The news reached the newspaper offices around 11 a.m. on November 29, 1924, and spread like wildfire: Giacomo Puccini, the most famous opera composer of his day, had died in Brussels of complications from surgery for laryngeal cancer, shortly before His 66th birthday. Specifically, the cause of death was post-operative treatment. His heart, due to incessant smoking, could not withstand the radiation – a treatment then in its infancy.

Ten operas in 40 years

Puccini composed ten operas during his four decades of artistic career. However, these were enough to make him world famous. Manon Lescaut, La Bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, La Fanciulla del West, Il Trittico and of course the last and for many the greatest his creation, Turandot: all great hits of his time.

And not only that, as even today, every year, more than two thousand Puccini opera productions are staged worldwide. Thus, the great Italian composer far surpasses his colleagues, such as Gioachino Rossini and Richard Wagner. Only Giuseppe Verdi and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart are performed more often, but they also left behind more operas. With his relatively small body of work, Puccini is proportionally the master of the genre.

The recipe for success

“I’ve always wondered why Puccini is so successful,” comments musicologist Arnold Jacobshagen in an interview with DW. “I’ve always thought that his success was due to the quality of his music, and the more I got involved with it, the more I realized that it really is that which makes him special, and not the bad taste of the public, as his critics have long claimed.”

Three main characteristics of Puccini explain his enormous success. First, the composer was an extreme perfectionist, a master of “intensity and measure,” as Jacobshagen notes. Or, as he himself once said: “A good musician must know everything, but not give everything.” The technical precision that characterizes his scores is admired even by conductors, singers and orchestral musicians.

Secondly, the Italian had a developed theatrical perception: “Puccini is, along with William Shakespeare, Giuseppe Verdi and Henrik Ibsen, one of the most played tragedies in the world”, his biographer points out.

Third, Puccini’s music has a unique ability to touch listeners directly and deeply. As the musicologist Julian Buden observes, “no composer communicated more directly with his audience than Puccini.”

Puccini and women: A drama in itself

Fragile, but strong and determined – this is how Puccini’s famous heroines are: Cho-Cho-Shan (Madama Butterfly), Tosca (Tosca), Mimi (La Bohème). Someone who manages to create such touching female characters, juxtaposing them with some of the toughest men, could certainly be called a deep connoisseur of female nature.

However, Puccini was also a charmer. “He was certainly an attractive man,” observes Arnold Jacobshagen. It only takes a few photos of Puccini to agree with this: elegant, classy-looking and always well-dressed. The genius opera talent, with intense sex appeal, lived an intense love life with… many changes and often not caring about the opinion of others.

To complete the picture: Puccini was an avid hunter and lover of technology. He indulged in his pursuits, which included the purchase of cars, speedboats and other “marvels of progress”, such as an irrigation system for the garden of his villa in Torre del Lago.

Edited by: Chrysa Vachtsevanu