reasons to suppose that this melancholy had its origin in the loss of his father. The death of his brother in a dramatic condition also left a scar in his heart.
Puccini produced his operas at great intervals because of his fastidiousness in choosing subjects. He was extremely fussy with the text, seldom satisfied, and paid close attention to small nuances so that the delivery of the words and the logical order of the sentences conformed with his wishes. Puccini also involved himself in many matters relating to the production of his operas, from selecting singers and conductors to supervising rehearsals. He did all he could to be present at all the rehearsals and performances. After "Manon Lescaut", the problem of librettists was solved by Ricordi. He secured for Puccini the team of Luigi Illica, who worked out the plot and drafted the dialogue, and Giuseppe Giacosa, who put the lines into verse. The first fruit of their collaboration was "La Bohème", based on Henry Murger's novel "Scènes de la vie de Bohème."
Puccini and Toscanini
At first, his colleague, Leoncavallo, offered him the libretto, but Puccini, probably thinking that it couldn't be good enough, declined it, and suggested that he set it to music himself. That was exactly what Leoncavallo did, and this led Puccini to decide to compose the opera after all. Although Puccini had a comfortable life at Torre del Lago, and enjoyed the companionship of his friends in the village - they founded the "Club la Bohème" - the composer worked as quickly as his librettists did. The opera was premiered before Leoncavallo's. Although Puccini preferred a more famous conductor, he accepted Ricordi's recommendation of a young musical director of the Teatro Regio, Arturo Toscanini. The premiere was a success, but not so great as "Manon Lescaut". The critics gave this opera a cool reception. Nevertheless, the public took to La Bohème more and more enthusiastically with each performance and finally the maestro triumphed with the production in Palermo. This opera was acclaimed in the biggest theatres of the world within two years, even if it took a few seasons longer to become established in Vienna. Gustav Mahler, who had just joined the Vienna Court Opera as conductor, was sent to Venice in May 1897 to hear the world premiere of Leoncavallo’s and a performance of Puccini’s Bohème. He reported back to the director of the opera that Puccini’s version was by far the better of the two works ("One measure of Puccini is worth more than all of Leoncavallo"), however director Jahn was on good terms with Leoncavallo and had already decided to produce Leoncavallo’s version. After Mahler took over as director of the Court Opera, he produced Puccini’s Bohème in 1903.
In 1889 Fontano, the librettist of "Le Villi" and Edgar", suggested "La Tosca" to Puccini as the subject of a new opera, but it took time for the publisher Ricordi to arrange for the rights to the play. While negotiations proceeded, Puccini worked on "Manon Lescaut" and "La Bohème". Since the author of "La Tosca", Victorien Sardou, didn't like Puccini's music — in fact, he only listened to fragments of "Le Villi" and "Edgar" — Ricordi acquired the play for Alberto Franchetti, Puccini's rival, and Luigi Illica. At first, Puccini was not so interested in "Tosca" because he still had qualms about the subject matter, but the interview of Franchetti and Illica with Sardou in Paris, and the assistance of Verdi there, awakened Puccini's interest, and he decided that he wanted to compose Tosca after all. This may have been what Ricordi had intended, believing that Puccini would have more success. At last, Ricordi diplomatically dissuaded Franchetti from setting it to music, which left Puccini free to compose the opera with Illica as librettist.Although Puccini had to interrupt his work for trips abroad to supervise rehearsals and be present at performances of "Manon Lescaut" and "La Bohème", he continued the composition, including going to Rome to listen to the church bells in the early morning, talking to priests about details of the liturgy of the "Te Deum", and consulting Luigi Zanazzo, poet and librarian, for the lines of the shepherd's song. The premiere was successful, and like "Manon Lescaut" and "La Bohème", this piece became one of the best-known operas in the repertory of the major opera houses of the world.
David Belasco's play "Madama Butterfly" left a deep impression on Puccini when he saw it in London, 1900, although the composer didn't understand English. The following year Puccini sent an Italian translation of the story to Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa with whom he convinced Ricordi to undertake this project. The work was complicated by Giacosa's health problems in May 1901 and the automobile accident in which Puccini was involved on February 25, 1903. The maestro was confined to a wheel chair for 8 months and then he was diagnosed with diabetes, from which he would never completely recover. However, Puccini returned to composing as soon as he could. In the course of composition, he became more and more interested in all about Japan, including discussed with the wife of the Japanese ambassador about the authentic motives of Japanese folk songs, and consulted Japanese actresses on tour in Milan about the details of Butterfly's behavior.
