Giacomo Puccini

Description

Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924) is perhaps the world’s most popular composer of operas.  Works such as La Bohème and Madame Butterfly have a universal appeal and are an essential part of the repetoire of every major opera house.  He is renowned above all for his gift as a melodist, but he was also a new force in musical drama, and posessed a tremendous sense of theatre.  The author draws attention to the felicity, daring and extraordinary colouring of Puccini’s music, and counters the view that he was a retrogressive who through his choice of harrowing subject matter aimed to shock.  This is a polemic, passionate and rational attempt to set the man from Lucca among the immortal greats.Conrad Wilson was music critic for the Scotsman from 1963 to 1991, and now writes for the Herald. Author of several publications, including a history of Scottish Opera, he was for many years Programme Editor of the Edinburgh Festival.

“Fascinating and fastidiously researched. A fine book, both emotionally profound and waspishly witty.”—The Scotsman

“A sizzling new biography.”—Herald

“Thoroughly readable and quietly perceptive.”—Guardian

On the 20th Century Composers Series

“As a series, Phaidon’s 20th Century Composers has brought remarkable variety and a welter of information, both necessary and delightfully trivial. Intended both for the general reader and for the more enthusiastically musical.”—The Scotsman