Performed there in 1889, Edgar was an utter failure. Ricordi commissioned Puccini to compose a new opera for La Scala. Ricordi carefully managed the composer’s career, advising him on possible subjects, finding librettists and smoothing over any creative differences. This proved crucial to Puccini’s professional life. It turned out to be a critical and commercial success and caught the attention of the music publisher Giulio Ricordi. The work didn’t win, but a small group of admirers funded its premiere at the Teatro dal Verme in Milan in May 1884.
Puccini’s first opera was the one-act Le Villi ( The Fairies), written in 1883 for a local competition sponsored by the Sozogno music publishing company. The style is characterised by a story derived from real life, rather than tales about the gods or mythology. The composer was the leading exponent of the genre of opera known as ‘ verismo’ – Italian for ‘realism’.
He was church organist at the age of 14 and was already composing his first pieces, but it was seeing a performance of Giuseppe Verdi’s Aida (1871) in Pisa in 1876 which sealed his future in opera. CareerĬoming from a long line of musicians and composers, Puccini was expected to follow in his ancestors’ footsteps. Known for: one of the greatest and most successful proponents of Italian opera, with a host of well-known hits to his name.
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