The Romantic World of Puccini: A New Critical Appraisal of the Operas

309 Pages·2009·1.35 MB·English

by  Iris J. Arnesen

The Romantic World
of Puccini
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The Romantic World
of Puccini
A New Critical Appraisal
of the Operas
I J. A
RIS RNESEN
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Jefferson, North Carolina, and London
I would like to acknowledge the support and encouragement
of the readers of my performing arts publication, The Opera
Glass. Their enthusiasm for that project has made work on
it, and on this book, a great joy, and I sincerely thank them.
I particularly want to thank Trude Raymond, who opened a
door that otherwise would have remained closed to me.
LIBRARYOFCONGRESSCATALOGUING-IN-PUBLICATIONDATA
Arnesen, Iris J., 1955–
The romantic world of Puccini : a new critical
appraisal of the operas / Iris J. Arnesen.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-7864-4482-3
softcover : 50# alkaline paper
1. Puccini, Giacomo, 1858–1924. Operas.
I. Title.
ML410.P89A66 2009 782.1092—dc22 2009021372
British Library cataloguing data are available
©2009 Iris J. Arnesen. All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying
or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher.
On the cover: Cristina Gallardo-Domas, right, as Mimi and
Marcello Giordani, left, as Rodolfo, in La Bohème, 2005
(AP Photo/Keystone, Eddy Risch)
Manufactured in the United States of America
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Box 611, Je›erson, North Carolina 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com
To Fred Woodworth, who makes all things possible
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Table of Contents
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
PART ONE
1. Genre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2. The World of the Rose Cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
3. The Dramatic Influences of Wagner and the Conclusion of
the Rose Cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
PART TWO
4. Le Villi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
5. Manon Lescaut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
6. La Bohème . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
7. Tosca . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
8. Madama Butterfly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
9. La Fanciulla del West . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
10. La Rondine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
11. Il Tabarro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
12. Suor Angelica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
13. Turandot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
14. The Trouble with Turandot, and How to Fix It . . . . . . . . . . . 281
15. Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
Appendix: The Operas of Giacomo Puccini . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
Chapter Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
vii
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Preface
DUKE: For women are as roses, whose fair flow’r
Being once displayed, doth fall that very hour.
VIOLA: And so they are; alas, that they are so!
To die, even when they to perfection grow!
—Twelfth Night
William Shakespeare
The operas of Giacomo Puccini have rarely inspired much respect from critics. Even
those who admit to liking his music and who grant his appeal to the audience tend to dep-
recate Puccini’s works as sentimental tearjerkers—slightly hysterical melodramas that for
two hours or more appeal entirely to the emotions, while leaving the intellect twiddling its
thumbs.
The standard against which Puccini is often measured and found wanting is Giuseppe
Verdi, whose operas tend to feature big and masculine subjects, such as the conflict between
the individual and the state, or between personal desire and the demands of conscience.
Compared to the monumental goings-on in such Verdi works as Don Carlo, Aida, or even
La Forza del Destino, Puccini’s subjects can appear hopelessly trivial.
And then of course there is the sadism. Even Puccini’s biggest fans among the critics
acknowledge, with more or less nervous laughter, how much delight the composer took in
torturing his heroines, those “frail and gentle creatures,” before he crushed them; how he
reveled in the death agonies of his pathetic butterflies, broken on the wheel. The only trou-
ble with these characterizations of Puccini, his operas, and his heroines, is that there isn’t
a word of truth in them. What has caused Puccini’s works to be so badly misunderstood is
the great complexity and oddness of their librettos. Of all opera composers, it was Puccini
who most needed an exciting libretto to stimulate him musically, and unfortunately for
him there was only one subject that really excited him. That’s why it was so difficult for
him throughout his career to find suitable libretto material.
As a result, Puccini’s operas, which on the surface appear to stand as completely inde-
pendent works, are actually very closely linked. Whether by design or by necessity, Puc-
cini’s works form what could arguably be called a cycle, not unlike that of Richard Wagner’s
Ring Cycle.
This thesis no doubt sounds incredible. While Wagner’s massive operas tell an obvi-
ously continuing story of the theft of the Rhine gold and the eventual Twilight of the Gods,
complete with characters and musical themes that recur throughout the cycle, Puccini’s lit-
tle works seem to have nothing in common but the style of Puccini. How could the events
of his first opera, Le Villi, be the start of a continuing story that concludes forty years later
with what happens in his last opera, Turandot?
If the answer could be given in a few sentences, Puccini’s cycle would have been
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