Woman wearing a houppelande with "dagged" sleeves.

The man on the right wears a belted houppelande and a chaperon hat.

A houppelande or houpelande is an outer garment, with a long, full body and flaring sleeves, that was worn by both men and women in Europe in the late Medieval period. Sometimes the houppelande was lined with fur. The garment was later worn by professional classes, and has remained in Western civilization as the familiar academic and legal robes of today.

The houppelande appeared around 1380 and was to remain fashionable well into the next century.^[1] The edges of the houppelande were often dagged, or cut into decorative scallops.^[2]

See also[link]

• 1300–1400 in fashion
• 1400–1500 in fashion

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Ribiero, Aileen, Dress and Morality, Batsford, 1986, reprinted Berg, 2003, ISBN 1-85973-782-X
• Laver, James: The Concise History of Costume and Fashion, Abrams, 1979.

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Eugène Delacroix
Eugène Delacroix (portrait by Nadar)
Birth name	Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix
Born	26 April 1798 Charenton (Saint-Maurice, Val-de-Marne), Île-de-France, France
Died	13 August 1863 (aged 65) Paris, France
Nationality	French
Field	Painting, Lithography
Movement	Romanticism
Works	Liberty Leading the People, 1830

Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix (26 April 1798 – 13 August 1863) was a French Romantic artist regarded from the outset of his career as the leader of the French Romantic school.^[1] Delacroix's use of expressive brushstrokes and his study of the optical effects of colour profoundly shaped the work of the Impressionists, while his passion for the exotic inspired the artists of the Symbolist movement. A fine lithographer, Delacroix illustrated various works of William Shakespeare, the Scottish writer Walter Scott and the German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

In contrast to the Neoclassical perfectionism of his chief rival Ingres, Delacroix took for his inspiration the art of Rubens and painters of the Venetian Renaissance, with an attendant emphasis on colour and movement rather than clarity of outline and carefully modeled form. Dramatic and romantic content characterized the central themes of his maturity, and led him not to the classical models of Greek and Roman art, but to travel in North Africa, in search of the exotic.^[2] Friend and spiritual heir to Théodore Géricault, Delacroix was also inspired by Lord Byron, with whom he shared a strong identification with the "forces of the sublime", of nature in often violent action.^[3]

However, Delacroix was given neither to sentimentality nor bombast, and his Romanticism was that of an individualist. In the words of Baudelaire, "Delacroix was passionately in love with passion, but coldly determined to express passion as clearly as possible."^[4]

Early life[link]

Portrait of Delacroix early in his career.

Delacroix was born at Charenton (Saint-Maurice, Val-de-Marne), in Île-de-France, near Paris.

There is reason to believe that his father, Charles-François Delacroix, was infertile at the time of Eugène's conception and that his real father was Talleyrand, who was a friend of the family and successor of Charles Delacroix as Minister of Foreign Affairs, and whom the adult Eugène resembled in appearance and character.^[5] Throughout his career as a painter, he was protected by Talleyrand, who served successively the Restoration and king Louis-Philippe, and ultimately as ambassador of France in Great Britain, and later by Talleyrand's grandson, Charles Auguste Louis Joseph, duc de Morny, half-brother of Napoleon III and speaker of the French House of Commons. His father, Charles Delacroix, died in 1805, and his mother Victoire (daughter of Jean-François Oeben) in 1814, leaving 16-year-old Eugene an orphan.

His early education was at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, and at the Lycée Pierre Corneille in Rouen^[6] where he steeped himself in the classics and won awards for drawing. In 1815 he began his training with Pierre-Narcisse Guérin in the neoclassical style of Jacques-Louis David. An early church commission, The Virgin of the Harvest, (1819), displays a Raphael-esque influence, but another such commission, The Virgin of the Sacred Heart, (1821), evidences a freer interpretation.^[7] It precedes the influence of the more colourful and rich style of the Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640), and fellow French artist Théodore Géricault (1791–1824), whose works marked an introduction to Romanticism in art.

The impact of Géricault's The Raft of the Medusa was profound, and stimulated Delacroix to produce his first major painting, The Barque of Dante, which was accepted by the Paris Salon in 1822. The work caused a sensation, and was largely derided by the public and officialdom, yet was purchased by the State for the Luxembourg Galleries; the pattern of widespread opposition to his work, countered by a vigorous, enlightened support, would continue throughout his life.^[8] Two years later he again achieved popular success for his The Massacre at Chios.

Maturity[link]

[edit] Chios and Missolonghi

Massacre at Chios (1824), Louvre

Delacroix's painting of the massacre at Chios shows sick, dying Greek civilians about to be slaughtered by the Turks. One of several paintings he made of this contemporary event, it expresses sympathy for the Greek cause in their war of independence against the Turks, a popular sentiment at the time for the French people. Delacroix was quickly recognized as a leading painter in the new Romantic style, and the picture was bought by the state. His depiction of suffering was controversial however, as there was no glorious event taking place, no patriots raising their swords in valour as in David's Oath of the Horatii, only a disaster. Many critics deplored the painting's despairing tone; the artist Antoine-Jean Gros called it "a massacre of art".^[8] The pathos in the depiction of an infant clutching its dead mother's breast had an especially powerful effect, although this detail was condemned as unfit for art by Delacroix's critics. A viewing of the paintings of John Constable and the watercolour sketches and art of Richard Parkes Bonnington prompted Delacroix to make extensive, freely painted changes to the sky and distant landscape.^[9]

