Great Operas of Puccini

This compendium of short guides to all twelve Puccini’s operas is part of the author’s series A Short Guide to a Great Opera. Puccini’s highly-charged music provides an unforgettable experience for those enjoying it socially, in an opera-house or cinema, or at home on TV, radio etc. He has been the largest contributor to the hundred best tunes, including Nessun dorma (Turandot), O mio babbino caro(Gianni Schicchi) or Chi il bel sogno (La Rondine). Some of his operas are full of them, like Tosca’s Vissi d’arte, Cavaradossi’s E lucevan le stelle and O dolci mani, Madama Butterfly’s ‘One fine day’ and the Humming Chorus. Among the favourites are O soave fanciulla and ‘Your tiny hand is frozen’from La Bohème. Less successful operas also have great moments: Donna non vidi mai in Manon Lescaut or Addio, mia dolce terra in La Fanciulla. Their performers constitute a hall of fame: the Three Tenors (Domingo, Pavarotti, Carreras), Alagna, Kaufmann; and immortal sopranos like Callas, Tebaldi, Kiri Te Kanawa and Gheorgiu. Steen’s Short Guides provide a synthesis of a vast amount of information, in an easily usable and entertaining form, enabling the user to grasp what it helps to know about these operas.