Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924)

Donald Macleod delves into the operas of Giacomo Puccini


Giacomo Puccini was man of the theatre to his fingertips. Born in
Lucca in 1858, into a distinguished family of church musicians,
Puccini was never destined to follow in his forebears’ footsteps.
His fate was sealed when as a teenager he walked thirty miles to
hear Verdi’s Aida. He knew immediately that theatre was his
calling and from that point on he wrote almost exclusively for
the stage.


A perfectionist and an often unreasonable taskmaster, Puccini
agonised over each of his operas. Beginning with Manon Lescaut,
the opera that launched Puccini internationally, this week Donald
Macleod follows the off and the on-stage dramas of La Boheme,
Tosca, Madam Butterfly, La fanciulla del West, Suor Angelica,
Gianni Schicchi, Il tabarro and the opera he left incomplete at
his death in 1924, his final masterpiece, Turandot. The stories
on stage are interleaved with events in his personal life, from
an early scandal over his affair with a married woman and some
very dodgy skulduggery in his business dealings, to the suicide
of one of his servants, a tragedy of such proportion, he was
plunged in to a deep depression, haunted by the events for the
rest of his life.


This week, Donald Macleod celebrates a composer whose music
expresses every human emotion, there's a host of landmark
recordings, including the voices of Jonas Kaufmann, Angela
Gheorghiu, Anna Netrebko and Roberto Alagna. We'll hear Mimì's
touching calling card from La Boheme, in the classic Victoria de
los Angeles version, while Renato Scotto pours all Madam
Butterfly's hopes into the heart-breaking Un bel dì. There's the
raw pain of Sister Angelica mourning her dead son, and the dark
desperation of a jealous husband in Il tabarro. On Wednesday
Callas and Gobbi’s anguished, sadistic torture scene in Tosca
still has the power to shock us as much as it did on its first
night in 1900. It's high stakes and nail-biting tension in La
fanciulla del West as Minnie trades the life of her outlaw lover
on the outcome of a card game. Joan Sutherland’s icy Princess
Turandot, a magnificent pairing with Luciano Pavarotti’s Prince
Calaf comes on Friday along with a certain aria made famous by
the 1990 world cup, heard here in the hands of another Puccini
specialist, Jussi Björling.


Music Featured:


Manon Lescaut, Act 1: Donna non vidi mai Le Villi, Act 1:
Preghiera: Angiol di dio Messa di Gloria (Credo) Crisantemi Manon
Lescaut, Act 2: Dispettosetto questo Riccio!; In quelle trine
morbide Manon Lescaut, Act 4: Sola, perduta, abbandonata; Fra le
tue bracce amore La Bohème, Act 1: Mi chiamano Mimì La Bohème,
Act 1: Pensier profondo!; Legna!; Si può Capriccio sinfonico La
Bohème, Act 3: Donde lieta uscì; Dunque è proprio finita….Addio,
dolce svegliare Tosca, Act 1 (excerpt) Tosca, Act 1: Ah!
Finalmente (excerpt) Vissi d’arte, Act 2 (excerpt) Tosca, Act 2
(excerpt) Tosca, Act 3 (excerpt) Madama Butterfly, Act 1
(excerpt) Madama Butterfly, Act 1: Viene la sera; Vogliatemi bene
Gianni Schicchi (O mio babbino caro) Gianni Schicchi (excerpt) Il
tabarro (Nulla silenzio!) La fanciulla del West, Act 1 (excerpt)
La fanciulla del West, Act 2: Una partita a poker! Suor Angelica
(excerpt) Turandot (Nessun Dorma) Madam Butterfly, Act 2: Un bel
dì vedremo Madam Butterfly, Act 2: Una nave da guerra; Scuoti
quella fronda di ciliegio; Or vieni ad adornar Turandot, Act 1:
In Questa Reggia; Ascolta straniera; Gloria o vincitore! La
Boheme, Act 4: Fingevo dormire


Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Johannah Smith


For full track listings, including artist and recording details,
and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after
broadcast) head to the series page for Giacomo Puccini
(1858-1924) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0012rn4


And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve
featured on Composer of the Week here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z