Greece on the Ruins of Missolonghi (1826), Musée des Beaux-Arts, Bordeaux

Delacroix produced a second painting in support of the Greeks in their war for independence, this time referring to the capture of Missolonghi by Turkish forces in 1825.^[10] With a restraint of palette appropriate to the allegory, Greece Expiring on the Ruins of Missolonghi displays a woman in Greek costume with her breast bared, arms half-raised in an imploring gesture before the horrible scene: the suicide of the Greeks, who chose to kill themselves and destroy their city rather than surrender to the Turks. A hand is seen at the bottom, the body having been crushed by rubble. The whole picture serves as a monument to the people of Missolonghi and to the idea of freedom against tyrannical rule. This event interested Delacroix not only for his sympathies with the Greeks, but also because the poet Byron, whom Delacroix greatly admired, had died there.^[1]

Romanticism[link]

A trip to England in 1825 included visits to Thomas Lawrence and Richard Parkes Bonington, and the colour and handling of English painting provided impetus for his only full-length portrait, the elegant Portrait of Louis-Auguste Schwiter, (1826–30).^[11] At roughly the same time, Delacroix was creating romantic works of numerous themes, many of which would continue to interest him for over thirty years. By 1825, he was producing lithographs illustrating Shakespeare, and soon thereafter lithographs and paintings from Goethe's Faust. Paintings such as The Combat of the Giaour and Hassan, (1826), and Woman with Parrot, (1827), introduced subjects of violence and sensuality which would prove to be recurrent.

These various romantic strands came together in the Death of Sardanapalus, (1827-8). Delacroix's painting of the death of the Assyrian king Sardanapalus shows an emotionally stirring scene alive with beautiful colours, exotic costumes and tragic events. The Death of Sardanapalus depicts the besieged king watching impassively as guards carry out his orders to kill his servants, concubines and animals. The literary source is a play by Byron, although the play does not specifically mention any massacre of concubines.

Sardanapalus' attitude of calm detachment is a familiar pose in Romantic imagery in this period in Europe. The painting, which was not exhibited again for many years afterward, has been regarded by some critics as a gruesome fantasy involving death and lust. Especially shocking is the struggle of a nude woman whose throat is about to be cut, a scene placed prominently in the foreground for maximum impact. However, the sensuous beauty and exotic colours of the composition make the picture appear pleasing and shocking at the same time.

A variety of Romantic interests were again synthesized in The Murder of the Bishop of Liège, (1829). It also borrowed from a literary source, this time Scott, and depicts a scene from the Middle Ages, that of the murder of Louis de Bourbon, Bishop of Liège amidst an orgy sponsored by his captor, William de la Marck. Set in an immense vaulted interior which Delacroix based on sketches of the Palais de Justice in Rouen and Westminster Hall, the drama plays out in chiaroscuro, organized around a brilliantly lit stretch of tablecloth. In 1855, a critic described the painting's vibrant handling as "Less finished than a painting, more finished than a sketch, The Murder of the Bishop of Liège was left by the painter at that supreme moment when one more stroke of the brush would have ruined everything".^[12]

[edit] Liberty Leading the People

Liberty Leading the People (1830), Louvre

Delacroix's most influential work came in 1830 with the painting Liberty Leading the People, which for choice of subject and technique highlights the differences between the romantic approach and the neoclassical style. Less obviously, it also differs from the Romanticism of Géricault and the Raft of the Medusa.

"Delacroix felt his composition more vividly as a whole, thought of his figures and crowds as types, and dominated them by the symbolic figure of Republican Liberty which is one of his finest plastic inventions…"^[13]

Probably Delacroix's best known painting, it is an unforgettable image of Parisians, having taken up arms, marching forward under the banner of the tricolour representing liberty, equality, and fraternity; Delacroix was inspired by contemporary events to invoke the romantic image of the spirit of liberty. The soldiers lying dead in the foreground offer poignant counterpoint to the symbolic female figure, who is illuminated triumphantly, as if in a spotlight.

The French government bought the painting but officials deemed its glorification of liberty too inflammatory and removed it from public view. Nonetheless, Delacroix still received many government commissions for murals and ceiling paintings. He seems to have been trying to represent the spirit and the character of the people,^[13] rather than glorify the actual event, a revolution against King Charles X which did little other than bring in a different king, Louis-Philippe, to power.

Following the Revolution of 1848 that saw the end of the reign of King Louis Philippe, Delacroix' painting, Liberty Leading the People, was finally put on display by the newly elected President, Louis Napoleon (Napoleon III.) Today, it is visible in the Louvre museum.

The boy holding a gun up on the right is sometimes thought to be an inspiration of the Gavroche character in Victor Hugo's 1862 novel, Les Misérables.

Travel to North Africa[link]

Sultan of Morocco, (1845), Musée des Augustins, Toulouse, France

In 1832, Delacroix traveled to Spain and North Africa, as part of a diplomatic mission to Morocco shortly after the French conquered Algeria. He went not primarily to study art, but to escape from the civilization of Paris, in hopes of seeing a more primitive culture.^[13] He eventually produced over 100 paintings and drawings of scenes from or based on the life of the people of North Africa, and added a new and personal chapter to the interest in Orientalism.^[14] Delacroix was entranced by the people and the costumes, and the trip would inform the subject matter of a great many of his future paintings. He believed that the North Africans, in their attire and their attitudes, provided a visual equivalent to the people of Classical Rome and Greece:

"The Greeks and Romans are here at my door, in the Arabs who wrap themselves in a white blanket and look like Cato or Brutus…"^[13]

He managed to sketch some women secretly in Algiers, as in the painting Women of Algiers in their Apartment (1834), but generally he encountered difficulty in finding Muslim women to pose for him because of Muslim rules requiring that women be covered. Less problematical was the painting of Jewish women in North Africa, as subjects for the Jewish Wedding in Morocco (1837–41).

