Giacomo Puccini

Books about Giacomo Puccini and his music

William Ashbrook and Harold Powers Puccini's Turandot Princeton University Press, 1991; ISBN 0691027129; 208 pages Unfinished at Puccini's death in 1924, Turandot was not only his most ambitious work, but it became the last Italian opera to enter the international repertory. In this colorful study two renowned music scholars demonstrate that this work, despite the modern climate in which it was written, was a fitting finale for the centuries-old Great Tradition of Italian opera. Here they provide concrete instances of how a listener might encounter the dramatic and musical structures of Turandot in light of the Italian melodramma, and firmly establish Puccini's last work within the tradition of Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, and Verdi. In a summary of the sounds, sights, and symbolism of Turandot, the authors touch on earlier treatments of the subject, outline the conception, birth, and reception of the work, and analyze its coordinated dramatic and musical design. Showing how the evolution of the libretto documents Puccini's reversion to large musical forms typical of the Great Tradition in the late nineteenth century, they give particular attention to his use of contrasting Romantic, modernist, and two kinds of orientalist coloration in the general musical structure. They suggest that Puccini's inability to complete the opera resulted mainly from inadequate dramatic buildup for Turandot's last-minute change of heart combined with an overly successful treatment of the secondary character. Price indication: $ 17.79

Giacomo Puccini Madama Butterfly (Black Dog Opera Library) Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, 1999; ISBN 1579120199; 144 pages Price indication: $ 13.57

Giacomo Puccini Tosca (Black Dog Opera Library) Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, 1998; ISBN 1579120482; 144 pages Price indication: $ 19.95

Charles Osborne The Complete Operas of Puccini: A Critical Guide (Da Capo Paperback) Da Capo Press, 1983; ISBN 0306802007; 288 pages While Puccini wrote only twelve operas during a long life—three of them one-acters designed to be performed together—he has to be ranked today as the world’s most popular composer of opera. His La Bohème and Tosca are more frequently performed in the major opera houses than works by other composers, and Madame Butterfly and Manon Lescaut rank not far behind. What is the explanation for Puccini's enormous success? How do his operas work as music and drama? What was he like to contemporaries such as Verdi, Toscanini, and Caruso? Charles Osborne, author of highly successful Complete Operas of Verdi and Complete Operas of Mozart, here analyzes the entire Puccini oeuvre—from Tosca and Turandot to the less-often performed Edgar, La Fanciulla del West, and La Rondine. His fourfold approach—linking biography with musical, textual, and dramatic analysis—is especially valuable for Puccini, who revealed many of his personal contradictions in his music and whose sense of detail can be appreciated by close study of the scores and characters. For the legions of Puccini lovers everywhere, this guide to his life and work can serve as an ideal reference source and opera companion. Price indication: $ 18.00

Giacomo Puccini and David Foil LA Boheme (The Black Dog Opera Library) Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, 1996; ISBN 1884822835; 160 pages Price indication: $ 19.95

Annie J. Randall and Rosalind Gray Davis Puccini and The Girl : History and Reception of The Girl of the Golden West University Of Chicago Press, 2004; ISBN 0226703894; 224 pages Price indication: $ 35.00

Giacomo Puccini Madama Butterfly 1904-2004 Ricordi, 2004; ISBN 0634079042; 176 pages; in Italian Price indication: $ 31.50

Mary Jane Phillips-Matz Puccini: A Biography Northeastern University Press, 2002; ISBN 1555535305; 384 pages Descended from four generations of distinguished composers and organists, Giacomo Puccini (1858–1924) was driven by family tradition and an ambitious mother to pursue a career that brought him worldwide recognition as the greatest composer of Italian opera after Giuseppe Verdi. But behind the brilliant creator of such lasting works as La Bohéme, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, La Fanciulla del West, La Rondine, and Turandot, there was a person racked with indecision, self-doubt, bouts of depression, and private misfortunes. In this beautifully written work, Mary Jane Phillips-Matz brings to life both the man and his circle. Setting Puccini's intriguing story within the worlds of his beloved Tuscany and the cutthroat opera business, the author follows the composer from boyhood in his ancestral Lucca, to his struggling student years at the Milan Conservatory, to his early successes and failures, to the artistic triumphs that earned him international celebrity and considerable wealth. Filled with colorful details and anecdotes drawn from extensive primary sources as well as interviews with descendents, family friends, and colleagues, the book chronicles Puccini's personal sorrows and scandals, and recounts his stormy professional rivalries and associations in England, Europe, and the United States. Phillips-Matz also skillfully untangles the threads of the gifted artist's complex and contradictory character. She reveals a sophisticated composer who often drew upon exotic thematic material and an elegant cosmopolite who loved his several villas, expensive cars, boats, and fine clothes. Yet Puccini remained passionately wedded to the simple life of the Tuscan countryside of his youth. This is the place the Maestro returned to in times of turmoil to share the communal joys of hunting and playing cards with his neighbors. This masterful biography provides the most full, authentic, and revealing portrait to date of this major operatic composer. Price indication: $ 19.80

Conrad Wilson Giacomo Puccini (20th-Century Composers Series) Phaidon Press, 1997; ISBN 071483291X; 239 pages Price indication: $ 16.47

