Pucciniana #2

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In celebration of rehearsals for BLO's MADAMA BUTTERFLY, we continue our daily look at many various (VERY varied) aspects of Puccini and his works. I have been helped here by loans from the collection of my esteemed colleague Dr. von Lyric (who you know from his contributions to this very blog.) and the work of my co-editor for this series- Amanda Villegas . Enjoy!  - John Conklin
"They say that emotionalism is a sign of weakness, but I like to be weak" - Giacomo Puccini


Puccini - composer, celebrity, world traveler, uxorious husband, lover, serial adulterer, cosmopolitan sophisticate, country squire, yachtsman, gourmet, enormously successful international musical figure, caring friend, implacable enemy, raconteur, wit, and tortured artist.




Be sure to listen all the way to the end!


"Almighty God touched me with his little finger and told me to write for the theater - mind , only the theater." - Giacomo Puccini


"After the piano, my favorite instrument is the rifle" - Giacomo Puccini (on the pleasures of Torre del Lago)
"My life is a sea of sadness, and I am stuck with it" - Giacomo Puccini (after his nearly fatal motoring accident)
"People are sick now of my sugary music" -Giacomo Puccini (between the composition of Madama Butterfly and La Fanciulla del West)

"My opera will be given incomplete, and then someone will come on the stage and say to the public 'At this point thecomposer died.'" - Giacomo Puccini (in anticipation of the first night of TURANDOT)