While in Tangier, he made many sketches of the people and the city, subjects to which he would return until the end of his life.^[15] Animals—the embodiment of romantic passion—were incorporated into paintings such as Arab Horses Fighting in a Stable (1860), The Lion Hunt (of which there exists many versions, painted between 1856 and 1861), and Arab Saddling his Horse (1855).

Murals and later life[link]

In 1838 Delacroix exhibited Medea about to Kill Her Children, which created a sensation at the Salon. His first large-scale treatment of a scene from Greek mythology, the painting depicts Medea clutching her children, dagger drawn to slay them in vengeance for her abandonment by Jason. The three nude figures form an animated pyramid, bathed in a raking light which penetrates the grotto in which Medea has hidden. Though the painting was quickly purchased by the State, Delacroix was disappointed when it was sent to the Lille Musée des Beaux-Arts; he had intended for it to hang at the Luxembourg, where it would have joined The Barque of Dante and Scenes from the Massacres of Chios.^[16]

Self-portrait, 1837. "Eugène Delacroix was a curious mixture of skepticism, politeness, dandyism, willpower, cleverness, despotism, and finally, a kind of special goodness and tenderness that always accompanies genius".^[17]

From 1833 Delacroix received numerous commissions to decorate public buildings in Paris. In that year he began work for the Salon du Roi in the Chambre des Députés, Palais Bourbon, which was not completed until 1837. For the next ten years he painted in both the Library at the Palais Bourbon and the Library at the Palais du Luxembourg. In 1843 he decorated the Church of St. Denis du Saint Sacrement with a large Pietà, and from 1848 to 1850 he painted the ceiling in the Galerie d'Apollon of the Louvre. From 1857 to 1861 he worked in the Chapelle des Agnes at St. Sulpice. These commissions offered him the opportunity to compose on a large scale in an architectural setting, much as had those masters he admired, Paolo Veronese, Tintoretto, and Rubens.

The work was fatiguing, and during these years he suffered from an increasingly fragile constitution. In addition to his home in Paris, from 1844 he also lived at a small cottage in Champrosay, where he found respite in the countryside. From 1834 until his death, he was faithfully cared for by his housekeeper, Jeanne-Marie le Guillou, who zealously guarded his privacy, and whose devotion prolonged his life and his ability to continue working in his later years.^[18]

In 1862 Delacroix participated in the creation of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. His friend, the writer Théophile Gautier, became chairman, with the painter Aimé Millet acting as deputy chairman. In addition to Delacroix, the committee was composed of the painters Carrier-Belleuse and Puvis de Chavannes. Among the exhibitors were Léon Bonnat, Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, Charles-François Daubigny, Gustave Doré, and Édouard Manet. Just after his death in 1863, the society organized a retrospective exhibition of 248 paintings and lithographs by Delacroix—and ceased to mount any further exhibitions.

Eugène Delacroix died in Paris, France and was buried there in the Père Lachaise Cemetery.

His house, formerly situated along the canal of the Marne, is now near the exit of the motorway leading from Paris to central Germany.

Gallery[link]

• 

  Mademoiselle Rose, (1817-1824), the Louvre

• 

  The Barque of Dante, 1822, the Louvre

• 

  Orphan Girl at the Cemetery, 1823

• 

  Head of a Woman, 1823

• 

  Louis of Orléans Unveiling his Mistress, c1825–26, Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, Madrid

• 

  Combat of the Giaour and the Pasha, 1827, Art Institute of Chicago

• 

  Lithograph, Mephistopheles flying over Wittenberg, 1828

• Young tiger playing with its mother.jpg

  A Young Tiger Playing with its Mother, 1830

• 

  Portrait of Dr. François-Marie Desmaisons, 1832-33, oil on canvas, Detroit Institute of Arts

• Women of algiers 1834 950px.jpg

  The Women of Algiers, 1834, the Louvre

• 

  The Natchez, 1835, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

• Delacroix salon du roi palais bourbon paris 950px.jpg

  Delacroix, Salon du Roi, Palais Bourbon, Paris, 1833–37

• 

  Frédéric Chopin, 1838, the Louvre

• 

  George Sand, 1838, Ordrupgaard-Museum, Copenhagen, Denmark

• Delacroix fanatics of tangier 1838 950px.jpg

  Fanatics of Tangier, 1838, Minneapolis Institute of Arts

• 

  Columbus and His Son at La Rábida, 1838, National Gallery of Art

• 

  Jewish Wedding in Morocco, c1839, the Louvre

• 

  Hamlet with Horatio, (the gravedigger scene), 1839, the Louvre

• 

  Entry of the Crusaders in Constantinople, 1840, the Louvre

• Dh07.gif

  Lithograph, Hamlet with Guildenstern (Act III, Scene II), 1835–43

• 450 348 delacroix-aurele.jpg

  Last Words of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius, 1844, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon

• Delacroix apollo slaying python 950px.jpg

  Apollo slaying Python, 1851, the Louvre

• 

  Christ on the Sea of Galilee, 1854

• 

  1855, Moroccan Saddles His Horse, Hermitage Museum

• Delacroix98.jpg

  Clorinda Rescues Olindo und Sophronia, 1856

• Bride of abydos 1857 950px.jpg

  The Bride of Abydos, 1857

• 

  The Death of Desdemona, 1858

• 

  The Justice of Trajan, 1858, oil on canvas, Honolulu Museum of Art

• 

  Ovid among the Scythians, oil on cavas, 1859

• Arab horses fighting in a stable 950px.jpg

  Arab Horses Fighting in a Stable, 1860

• 

  Lion Hunt, 1861, Art Institute of Chicago

• 

  Ovid among the Scythians, oil on wood, 1862

Legacy[link]

Monument to Delacroix, at the Jardin du Luxembourg.

