Giacomo Puccini (1858 - 1924)

He was born in Lucca, Tuscany, on November 22nd, 1858. Son of Michele Puccini and Fortunata Magi. He was the sixth of seven brothers, as a child he hated music. However, he came, like Bach, from a family of musicians. Then he learned to play the organ like all the Puccini who were organists and chapel teachers in the cathedral of Lucca.

When he was 6 years old his uncle Fortunato incorporated him into the chapel choir and as Giacomo continually detuned, he declared that he had no aptitude for music. Then he studied organ where he obtained very good results taking over the position of his father as organist and chapel teacher of the cathedral of Lucca.

City of Lucca, Italy

In 1878 he traveled to Pisa to the presentation of the Verdi opera, Aida, where he was so dazzled that he decided to leave his post as organist and dedicate himself to composing operas. He was then 20 years old. Later, thanks to a pension from Queen Margarita, Puccini was able to study at the Milan Conservatory.

During his stay in Milan as a student, he had to subsist in the bohemian environment. Puccini was poor and lived in a dingy attic, where he managed to cope with his poverty with the help of the optimism that his youth gave him. Someday he would write an opera that would remember the hungry dwellers in the garrets and translate their sufferings into beautiful songs. A story very similar to his magnificent opera La Boheme.

City of Milan (1880)

In 1883, encouraged and protected by Ponchielli, he finished his first opera "Le Villi" about the peasants from the German black forest. He presented him to a contest in which his friend Pietro Mascagni also participated, but Puccini's work did not even get an honorable mention. On the contrary, the work of Mascagni won, it was "Caballeria Rusticana". Later Le Villi was released and with great success.

In 1889, he finished his second opera "Edgar", but the script was deficient and received numerous criticisms.

In 1893, Puccini began composing Manon Lescaut, inspired by the novel of the same title written in 1731 by the French abbot Prévost, which narrates the love relationship between a courtesan and a knight. Puccini would thus turn the love story into a dramatic opera, in which the psychology of the protagonist -as would be the case in his mature works- La Boheme, Tosca, Madame Butterfly and La Fanciulla del West.

La Boheme

After two years, in November 1895, he finished composing La Boheme. Reunited with his friends, Puccini spoke to them: "Gentlemen, I have the honor of introducing you to Mimi, the girl who sold her body for a few dresses and a carriage. But she is immortal, because she loved with a heart capable of reaching the sacrifice. I'm going to play you the scene of death, which I just finished. " When they heard the music, his friends couldn't hide their emotion. "You will also be immortal with Mimi" commented one of them. Puccini smiled. "Maybe" he said.

La Boheme's script is based on a novel by Henry Murger. It is the story of hungry young bohemians who lived in the Latin Quarter of Paris. Puccini's opera was simple and human and he knew how to turn a humble theme into noble melodies. When it was premiered at the Regio Theatre in Turin, on February 1st, 1896, it was not very well received, however two years later it was definitively imposed.

Tosca

The writer Luigi Illica presented Puccini with Tosca's script so that he could put music on it, to which he refused. Illica then gave it to another musician, however Puccini became obsessed and claimed the script from the writer. Finally, on January 14th, 1900, Tosca was premiered at the Constanzi Theatre in Rome, with great success.

Madama butterfly

In 1902, Puccini started the composition of Madama Butterfly, whose plot is based on a John Luther Long novel, dramatized by David Belasco. The librettists were Illica and Giacosa, friends of the musician who had previously written the librettos for Tosca and La Boheme. The new play premiered on February 17th, 1904, at the La Scala Theatre in Milan.

Elegance, attractiveness and wit made Puccini irresistible to many women. One of them, Elvira Bonturi left her husband forever and lived with Giacomo for 18 years. When her husband passed away, she legally joined the composer. The couple lived in Monza, where their son Antonio was born and in 1890 they moved to Milan. Puccini, even when married, was not without romantic adventures, he loved his wife but this did not prevent him from meeting other ladies when the opportunity presented itself.

But her partner Elvira was a very jealous woman, that's how in 1908, after spending their summer holidays together in Cairo, there was an authentic family drama. For no apparent reason, Elvira began to feel terrible jealousy of Doria Manfredi, a young woman who worked years ago at her house as a servant. The idea that Doria and Giacomo were lovers obsessed Elvira, one day fired her and threatened to kill her.

Prey to despair Doria committed suicide by taking poison. A doctor, at the request of his parents, examined the body and certified that she was a virgin. The Manfredi filed a complaint against Elvira and was found guilty. Looking for a way out of the problem, Puccini compensated Doria's family, who dropped the charges and his wife was able to save herself from prison.

The latest success and decline.

On December 10th, 1910, La Fanciulla del West was premiered at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, under the direction of the brilliant and controversial Arturo Toscanini and with the performance of the most famous tenor of the moment: Enrico Caruso. It was the last work of Puccini's period of maturity, and it was a resounding success. Also known in English as The Girl from the Far West, this three-act opera was based on a libretto by Carlos Zangarini and Guelfo Civinini.

The action of La Fanciulla del West takes place in a mining area of ​​the western United States, during the gold rush, in 1850. Despite the success of the premiere, this opera was forgotten. Although it dramatically suffers from certain flaws, it is a masterpiece for its original, even bold, harmonic language and imaginative and brilliant orchestration. The so-called "bandit's aria" -Chélla mi creda libero e lontano- constitutes a true anthology piece.