Nevertheless, the première did not enjoy the success that Puccini expected. It was a fiasco. Puccini said: "It was a real lynching. Those cannibals didn't listen to one note. What a horrible orgy of madmen, drunk with hate! But my Butterfly will not die. It is the most deeply felt and imaginative opera I have yet conceived."
Immediately Puccini and his librettists started working and revising the whole opera. The second act was divided into two parts and some details were eliminated from the first one. The revised version was a great success.
When Puccini arrived in Argentina in 1905, he was not the struggling young artist with the foolish idea of emigrating to escape poverty, but rather a famous and successful maestro who would soon be present at performances of his five operas - "Edgar", "Manon Lescaut", La Bohème", "Madama Butterfly" and "Tosca" - under the musical direction of Leopoldo Mugnone and Arturo Toscanini.
One of the reasons for the silence of six years between the premières of "Madama Butterfly" and "La Fanciulla del West" was the death of a servant girl named Doria Manfredi. The friendship which developed between the composer and this girl led to rumors in the village and incited his wife's jealousy. At last, the maestro went away to Rome, supposedly for musical reasons. A short time after his departure, on January 28th 1909, Doria committed suicide by taking poison. The post mortem examination certified her virginity. Thereupon Elvira, Mrs. Puccini, was condemned to prison for several months for libel and the couple was fined a large sum for damages and injury.
Puccini, Toscanini, David Belasco, and Guilio Gatti Casazzo
When Puccini went to America in 1907 to attend the rehearsals and premières of his four operas at the Metropolitan Opera, he was looking for a new subject for his next opera and took the opportunity to see several plays while staying in New York, including three by David Belasco. One was "Madama Butterfly" and the other was "La Fancuilla del West". The history of the West impressed him, and after his friend Sybil Seligman had translated the play into Italian, he decided to use it as the basis for his new opera. At that time, one of his old librettists, Giuseppe Giacosa, had died, and conflicts with the other, Luigi Illica, led him to engage a new collaborator, Carlo Zangarini. Nevertheless, Zangarini completed only two acts and Puccini had to seek help from Guelfo Civinini, who wrote the third act according to the composer's suggestions and revised all that Zangarini had written. The orchestration was finished in July, 1910, and Puccini and his son, Tonio, sailed to New York for the première, which was a great success. The music of "La Fanciulla del West" is the most progressive and most modern that Puccini had written. Within a short time, the opera was premiered in Chicago, Baltimore, Philadelphia, etc. and was performed at the Met in the following three seasons.
1912 was a sad year for Puccini. The publisher, Giulio Ricordi, who had encouraged and promoted his opera career, died. Puccini’s favorite sister, Ramelda, also died the same year.
Since Offenbach, all composers have tried, at least once, to summon the joyful muse and have attempted an operetta.
In truth, Puccini didn't want to compose just an operetta, but a tragic operetta. He said in a letter "I still want to make the audience cry." In the autumn of 1913 Puccini accepted a commission for an operetta from the directors of the Vienna Karltheater. The result was "La Rondine", and it was called "Commedia Lirica", a light-hearted work, with a conversational tone and lyric mood. Some consider it the weakest of his operas because of the lack of the pure Puccinian lyrical melody. The entrance of Italy to the Alliance in the World War I prevented the première of "La Rondine" in Vienna. At last, it was premiered in Monte Carlo in 1917.The idea of joining various works in an only one constitute an expression of originality. The beginnings belong to a slow process to abandon little by little the conservative world from which Puccini had arisen. "Il Tabarro", "Suor Angelica" and "Gianni Schicchi" remain, with all their harsh realism, sentiment and calmness, a fascinating theatrical idea. For the composer, who started work on "Il Tabarro" in his 50s and completed the project happily with "Gianni Schicchi" in his 60s, this opera represented an important expression of his art.
