The operas of Giacomo Puccini are regularly performed throughout the world, enthusiastically attended by an adoring public. In this book, William Weaver, distinguished writer on musical subjects and translator of Italian prose, joins forces with Simonetta Puccini, granddaughter of the great composer, to bring together a fascinating selection of articles and photographs concerning Puccini's life and works.

Simonetta Puccini has contributed as essay full of intimate details about her family; William Weaver addresses the question of Puccini's spectacular talent for dramaturgy. In addition, Julian Budden writes on Puccini's experiences in Lucca and Milan as a young musician, Harvey Sachs explores Puccini's intimate musical relationship with Arturo Toscanini, and Arthur Groos compares the depictions of East-West tensions in the different versions of the libretto for Madama Butterfly.

Mary Jane Phillips-Matz describes the creation of La fanciulla del West vis-a-vis the composer's excursions to the United States, Leonardo Pinzauti examines the startling musical language of Il trittico, and William Ashbrook discusses the genesis and early history of La rondine. Michael Kaye considers Puccini's nonoperatic works, and David Hamilton, through a study of early Puccini recording, outlines transitions in performance style from the nineteenth to the twentieth century.

This lively and informative collection touches upon all of the master's operas and also offers select bibliographies, a chronology, and a dramatis personae of the countless people who participated in Puccini's career.