Delacroix 's tomb in the Père Lachaise Cemetery.

French 100 franc banknote, 1993

At the sale of his work in 1864, 9,140 works were attributed to Delacroix, including 853 paintings, 1,525 pastels and water colours, 6,629 drawings, 109 lithographs, and over 60 sketch books.^[19] The number and quality of the drawings, whether done for constructive purposes or to capture a spontaneous movement, underscored his explanation, "Colour always occupies me, but drawing preoccupies me." Delacroix produced several fine self-portraits, and a number of memorable portraits which seem to have been done purely for pleasure, among which were the portrait of fellow artist Baron Schwiter, an inspired small oil of the violinist Nicolò Paganini, and Portrait of Frédéric Chopin and George Sand, a double portrait of his friends, the composer Frédéric Chopin and writer George Sand; the painting was cut after his death, but the individual portraits survive.

On occasion Delacroix painted pure landscapes (The Sea at Dieppe, 1852) and still lifes (Still Life with Lobsters, 1826-7), both of which feature the virtuoso execution of his figure-based works.^[20] He is also well known for his Journals, in which he gave eloquent expression to his thoughts on art and contemporary life.

A generation of impressionists was inspired by Delacroix's work. Renoir and Manet made copies of his paintings, and Degas purchased the portrait of Baron Schwiter for his private collection. His painting at the church of St. Sulpice has been called the "finest mural painting of his time".^[21]

Contemporary Chinese artist Yue Minjun has created his own interpretation of Delacroix's painting 'Massacre of Chios', which retains the same name. Yue Minjun's painting was itself sold at Sotheby's for nearly $4.1 million in 2007.^[22]

See also[link]

• Jacob Wrestling with the Angel, the name given to at least three different major paintings, including one (1861) by Eugène Delacroix.
• Jean Louis Marie Eugène Durieu, friend, colleague, and photographer
• Musée national Eugène Delacroix, his last apartment in Paris

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Eugène Delacroix

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Eugène Ferdinand Victor Delacroix

• Bibliothèque numérique de l'INHA - Journal et Correspondance d'Eugène Delacroix
• Eugene Delacroix's biography, context, style and technique
• The National Gallery: Delacroix
• Paintings by Eugène Delacroix
• Brief biography at the Getty Museum
• Le musée national Eugène Delacroix(French)
• Delacroix at Web Gallery of Art
• Delacroix at Web Museum
• A free video documentary about Delacroix's Liberty leading the people
• "Examination of The Shipwreck of Don Juan". Paintings & Drawings. Victoria and Albert Museum. http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/paintings/galleries/materials/shipwreck/index.html. Retrieved 2007-08-21. 

v t e Eugène Delacroix Artworks The Barque of Dante · Mademoiselle Rose · Orphan Girl at the Cemetery · The Massacre at Chios  · Greece on the Ruins of Missolonghi · Death of Sardanapalus · Liberty Leading the People · The Women of Algiers · Battle of Taillebourg · Entry of the Crusaders in Constantinople · Ovid among the Scythians · Last Words of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius · A Young Tiger Playing with its Mother Family Charles-François Delacroix · Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord · Henri-François Riesener · Jean-Henri Riesener Colleagues Théodore Géricault · Richard Parkes Bonington · Paul Huet · Ary Scheffer Teachers Pierre-Narcisse Guérin Museums Louvre · Art Institute of Chicago · Minneapolis Institute of Arts · National Gallery, London · Metropolitan Museum of Art  · Musée national Eugène Delacroix  · Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon  · Museu de Arte de São Paulo Style Romanticism

Giacomo Puccini

Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini (Italian pronunciation: [ˈdʒaːkomo putˈtʃiːni]; 22 December 1858 – 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer whose operas, including La bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot, are among the most frequently performed in the standard repertoire.^[1][2] Some of his arias, such as "O mio babbino caro" from Gianni Schicchi, "Che gelida manina" from La bohème, and "Nessun dorma" from Turandot, have become part of popular culture.

Described by Encyclopædia Britannica Online as "one of the greatest exponents of operatic realism",^[3] he is regarded as one of the last major Italian opera composers.^[4][5] His repertoire is essentially rooted in verismo,^[6] or a post-Romantic operatic tradition and literary style. Whilst his work is essentially based on traditional late-19th century Italian opera, his music shows some influences from then-contemporary composers and movements such as Igor Stravinsky and Impressionism.^[7] Common themes within his operas include the important role, yet usually tragic end, of his heroines, as well as love;^[8] furthermore, there is a strong presence of exoticism in his operas,^[9] with several being set in faraway locations.