The autumn in Puccini's life was warm, but without great events. The best of his musical harvest had already been collected. At the age of 67, when he worked in Turandot, an exotic and modern opera that told the story of a beautiful and cruel Chinese princess, the musician had to interrupt his work, suffering from a throat condition.

The doctors who recognized him verified that he had a cancerous tumor. He was attended by the best specialist in Europe, radio treatments were applied, obtaining good results. He was improving from his ailment, when he suddenly died of a heart attack in Brussels on November 29th, 1924. His mortal remains were transferred to a family pantheon in Torre del lago.

Last Tribute

Turandot, which was completed by Franco Alfano, premiered at the Scala in Milan on April 25th, 1926. It was a memorable night. All intellectual Italy was present. The opera was performed that day without the final scene added by Alfano. The orchestra was directed by none other than Arturo Toscanini. When the last note composed by Puccini was sounded, the lights in the room went out and in the dark and in the most moving silence, these words of Toscanini were heard: "Here ends the music of the teacher" (according to others: "Here the teacher died"). Then the light came on again and the public paid the last tribute to Puccini with a huge ovation.

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827)

Ludwig van Beethoven was born in a dark attic of a building located in the city of Bonn (Germany), supposedly on December 16th, 1770. 

Music was not something alien in that home, where there was a piano, a father (Johann van Beethoven) who worked as tenor for a trusted man of Emperor Joseph II and his grandfather who had become an orchestra conductor at the court of Flanders.

Beethoven's house

Ludwig's mother, Maria Magdalena Keverich, widow of a court footman before marrying Johann, not only had to take care of her children and her husband, but also her own mother, with alcohol problems and psychic imbalances. Only an iron will of which Ludwig was heir, prevented his mother from bowing to his destiny.

Son of an impoverished family, at the age of 4, Ludwig was forced by his father to practice piano. In those years music was an occupation that with good luck could help them to eat.

Maria Magdalena Keverich (Beethoven's mother)

For some families, having a child prodigy was like a safe conduct to overcome misery. That is how at 8 years old, Ludwig first appeared in public as a pianist in Cologne. However, to make him more attractive, his father said he was only 6 years old. This is how Ludwig received a lot of applause at his first concert. At 9, Bonn already appreciated him as a very good organist.

In 1787, Beethoven obtained a scholarship, and with the assurance that his parents and siblings would not stop eating, he went to Vienna, the cradle of all European musicians. There, Amadeus Mozart listened to Beethoven play the piano and commented that "the young musician would give a lot to talk about."

Vienna city

However, a few weeks after being in the Austrian capital, he received news that his mother had become ill, and at just 17 years old, Beethoven was forced to return to Bonn to accompany her in her last moments and check how her father fell into the alcohol.

He then enrolled at the University of Bonn and became an inveterate reader. He was not only dedicated to classical literacy from Homer to Shakespeare, but to the themes of his time under the gaze of Goethe and Schiller.

University of Bonn

A special scholarship sent Beethoven back to Vienna to study with Franz Joseph Haydn. In 1796, a tour took him to Nuremberg, Prague, Dresden and Berlin where he dazzled the court of Frederick William II of Prussia, who was moved to tears when he heard his Sonatas for piano 1 and 2, opus 5.

The Viennese high society at the same time that celebrated him as a composer and pianist, they forgave his bad character and abrupt manners, which were usual theme in the meetings of the time. There was also a rumor circulating that on his return from Berlin, he had visited an ear specialist.

Franz Joseph Haydn

After several years of deceptive medical care with hopes of improvement whose healing could take years, today it is known that Beethoven's deafness was due to an otosclerosis, a disease that consists in the development of a porous bone inside the ear, easily curable in our days. The doctors at the time believed that the problem was due to a stomach condition that the musician had contracted in Bonn.

By 1803 Beethoven's influence had already reached maturity and splendor. This is how he developed in all its fullness the forms of musical classicism and at the same time connect it with a new sensibility that was spreading throughout Europe: the romanticism.

                               

In those silent years, his creation touched the genius. In 1824 in his Ninth Symphony, opus 25, called Coral, he reached the maximum transgression: to unite the human voice to the symphonic genre. And despite the pain and loneliness, he did it with Schiller Ode to Joy.

On December 1st, 1826, Beethoven became ill thinking it was a passing flu. But it was about dropsy so he had to undergo four operations to remove water from his belly; He suffered from liver cirrhosis.

Beethoven premiered his 9th Symphony on May 7th, 1824 in Vienna

On March 26th, 1827, at 17:45 hrs, Beethoven quoted Cesar Augusto: "Applaud friends, the comedy is over," was his way of saying goodbye. Around 20,000 people accompanied their remains in the city of Vienna.

Ludwig van Beethoven funeral

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Chilean pianist Claudio Arrau performs Ludwig van Beethoven's Concerto No. 5 for piano and orchestra (in E flat major - Op.73), in a free concert held at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Santiago de Chile.

With Victor Tevah conducting the Symphony Orchestra of the University of Chile.

This presentation was made in front of an audience of 5,000 people gathered inside the cathedral and another 6,000 people listening through special speakers installed outside the temple in the rain.

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This audiobook in Spanish narrates the life and work of this musical genius.

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An Ode to Joy - Beethoven 9th Symphony flashmob at Placa de Sant Roc. By Orquestra Simfonica del Valles. Sponsored by Banc de Sabadell (May 2012).