The première took place in New York because the majority of the artists in Italy were in military service, and operatic life suffered because of this. How he wished that his opera could have been premiered "at home"! He could not travel to the United States, since travel in Europe was dangerous because of mines, and it was also difficult to get a visa. In spite of the absence of the composer, the premiere of "Il Trittico" was a triumphant success, especially "Gianni Schicchi".
During the two years after "Il Trittico", Puccini could not find a subject for a new opera. Various projects were considered. He began setting to music "Christopher Sly" by Giovacchino Forzano, but then gave it up. This desperate situation changed when a conversation turned to "Turandot" during a lunch with Giuseppe Adami, the librettist of "La Rondine" and "Il Tabarro", and Renato Simoni, who had adapted it for the stage. Puccini started working with his librettists, created characters with humanity and deep psychology, and also retained the "Commedia dell'Arte" in the three masks: Ping, Pang, Pong.
The composer began the first act on January 1st 1921, and completed the orchestration in November 1922. While he was working on the orchestration of the second act at the end of 1923, pains in his throat and persistent coughs began to give him trouble. However, the maestro decided to ignore it. In February 1924 he completed the second act. During the following months he worked fast on the orchestration of the third act up to the death of Liù. When the pains were more and more intense, Puccini decided consulting doctors. At first the diagnosis was rheumatic inflammation of the throat. In the autumn of 1924, Puccini began working with Toscanini, who was to be the conductor of the première.
Nevertheless, the two scenes beyond Liù's death were not written, because Puccini wanted to await the definite text of the duet of Turandot and Calaf to compose the transformation of Turandot's personality. On October 8th 1924, two days before he was diagnosed as having throat cancer, the disease that killed him a few weeks laterPuccini accepted, at last, Adami's fourth version of the text of the duet. The composer was sent to a clinic in Brussels on November 4th. There, he continued to work on "Turandot". He was operated on the 24th of the same month, but five days later, he died of heart failure.
When the maestro died on November 29th 1924, he left many pages of drafts for duet and the last scenes of Turandot. Toscanini wanted Riccardo Zandonai to complete this opera, but Puccini's son Tonio objected because he thought Zandonai was too famous. Finally they entrusted it to Franco Alfano who completed the opera six months later.
On the night of the première, after Liù's death when the chorus sang, "Liù, bontà perdona! Liù, docezza, dormi! Oblia! Liù! Poesia!", Toscanini laid down his baton, while the curtain was lowered slowly, and faced the audience with the words "Here ends the opera, because at this point the Maestro died".
The version that Alfano completed was given at the second performance. After Puccini's death, the question of whether "Turandot" should be performed as an incomplete opera or in Alfano's version was still undecided.
Two years after his death, Puccini’s remains were moved to the village of Torre del Lago, where the Puccini museum now stands.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Staging rehearsals
We are into our second week of staging rehearsals, which don't take place at the PAC, but at a local church. Our staging manager, Eugene Hutchins, measures out the rehearsal space and marks the equivalent stage space with masking tape. For the first two weeks, it's about who needs to be where, and
when, and what they are singing & how they are singing it, when they get there. Did that make any sense at all? Maybe these photos will help...Our first singer arrived Monday the 9th, and got to spend a warm March day exploring downtown SLO. Several more artists arrived Tuesday the 10th, and rehearsals began in earnest. Our rehearsal reports, care of Eugene, are always informative for me - telling me what's coming up the next day or so, and whether there are any glitches that the office can help with.
Eugene also gets the task of coordinating all the schedules - 
especially difficult when it comes to interviews and appearances for the cast, working around rehearsals. Just this morning, he had to work around a photo shoot with the Tribune photographer. You should see the results on that one this Thursday, when they have told us we'll be on the cover of Ticket! Yay, Tribune!!Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Where to find our Butterflies...
I've thought that perhaps some would like to know where and when we will be having public appearances where you can get more info, perhaps some in-depth material, about the opera.
San Luis Obispo County Public Access Channel (Channel 20) has a show created from Artistic Director Robert Ashens' recent talk at Opera Lovers Meet, with a private interview that followed. There will be several showings: The first is coming tonight at 7:30 p.m., I believe. Then Friday at 5:30 p.m. and Sunday at 8:30 a.m.