Early life[link]

Puccini's birthplace, seen in 1984

Statue of Puccini in front of his birthplace

Puccini was born in Lucca in Tuscany, into a family with five generations of musical history behind them, including composer Domenico Puccini. His father died when Giacomo was five years old, and he was sent to study with his uncle Fortunato Magi, who considered him to be a poor and undisciplined student. Magi may have been prejudiced against his nephew because his contract as choir master stipulated that he would hand over the position to Puccini "as soon as the said Signore Giacomo be old enough to discharge such duties." Puccini never took the position of church organist and choir master in Lucca. When he was 17, he saw a performance of Verdi's Aida and became inspired to be an opera composer. He and his brother, Michele, walked 18.5 mi (30 km) to see the performance in Pisa.

In 1880, with the help of a relative and a grant, Puccini enrolled in the Milan Conservatory to study composition with Stefano Ronchetti-Monteviti, Amilcare Ponchielli, and Antonio Bazzini. In the same year, at the age of 21, he composed the Messa, which marks the culmination of his family's long association with church music in his native Lucca. Although Puccini himself correctly titled the work a Messa, referring to a setting of the Ordinary of the Catholic Mass, today the work is popularly known as his Messa di Gloria, a name that technically refers to a setting of only the first two prayers of the Ordinary, the Kyrie and the Gloria, while omitting the Credo, the Sanctus, and the Agnus Dei.

The work anticipates Puccini's career as an operatic composer by offering glimpses of the dramatic power that he would soon bring forth onto the stage; the powerful "arias" for tenor and bass soloists are certainly more operatic than is usual in church music and, in its orchestration and dramatic power, the Messa compares interestingly with Verdi's Requiem.

While studying at the Conservatory, Puccini obtained a libretto from Ferdinando Fontana and entered a competition for a one-act opera in 1882. Although he did not win, Le Villi was later staged in 1884 at the Teatro Dal Verme and it caught the attention of Giulio Ricordi, head of G. Ricordi & Co. music publishers, who commissioned a second opera, Edgar, in 1889. Edgar failed: it was a bad story and Fontana's libretto was poor. This may have had an effect on Puccini's thinking because when he began his next opera, Manon Lescaut, he announced that he would write his own libretto so that "no fool of a librettist"^[10] could spoil it. Ricordi persuaded him to accept Leoncavallo as his librettist, but Puccini soon asked Ricordi to remove him from the project. Four other librettists were then involved with the opera, due mainly to Puccini constantly changing his mind about the structure of the piece. It was almost by accident that the final two, Illica and Giacosa, came together to complete the opera. They remained with Puccini for his next three operas and probably his greatest successes: La bohème, Tosca and Madama Butterfly.

It may well have been the failure of Edgar that made Puccini so apt to change his mind. Edgar nearly cost him his career. Puccini had eloped with the married Elvira Gemignani and Ricordi's associates were willing to turn a blind eye to his life style as long as he was successful. When Edgar failed, they suggested to Ricordi that he should drop Puccini, but Ricordi said that he would stay with him and made him an allowance from his own pocket until his next opera. Manon Lescaut was a great success and Puccini went on to become the leading operatic composer of his day.

Puccini at Torre del Lago[link]

From 1891 onwards, Puccini spent most of his time at Torre del Lago, a small community about fifteen miles from Lucca situated between the Ligurian Sea and Lake Massaciuccoli, just south of Viareggio. While renting a house there, he spent time hunting, but regularly visited Lucca.

Original poster for Puccini's Tosca

By 1900, he had acquired land and built a villa on the lake, now known as the "Villa Museo Puccini." He lived there until 1921, when pollution produced by peat works on the lake forced him to move to Viareggio, a few kilometres north. After his death, a mausoleum was created in the Villa Puccini and the composer is buried there in the chapel, along with his wife and son who died later.

The Villa Museo Puccini is presently owned by his granddaughter, Simonetta Puccini, and is open to the public.

Operas written at Torre del Lago[link]

	"Donna non vidi mai" From Manon Lescaut, act 1. Sung by Enrico Caruso in 1913. "O soave fanciulla" From La bohème, act 1. Sung by Enrico Caruso and Nellie Melba in 1906. "O mio babbino caro" From Gianni Schicchi, sung by Frances Alda in 1919
Problems listening to these files? See media help.

• Manon Lescaut (1893), his third opera, was his first great success. It launched his remarkable relationship with the librettists Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, who collaborated with him on his next three operas, which became his three most famous and most-performed operas. These were:
• La bohème (1896) is considered one of his best works as well as one of the most romantic operas ever composed. It is together with Tosca one of today's most popular operas.
• Tosca (1900) was arguably Puccini's first foray into verismo, the realistic depiction of many facets of real life including violence. The opera is generally considered of major importance in the history of opera because of its many significant features.
• Madama Butterfly (1904) was initially greeted with great hostility (mostly organized by his rivals) but, after some reworking, became another of his most successful operas.

After 1904, compositions were less frequent. Following his passion for driving fast cars, Puccini was nearly killed in a major accident in 1903. In 1906 Giacosa died and, in 1909, there was scandal after Puccini's wife, Elvira, falsely accused their maid Doria Manfredi of having an affair with Puccini. The maid then committed suicide. Elvira was successfully sued by the Manfredis, and Giacomo had to pay damages. Finally, in 1912, the death of Giulio Ricordi, Puccini's editor and publisher, ended a productive period of his career.

However, Puccini completed La fanciulla del West in 1910 and finished the score of La rondine in 1916.

In 1918, Il trittico premiered in New York. This work is composed of three one-act operas: a horrific episode (Il tabarro), in the style of the Parisian Grand Guignol, a sentimental tragedy (Suor Angelica), and a comedy (Gianni Schicchi). Of the three, Gianni Schicchi has remained the most popular, containing the popular aria "O mio babbino caro".