Burton D. Fisher and Giacomo Puccini Madama Butterfly/the Opera Journeys Mini Guide Series Opera Journeys, 2000; ISBN 0967397359; 36 pages Price indication: $ 9.75

Jan Van Rij and Jan Van Rij Madame Butterfly: Japonisme, Puccini, and the Search for the Real Cho-Cho-San Stone Bridge Press, 2001; ISBN 1880656523; 192 pages Long before Puccini wrote his masterpiece, the tale of the poor Japanese girl abandoned by her foreign lover had been taken up by numerous Western writers as part of the wave of Japonisme in late 19th-century Europe. But was there a "real" Madame Butterfly? Following the tragic trail back to its roots in Nagasaki, Jan van Rij believes he's found the answer. Opera lovers will delight in the revelation, and learn not only about the cultural forces and personal fixations that inspired this popular work but why many Japanese remain unconvinced. Price indication: $ 16.47

Michele Girardi and Laura Basini Puccini : His International Art University Of Chicago Press, 2002; ISBN 0226297586; 546 pages 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. Price indication: $ 40.00

William Ashbrook Operas of Puccini (Cornell Paperbacks) Cornell University Press, 1985; ISBN 0801493099; 269 pages Price indication: $ 22.95

William Weaver and Simonetta Puccini The Puccini Companion W. W. Norton & Company, 2000; ISBN 0393320529; 352 pages What forces helped shape the output of this high-living, often arrogant, but immensely talented composer? This fascinating collection includes Simonetta Puccini's essay full of intimate details about her family, as well as writings by experts on the racist politics behind the creation of Madama Butterfly ; Puccini's fascination with American culture as exemplified in Fanciulla del West ; his grappling with twentieth-century musical practices in Trittico and Turandot ; and the changes that early recording technology sparked in turn-of-the-century operatic performance style. Price indication: $ 13.57

Arthur Groos and Roger Parker and Richard Wagner Giacomo Puccini: La Boheme (Cambridge Opera Handbooks) Cambridge University Press, 1986; ISBN 0521319137; 220 pages This guide presents a unique collection of critical, analytical, and documentary essays on Puccini's most popular opera. There are new studies on the background to Parisian bohemianism (by Jerrold Seigel), on Puccini's musical language (by William Drabkin), and on the opera's stage history (by William Ashbrook). Following research in Italian archives, and a thorough study of the published sources (many of them previously unknown to modern scholarship), the editors have added further essays on the genesis of the opera, the structure of the libretto, and aspects of the work's reception. The book also contains a brief study of Puccini's working methods as seen through the autograph score, a full synopsis, discography, many illustrations, and an appendix of related documents (some published in English for the first time). Price indication: $ 26.99

Patrick Cairns Hughes Famous Puccini Operas: An Analytical Guide for the Opera Goer and Armchair Listener Dover Publications, 1972; ISBN 0486228576; 257 pages For the opera-goer and armchair listener alike, here is an analytic guide to MADAM BUTTERFLY, LA BOHEME, TOSCA, MANON LESCAUT, THE GIRL OF THE GOLDEN WEST, TURANDOT, along with Puccini's triptych of shorter operas--written by a British music critic, conductor, and composer, who focuses on the music, yet is not overly technical. 245 musical illustrations. Price indication: $ 6.95

Sheet music, libretti, etc.

Gianni Schicchi - Ricordi

La Boheme : Vocal Score - Ricordi

LA Boheme in Full Score - Dover Publications

La Boheme. English National Opera Guide 14 - Calder Publications

La Fanciulla del West in Full Score - Dover Publications

Madama Butterfly - Dover Publications
One of the greatest favorites of the Italian operatic repertoire, whose productions at London’s Covent Garden in 1905 (featuring Enrico Caruso, among other luminaries of the day) and New York’s Metropolitan Opera the following year first brought it fame. Reprinted complete and unabridged from the authoritative G. Ricordi edition.<br>

Madama Butterfly Vocal Score - Dover Publications

Madama Butterfly: vocal score - Ricordi

Music Minus One Soprano: Puccini Arias for Soprano with Orchestra, Vol. 1 (Book & CD) - Music Minus One

Music Minus One Tenor: Puccini Arias for Tenor and Orchestra, Vol. 1 (Book & CD) - Music Minus One

Puccini - Il trittico : Opera Full Score (Opera Full Score) - Ricordi
Casa Ricordi is the original publisher for the unforgettable Italian operas that have made their mark on musical history and now hold a special place in the hearts of millions of music lovers. Now, for the first time, Ricordi makes their full orchestral scores available to us with covers featuring beautiful color reproductions of authentic Ricordi artwork from opera posters, set designs and postcards from the turn of the century. Each edition features lyrics in the original language, and includes a synopsis of each act in English, Italian, German and French.

Puccini - Il Trittico : Opera Vocal Score Series (Opera Vocal Score Series) - Ricordi

Puccini Arias for Soprano: Cantolopera Collection - Ricordi

Tosca - Ricordi
Ricordi is proud to present the first titles in their new series of orchestral scores featuring engaging images (from Casa Ricordi's historical archives) and synopses in Italian, English, French and German. In addition, these scores feature heavier cover and paper stock plus stronger binding.

Tosca Vocal Score (Dover Vocal Scores) - Dover Publications

Turandot (Ricordi Opera Full Scores) - Ricordi