Maestro Ashens will appear on KCBX (90.1 FM) Wednesday, March 18 at 1 pm on a pledge break during their campaign. PRO has donated 5 pairs of tickets as premiums, so check out their pledge drive and support KCBX! The KCBX pledge drive runs from March 16 to 28. Additionally KCBX will be running many short sponsorship spots during the month, on Morning Edition, Afternoon Classics and All Things Considered.
The Tribune will be publishing a piece on Madama Butterfly on Thursday, March 19th, with exclusive interviews. Both Butterfly and Pinkerton! Have you seen our beautiful ads?
We'll also be at Farmer's Market on tomorrow, March 12. Our booth will be at 740 Higuera in front of the Gold Concept store, starting at 5:30 p.m. Stop by to lend your support!!
KCOY television plans to tape our school children's matinee on Wednesday March 26th. 900+ 4th, 5th and 6th graders attending the opera! It's going to be really special, as we're inviting a daiko drum group to perform while the children are getting off the bus!
KCPR (Cal Poly Radio, 91.3 FM) will interview Robert Ashens on March 19th at 11 a.m.
San Luis Obispo County Public Access Channel (Channel 20) has a show created from Artistic Director Robert Ashens' recent talk at Opera Lovers Meet, with a private interview that followed. There will be several showings: The first is coming tonight at 7:30 p.m., I believe. Then Friday at 5:30 p.m. and Sunday at 8:30 a.m.
Maestro Ashens will appear on KCBX (90.1 FM) Wednesday, March 18 at 1 pm on a pledge break during their campaign. PRO has donated 5 pairs of tickets as premiums, so check out their pledge drive and support KCBX! The KCBX pledge drive runs from March 16 to 28. Additionally KCBX will be running many short sponsorship spots during the month, on Morning Edition, Afternoon Classics and All Things Considered.
The Tribune will be publishing a piece on Madama Butterfly on Thursday, March 19th, with exclusive interviews. Both Butterfly and Pinkerton! Have you seen our beautiful ads?
We'll also be at Farmer's Market on tomorrow, March 12. Our booth will be at 740 Higuera in front of the Gold Concept store, starting at 5:30 p.m. Stop by to lend your support!!
KCOY television plans to tape our school children's matinee on Wednesday March 26th. 900+ 4th, 5th and 6th graders attending the opera! It's going to be really special, as we're inviting a daiko drum group to perform while the children are getting off the bus!
KCPR (Cal Poly Radio, 91.3 FM) will interview Robert Ashens on March 19th at 11 a.m.
Join. Experience. Meet. Discover.... Opera
Opera Companies all over the United States are finding their young professional patrons are needing a way to contact with other folks like them. So PRO is sponsoring several get-togethers to help start a local group - here is their message:Young Opera and Classics Lovers:
The Young Professional's Group is a place where people can get together, discuss & demystify opera, and generally enjoy themselves.
Opera and Classical music are beautiful and incredibly intimidating at the same time. Most people stay away because they've never had a chance to encounter Opera and Classical music in a relaxed situation.
One thing that most people have never realized about opera is that most opera was not written for or about "gentle persons." Indeed, the most famous operas of all time were all written about the lower classes in very shady situations. The Marriage of Figaro and The Barber of Seville are both political satires about nobility and the foibles of the high and mighty. La Traviata and Tosca are tales of prostitutes, hedonism and rape.
Last, but not least, opera singers, choristers, and directors are as normal as everyone else. I know one singer who collects comic books. I know another who is a "surfer girl." There is another who teaches at the University level and is a semi-professional cook. For every "diva" and "opera purist" there are ten normal people who happen to love singing and performing in pure operatic style.
The young adult group meets four times a month. It's not necessary that you make all meetings. The point is that every week there is something to do, and people to talk with. Opera is fun to enjoy by yourself, but it's better with a group of friends. Once a month, we try to do something a bit fancy. Something to bring a date or friends to, or just a reason to get dressed up and drink wine.
The entire point of this group can be summed up in the following words: "Have fun, drink wine, enjoy opera."
Our first two events:
Friday, March 13 at The Black Sheep Bar and Grill on Marsh St in SLO. 7 p.m. A get-acquainted and launch meeting.