Final years[link]

Giacomo Puccini with conductor Arturo Toscanini

Puccini's last house in Brussels

A chain smoker of Toscano cigars and cigarettes, Puccini began to complain of chronic sore throats towards the end of 1923. A diagnosis of throat cancer led his doctors to recommend a new and experimental radiation therapy treatment, which was being offered in Brussels. Puccini and his wife never knew how serious the cancer was, as the news was only revealed to his son.

Puccini died there on 29 November 1924, from complications after the treatment; uncontrolled bleeding led to a heart attack the day after surgery. News of his death reached Rome during a performance of La bohème. The opera was immediately stopped, and the orchestra played Chopin's Funeral March for the stunned audience. He was buried in Milan, in Toscanini's family tomb, but that was always intended as a temporary measure. In 1926 his son arranged for the transfer of his father's remains to a specially created chapel inside the Puccini villa at Torre del Lago.

Turandot, his final opera, was left unfinished, and the last two scenes were completed by Franco Alfano based on the composer's sketches. Some dispute whether Alfano followed the sketches or not, since the sketches were said to be indecipherable, but he is believed to have done so, since, together with the autographs, he was given (still existing) transcriptions from Guido Zuccoli who was accustomed to interpreting Puccini's handiwork.

When Arturo Toscanini conducted the premiere performance in April 1926 (in front of a sold-out crowd, with every prominent Italian except for Benito Mussolini in attendance), he chose not to perform Alfano's portion of the score. The performance reached the point where Puccini had completed the score, at which time Toscanini stopped the orchestra. The conductor turned to the audience and said: "Here the opera finishes, because at this point the Maestro died." (Some record that he said, more poetically, "Here the Maestro laid down his pen.") (Some record that then Toscanini picked up the baton, turned to the audience, and announced, "But his disciples finished his work." At which time the opera closed to thunderous applause.)

Toscanini's laying down the baton has been misinterpreted by some journalists as a gesture of disapproval of Alfano's contribution. In 2009 William Hartson in the Daily Express told his readers with great authority that "Toscanini never conducted Turandot again." In fact, he conducted it again on the two following nights – including Alfano's ending – a total of three performances.

Toscanini edited Alfano's suggested completion ('Alfano I'), to produce a version now known as 'Alfano II', and this is the version usually used in performance. However, some musicians^[11] consider Alfano I to be a more dramatically complete version.

In 2002, an official new ending was composed by Luciano Berio from original sketches, but this finale has, to date, been performed only infrequently.

Politics[link]

Unlike Verdi and Wagner, Puccini did not appear to be active in the politics of his day. However, Mussolini, Fascist dictator of Italy at the time, claimed that Puccini applied for admission to the National Fascist Party. While it has been proven that Puccini was indeed among the early supporters of the Fascist party at the time of the election campaign of 1919 (in which the Fascist candidates were utterly defeated, earning a meagre 4,000 votes), there appear to be no records or proof of any application given to the party by Puccini.

This notwithstanding, Fascist propaganda appropriated Puccini's figure, and one of the most widely played marches during Fascist street parades and public ceremonies was the "Inno a Roma" (Hymn to Rome), composed in 1919 by Puccini to lyrics by Fausto Salvatori, based on these verses from Horace's Carmen saeculare:

Alme Sol, curru nitido diem qui / Promis et celas alius que et idem / Nasceris, possis nihil urbe Roma / Visere maius. (O Sun, that unchanged, yet ever new, / Lead'st out the day and bring'st it home, / May nothing be present to thy view / Greater than Rome!)

Style[link]

Puccini photographed in 1908

Puccini clearly occupies a place in the popular tradition of Verdi, his style of orchestration showing the strong influence of Richard Wagner, matching specific orchestral configurations and timbres to different dramatic moments. Whilst at its heart, Puccini's music is based on the traditional diatonic melodies of Italian opera in the time, influences can be heard of "contemporary developments" including the music of Igor Stravinsky and Impressionism. He has been described by Encyclopædia Britannica Online as "In many ways a typical fin de siècle artist".^[12]

The structures of Puccini's works are also noteworthy. While it is to an extent possible to divide his operas into arias or numbers (like Verdi's), his scores are generally through-composed presenting a very strong sense of continuous flow, pace and connectivity, perhaps another sign of Wagner's influence and his strong dramatic sense. Like Wagner, Puccini used leitmotifs to connote characters and sentiments (or combinations thereof). This is most apparent in Tosca, where the three chords which signal the beginning of the opera are used throughout to announce Scarpia; the descending brass motive (Vivacissimo con violenza) is connected to the repressive regime which ruled Rome at the setting of the opera and most clearly to Angelotti, one of the regime's victims; the harp arpeggio figure which appears at Tosca's entrance and the aria Vissi d'arte symbolizing Tosca's religious fervor; the clarinet ascending-descending scale indicating Mario's suffering and his doomed love for Tosca. Several motifs are also linked to Mimi and the bohemians in La bohème and to Cio-Cio San's eventual suicide in Butterfly. Unlike Wagner, Puccini's motifs are in some cases static; they are intended to direct the audience's attention to a particular idea. However, throughout his operas, for example the love motifs in La bohème, there are examples of his melodies developing to signal a change in a character. This is also evident in Tosca; when Scarpia is killed, the final harmony of his motive is modified to a minor triad, depicting his defeat.

