Puccini: His Life and Works (Master Musicians Series) - Hardcover

Budden, Julian

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0198164688 ISBN 13: 9780198164685

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2002

Synopsis

Julian Budden, one of the world's foremost scholars of Italian opera and author of a monumental three-volume study of Verdi's works, now offers music lovers a major new biography of one of the giants of Italian opera, Giacomo Puccini.
Blending astute musical analysis with a colorful account of Puccini's life, here is an illuminating look at some of the most popular operas in the repertoire, including Manon Lescaut, La Boheme, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot. Budden provides an illuminating look at the process of putting an opera together, the cut-and-slash of nineteenth-century Italian opera--the struggle to find the right performers for the debut of La Boheme, Puccini's anxiety about completing Turandot (he in fact died of cancer before he did so), his animosity toward his rival Leoncavallo (whom he called Leonasino or "lion-ass"). Budden provides an informative analysis of the operas themselves, examining the music act by act. He highlights, among other things, the influence of Wagner on Puccini--alone among his Italian contemporaries, Puccini followed Wagner's example in bringing the motif into the forefront of his narrative, sometimes voicing the singer's unexpressed thoughts, sometimes sending out a signal to the audience of which the character is unaware. And Budden also paints an intriguing portrait of Puccini the man--talented but modest, a man who had friends from every walk of life: shopkeepers, priests, wealthy landowners, fellow artists. Affable, well mannered, gifted with a broad sense of fun, he rarely failed to charm all who met him.
A new volume in the esteemed Master Musicians series, Puccini offers a masterful portrait of this beloved Italian composer.

About this title

About the Author

Julian Budden, formerly the Chief Producer for Opera at BBC Radio, currently serves as the President of the Centro Studi Giacomo Puccini, Lucca, Italy. He is the author of the Master Musicians biography of Verdi as well as the three-volume The Operas of Verdi.

Reviews

Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924) stood at the end of fivegenerations of composers. A generous man who helped others when theyneeded a boost, he loved motorcars and boats for excitement butretreated to his beloved Tuscany's lakes to escape urban hubbub. Muchto his jealous wife Elvira's distress, he had many paramours andconfidantes. His sense of drama drove him to demand perfection fromhis librettists. With his third opera, Manon Lescaut, heestablished himself as a leading composer for the stage. GiulioRicordi, scion of the music-publishing house, was impresario forproductions of his operas, and Toscanini conducted most of theirpremiers. Budden, president of the Centro Studi Giacomo Puccini in thecomposer's ancestral hometown, Lucca, Italy, looks closely atPuccini's music per se. He highlights events in the life but leavesout much in the way of conflict and incident, instead covering theoperas' scenarios and music in detail. Because Puccini also wrotepieces for orchestra, band, piano, and chorus, Budden analyzes some ofthose as well. Puccini's operatic music embraces the use of leitmotifsand some of the harmonies that Wagner pioneered, and it demonstrateshis ability to match dramatic and musical structures. His feeling forthe stage picture is fundamental to his art, and the variety ofmusical shades he exploited with the orchestra served the pictures hesought to realize. For the amateur musicologist, Budden fills thebill. Alan Hirsch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

The literature on Puccini continues to grow with these two books. Italian-born Budden (The Operas of Verdi) here synthesizes Puccini's musical endeavors with his life. Using a straightforward, chronological approach, giving exact dates when possible, he treats each opera in a separate chapter, devoting much space to character and plot and citing contemporary reviews and subsequent reception. He also mentions Puccini's other instrumental and vocal compositions. Informed lay readers will gain insight while theoreticians will appreciate Budden's deeper musical analysis. His elegant turns of phrase ("rhythmic scaffolding") and obvious expertise combine in an exceptional whole, though a few Britishisms may confuse American readers. A list of works, useful biographical information on personalities mentioned in the text, and a strong bibliography round out the volume. Michele Girardi's recently translated Puccini: His International Art is similar, with even more specific treatment of musical passages. Highly recommended for academic and music collections, as well as sophisticated clients at public libraries. Phillips-Matz (Verdi: A Biography) discusses Puccini as if she were telling the life story of a valued friend. She remarks on premieres, casts, and critical reception of the works but says little about the music itself. However, she does expand upon the personal issues touched on by Budden (e.g., the Doria Manfredi incident). She also sets a cultural context with historical descriptions of the Tuscan region and extensive information on Puccini's forebears. Her style is stimulating and, for the most part, more entertaining than merely informative. In a rather old-fashioned way, she talks about her own meetings with characters like Puccini's granddaughter, Biki, and singer Gilda Dalla Rizza. Her method of including "footnotes" within the text and abbreviations is helpful; however, one wishes that she had indicated in the introduction the groupings of relevant materials rather than repeating them each time they occurred. She also includes a works list, six major contemporary opera composers and their works, and an up-to-date bibliography. Conrad Wilson's Giacomo Puccini in Phaidon Press's "20th-Century Composers" series makes a good complement, although Phillips-Matz's approach is more genteel and positive. Recommended for all collections. (Indexes and illustrations not seen in either.) Barry Zaslow, Miami Univ. Libs., Oxford, OH
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0198164688
• ISBN 13: 9780198164685
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 552