Saturday March 28, Backstage at the PAC: A post-show reception in the green-room - backstage at the PAC on closing night, just for our group. We are expecting visits by Maestro Robert Ashens, and perhaps a few of the singers. If you're interested in joining us, here are the requirements: You must be an adult under the age of 40. And be prepared to show your ID, as wine will be served, along with savories. As attendance is limited, please call the PRO office before March 27th to secure your invitation. No membership required.
If you're a Facebook member, check out our event page: Young Professional's Group Opening
Thursday, March 5, 2009
The Orchestra
Just as our chorus is an integral part of PRO, so is our orchestra. Many of our local musicians have performed with us over the years, some of them for many years. My database, which tracks musician participation back to 1991, finds at least one of our Butterfly musicians played with us in the 1991 production, The Abduction from the Seraglio. She must have been a teenager.
Our orchestra for Madama Butterfly will be 36 members. They will have quite a task, as the music for Madama Butterfly normally calls for an orchestra of 50 - but we will use a standard
reduction, as is appropriate to our venue.
Jane Swanson, who plays horn with the SLO Symphony has been of great service (I can't use the word instrumental here, can I?) in putting together the orchestra for Butterfly, using her contacts in SLO County to pull together the best possible group. We couldn't have done this without her. We are still working on the last couple of positions - we're short two, possibly three violinists. But rehearsals start this week, so I'm not sure we're going to find them in time.
It never ceases to amaze me of the caliber of the musicians in our area. These players get together for just five rehearsals before opening night. Can you imagine that??? I can't. And then they create the amazing sound that, with our wonderful singers, brings us to tears.
This year we had an extra task - the music scores that Maestro Ashens owns, and were being stored in Eugene, his former residence - had disappeared, so we were force to scrounge for music. We ended up doing an exchange with Livermore Valley Opera (supertitles for music - thank you Raquel!) and a loan from San Francisco Lyric Opera. Thanks to those wonderful folks, we had our music (although just barely in time!) for our musicians to pick up.
I just love the excitement of the musicians about a particular piece - you can hear it in their voices (whether spoken or written) and when I get to see them, you get to see it in the faces. I have never had quite that experience in my own life, so it's really wonderful to see it in others.
Just one more piece in the puzzle that is opera.
Our orchestra for Madama Butterfly will be 36 members. They will have quite a task, as the music for Madama Butterfly normally calls for an orchestra of 50 - but we will use a standard
reduction, as is appropriate to our venue.Jane Swanson, who plays horn with the SLO Symphony has been of great service (I can't use the word instrumental here, can I?) in putting together the orchestra for Butterfly, using her contacts in SLO County to pull together the best possible group. We couldn't have done this without her. We are still working on the last couple of positions - we're short two, possibly three violinists. But rehearsals start this week, so I'm not sure we're going to find them in time.
It never ceases to amaze me of the caliber of the musicians in our area. These players get together for just five rehearsals before opening night. Can you imagine that??? I can't. And then they create the amazing sound that, with our wonderful singers, brings us to tears.
This year we had an extra task - the music scores that Maestro Ashens owns, and were being stored in Eugene, his former residence - had disappeared, so we were force to scrounge for music. We ended up doing an exchange with Livermore Valley Opera (supertitles for music - thank you Raquel!) and a loan from San Francisco Lyric Opera. Thanks to those wonderful folks, we had our music (although just barely in time!) for our musicians to pick up.
I just love the excitement of the musicians about a particular piece - you can hear it in their voices (whether spoken or written) and when I get to see them, you get to see it in the faces. I have never had quite that experience in my own life, so it's really wonderful to see it in others.
Just one more piece in the puzzle that is opera.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Our advisors
Some local folks are helping us to create as honest a depiction of Japan in the 1900's as is possible within our budget.These are:
Kaoru Miyanouci, Production Advisor, will assist us with props, costumes. hair, movement, etc.. As Kaoru is also playing in the orchestra, her advice will be during staging rehearsals only, a critical time to make sure we get it right from the beginning.
Barbara Mori, Kimono Advisor, is not only loaning us many kimono for the production, but will also teach chorus members the rather complicated process of donning a kimono during their rehearsals. She has also volunteered as a dresser for the production itself. (Did you know that the plural of kimono is kimono?) Barbara is also a teacher of Chinese calligraphy, and loaned us several pieces for display at our Night of the Butterfly Gala in January.
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