Another distinctive quality in Puccini's works is the use of the voice in the style of speech i.e. canto parlando; characters sing short phrases one after another as if they were in conversation. Puccini is also celebrated for his melodic gift and many of his melodies are both memorable and enduringly popular. At their simplest these melodies are made of sequences from the scale, e.g. Quando me'n vo' (Musetta's Waltz) from La bohème and E lucevan le stelle from Act III of Tosca.

Puccini's operas additionally included several themes; one of the most common include that of heroines, who are "devoted body and soul to their lovers";^[13] a tragic end often waits for them due to their guilt.^[14] Examples of leading women who die in his operas include Cio-Cio San in Madama Butterfly, Mimì in La bohème or Tosca in Tosca. According to Encyclopædia Britannica Online, with such themes Puccini "combines compassion and pity for his heroines with a strong streak of sadism".^[15] Additionally, unusually for operas written by Italian composers up until that time, many of Puccini’s operas are set outside Italy—in exotic places such as Japan (Madama Butterfly), gold-mining country in California (La fanciulla del West), Paris and the Riviera (La rondine), and China (Turandot). A composer within the realm of verismo, this can be seen through his operas, where the usage of common people in everyday, "familiar" situations^[16] (once seen unfit for artistic portrayal) are included, such as in La bohème.^[17]

Pulitzer Prize-winning music critic Lloyd Schwartz summarized Puccini thus: "Is it possible for a work of art to seem both completely sincere in its intentions and at the same time counterfeit and manipulative? Puccini built a major career on these contradictions. But people care about him, even admire him, because he did it both so shamelessly and so skillfully. How can you complain about a composer whose music is so relentlessly memorable, even — maybe especially — at its most saccharine?"^[18]

In his work on Puccini, noted Verdi scholar Julian Budden describes Puccini as a gifted and original composer, noting the vibrant innovation hidden in the popularity of works such as "Che gelida manina". He describes the aria in musical terms (the signature embedded in the harmony for example), and points out that its structure was rather unheard of at the time, having three distinct musical paragraphs that nonetheless form a complete and coherent whole. This gumption in musical experimentation was the essence of Puccini's style, as evidenced in his diverse settings and use of the motif to express ideas beyond those in the story and text.

Music[link]

Although Puccini is mainly known for his operas, he also wrote some other orchestral pieces, sacred music, chamber music and songs for voice and piano.

Operas[link]

• Le Villi, libretto by Ferdinando Fontana (in one act – premiered at the Teatro Dal Verme, 31 May 1884)
  • second version (in two acts – premiered at the Teatro Regio of Torino, 26 December 1884)
  • third version (in two acts – premiered at La Scala (the Teatro alla Scala), 24 January 1885)
  • fourth version (in two acts – premiered at the Teatro dal Verme, 7 November 1889)
• Edgar, libretto by Ferdinando Fontana (in four acts – premiered at La Scala, 21 April 1889)
  • second version (in four acts – premiered at the Teatro del Giglio, 5 September 1891)
  • third version (in three acts – premiered at the Teatro Comunale, 28 January 1892)
  • fourth version (in three acts – premiered at the Teatro Colón di Buenos Aires, 8 July 1905)
• Manon Lescaut, libretto by Luigi Illica, Marco Praga and Domenico Oliva (premiered at the Teatro Regio, 1 February 1893)
  • second version (premiered at the Teatro Coccia, 21 December 1893)
• La bohème, libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa (premiered at the Teatro Regio of Torino, 1 February 1896)
• Tosca, libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa (premiered at the Teatro Costanzi, 14 January 1900)
• Madama Butterfly, libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa (in two acts – premiered at La Scala, 17 February 1904)
  • second version (in two acts – premiered at the Teatro Grande di Brescia, 28 May 1904)
  • third version (premiered at Covent Garden, London 10 July 1905)
  • fourth version (premiered at the Opéra-Comique in Paris, 28 December 1906)
  • fifth version (premiered at the Teatro Carcano, 9 December 1920)
• La fanciulla del West, libretto by Guelfo Civinini and Carlo Zangarini (premiered at the Metropolitan Opera, 10 December 1910)
  • second version (premiered at La Scala, 29 December 1912)
• La rondine, libretto by Giuseppe Adami (premiered at the Opéra of Monte Carlo, 27 March 1917)
  • second version (premiered at the Opéra of Monte Carlo, 10 April 1920)
  • third version (possible premier at the Teatro Verdi, 11 April 1924); orchestration of the third act completed in 1994 by Lorenzo Ferrero (premiered at Teatro Regio di Torino, 22 March 1994)
• Il trittico (premiered at the Metropolitan Opera, 14 December 1918)
  • Il tabarro, libretto by Giuseppe Adami
  • Suor Angelica, libretto by Giovacchino Forzano
  • Gianni Schicchi, libretto by Giovacchino Forzano
• Turandot, libretto by Renato Simoni and Giuseppe Adami (incomplete at the time of Puccini's death, completed by Franco Alfano: premiered at La Scala, 25 April 1926; an alternative completion was commissioned from Luciano Berio in 2002)

Other works and versions[link]

(with dates of premieres and locations)

