Magia operei - Pasiunea lui Puccini (2006) cd5 CasTaN

Giacomo Puccini (Italian: [ˈdʒaːkomo putˈtʃiːni]; 22 December 1858 – 29 November
1924) was an Italian composer whose operas are among the important operas played
as standards.

Puccini has been called "the greatest composer of Italian opera after Verdi".
While his early work was rooted in traditional late-19th-century romantic Italian
opera, he successfully developed his work in the realistic verismo style, of which
he became one of the leading exponents.

Today, Puccini is by far the most-performed composer among his Italian contemporaries,
and the same was true during his lifetime. One contemporary English author, writing in
1897 wrote "[Puccini] is undoubtedly the most fully equipped of the younger Italian
composers, and his future career will be watched with some interest." Italian opera
composers of the generation with whom Puccini was compared included Pietro Mascagni
(7 Dec. 1863 – 2 Aug. 1945), Ruggero Leoncavallo (b. Naples, 8 Mar. 1857; d. 9 Aug.
1919), Umberto Giordano (28 Aug. 1867 – 12 Nov. 1948), Francesco Cilea (23 July 1866 –
20 November 1950), Baron Pierantonio Tasca (1858-1934), Gaetano Coronaro (b. Vicenza,
18 Dec. 1852; d. Milan, 5 5 Apr. 1908). By the time of his death in 1924, Puccini
had earned $4 million from his works.

Eleven of Puccini's operas numbered among the 200 most-performed operas between August
2008 and December 2011 (worldwide, by composers of any nationality, as surveyed by
Operabase). Only three composers, and three works, by Italian contemporaries of Puccini
appear on this list: Cavalleria rusticana by Mascagni, Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo,
and Andrea Chenier by Umberto Giordano).

Puccini is frequently referred to as a "verismo" composer. Verismo is a style of Italian
opera that began in 1890 with the first performance of Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana,
peaked in the early 1900s, and lingered into the 1920s.[50] The style is distinguished by
realistic – sometimes sordid or violent – depictions of everyday life, especially the life
of the contemporary lower classes. It by and large rejects the historical or mythical
subjects associated with Romanticism. Cavalleria rusticana, Pagliacci, and Andrea Chenier
are uniformly considered to be verismo operas—they represent the primary verismo works in
performance today other than those written by Puccini.