Giacomo Puccini

Born on December 22, 1958 in Tuscany Italy, Giacomo Puccini is an Italian composer and one of the greatest developers of operatic realism. His outstanding operas include La Boheme (1986) Tosca (1900), Madam Butterfly (1904) and Turandot that was never completed.
Puccini entered music field as a tribute to his family. He learned music style from two of his father's previous pupils and Puccini was the organist for small churches in the area. After seeing a performance of Verdi's Aida Puccini felt his true vocation was in opera. He began studying at the Milan Conservatory where he studied for four years and presented his composition Capriccio sinfonico at graduation. He wrote Le villi for a competition for one-act operas. The premier of this opera was an enormous success at the Verme Theatre in Milan (1884). Le villi was dramatic and showed a great deal of influence from composer Richard Wagner.
Puccini's dramatic music style is his ability to let each member of the audience identify with the subject. Puccini had an instinct for dramatic structure. He intertwined moments of repose, lyricism as well as actin and movement in his operas.
Puccini major works uses the refined musical language of the orchestra to create drama and mood. He studied the works of Claude Debussy, and Arnold Schoenberg and wrote Il trittico (The Triptych) and it was performed in New York City in 1918. Puccini was writing Turandot when he died of throat cancer on November 29, 1924. He married Elvira Gemignani in 1904 and is buried in Milan. He wife and son Antonio are also buried in Milan.