• A te (c.1875)
• Preludio a orchestra (1876)
• Plaudite populi (Lucca, 1877)
• Credo (Lucca, 1878)
• Vexilla Regis (1878)
• Messa a 4 voci con orchestra (Lucca, 1880) Published in 1951 as Messa di Gloria
• Adagio in A major (1881)
• Largo Adagetto in F major (c.1881–83)
• Salve del ciel Regina (c.1882)
• Mentìa l’avviso (c.1882)
• Preludio Sinfonico in A major (Milan, 1882)
• Fugues (c.1883)
• Scherzo in D (1883)
• Storiella d’amore (1883)
• Capriccio Sinfonico (Milan, 1883)
• Sole ed amore (1888)
• Crisantemi (String Quartet, 1890, "Alla memoria di Amadeo di Savoia Duca d'Aosta")
• Minuetto n.1 (String Quartet, published about 1892, "A.S.A.R. Vittoria Augusta di Borbone, Principessa di Capua")
• Minuetto n.2 (String Quartet, published about 1892, "All'esimio violinista prof. Augusto Michelangeli")
• Minuetto n.3 (String Quartet, published about 1892, "All'amico maestro Carlo Carignani")
• Piccolo valzer (1894)
• Avanti Urania! (1896)
• Scossa elettrica (1896)
• Inno a Diana (1897)
• E l'uccellino (1899)
• Terra e mare (1902)
• Canto d’anime (1904)
• Requiem (27 January 1905, Milan)
• Casa mia, casa mia (1908)
• Sogno d'or (1913)
• Pezzo per pianoforte (1916)
• Morire? (c.1917) – This song was transposed by a half step (into G-flat major) and set to different text in the 1st revision of his work La Rondine called "Parigi è la città dei desideri" which is sung by Ruggero in the 1st act. Besides the key and text changes, it is the exact music to the aria.
• Inno a Roma (1 June 1919, Rome)

Centres for Puccini Studies[link]

Founded in 1996 in Lucca, the Centro Studi Giacomo Puccini embraces a wide range of approaches to the study of Puccini's work.

In the USA, the American Center for Puccini Studies specializes in the presentation of unusual performing editions of composer's works and introduces many neglected or unknown Puccini pieces to the music loving public. It was founded in 2004 by leading Puccini artist and scholar, Dr. Harry Dunstan.

Detailed information about both organizations exists on their websites.

See also[link]

• Julian Budden; author on Puccini, and sometime President of Centro Studi di Giacomo Puccini
• Ferdinando Fontana; librettist for Puccini's first two operas
• Festival Puccini; the annual Festival of Puccini's operas in Torre del Lago.

References[link]

Notes

Bibliography

• Ashbrook W. & Powers H. Puccini's Turandot: The End of the Great Tradition, Princeton Univ. Press, 1991
• Carner, Mosco, Puccini: A Critical Biography, Alfred Knopf, 1959
• Lynn, Karyl Charna (2005). Italian Opera Houses and Festivals. Lanham, MD: The Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0-8108-5359-0. 
• Keolker, James, "Last Acts, The Operas of Puccini and His Italian Contemporaries", 2001.
• Leone, Giuseppe and Roberto Zambonini, "Puccini e le 'more' di Silone: viaggio poetico musicale fra 'soavi fanciulle' e coraggiose eroine", Malgrate (Lc), 27 August 2009.
• Maehder, Juergen, Turandot (together with Sylvano Bussotti), Pisa (Giardini) 1983.
• Maehder, Juergen, "Esotismo e colore locale nell'opera di Puccini", Atti del Io Convegno Internazionale sull'opera di Puccini a Torre del Lago 1983, ed. Jürgen Maehder, Pisa (Giardini) 1985.
• Maehder, Juergen, "Zwischen Opera buffa und Melodramma. Italienische Oper im 18. und 19. Jahrhundert", Perspektiven der Opernforschung I, edd. Jürgen Maehder/Jürg Stenzl, Frankfurt/Bern/New York (Peter Lang) 1994.
• Maehder, Juergen, "Puccini's Turandot". Taipei (Gao Tan Publishing) 1998, 287 pp. (in collaboration with Kii-Ming Lo).
• Maehder, Juergen, Studi pucciniani, 1/1998, Lucca (Centro Studi Giacomo Puccini) 1998, 229 pp., (in collaboration with Virgilio Bernardoni, Michele Girardi, Arthur Groos, Roger Parker, Harold S. Powers, Peter Ross).
• Phillips-Matz, Mary Jane (2002). Puccini: A Biography. Boston: Northeastern University Press. ISBN 1-55553-530-5. 
• Puccini, Simonetta (ed.) (2006). Giacomo Puccini in Torre del Lago. Viareggio, Tuscany: Friends of Giacomo Puccini's Houses Association. 
• Svejda, Jim. The Record Shelf Guide to the Classical Repertoire, 1990 ISBN 1-55958-051-8

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Giacomo Puccini

• "Puccini Vocal and Instrumental Music". Centro Studi di Giacomo Puccini. http://www.puccini.it/scientifica/catmusic.htm. Retrieved 6 February 2008. 
• "Puccini Operas". Centro Studi di Giacomo Puccini. http://www.puccini.it/scientifica/catalogo%20opere.htm. Retrieved 6 February 2008. 
• Centro Studi di Giacomo Puccini
• American Center for Puccini Studies
• Puccini-Research-Center
• Festival Puccini e la sua Lucca
• Encyclopædia Britannica, Giacomo Puccini
• Puccini cylinder recordings, from the Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara Library.
• Free scores by Giacomo Puccini in the Werner Icking Music Archive (WIMA)
• Puccini's music in movies
• Works by or about Giacomo Puccini in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Free scores by Giacomo Puccini at the International Music Score Library Project
• Free scores by Giacomo Puccini in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)