Taking into account that in mid-May
ABAO will offer us one of its most beautiful operas, La Bohème, and that this year marks the centenary of his death, I believe that a biographical/artistic explanation of Giacomo Puccini is essential. Of course, among opera lovers, Puccini occupies a prominent place, but the most interesting thing about this composer is that his music moves and touches people who in principle have no special interest in this art. I know many people who recognize that opera bores them, but yet these people find some operas' passages like Madama Butterfly, La Bohème or Turandot very exciting. I mean,

Puccini comes to the heart of everyone, and that's right. Born in Lucca (Tuscany, Italy) in 1858, the composer is one of the last representatives of operatic verism, a movement whose origin is literary naturalism. Puccini, however, departs somewhat from this verism and has very different influences: he admired Richard Wagner, Bizet or the French composer Massenet. They learned to carefully reflect the peculiar colors of places and history. In fact, Puccini is characterized by its ability to perform excellent musical reconstructions of the historical environment of each time: China from Turandot, Japan from Madama Butterfly, Western United States of America in West Fanciulla, Manon Lescaut and La Bohèmee's father, Schgi-Channi en. All these contexts and environments are perfectly reflected in their work. To explain Puccini's influence on the public, to all of this we have to add that he was a composer with a very special personality. At the time, at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of URL 0, the musical avant-garde began, from which she abandoned. He composed thinking about the public, took great care of the representations and followed the tours of his works around the world. The musical critique said, in


a way, that it was commercial, and they didn't appreciate it too much. He was accused of not being Italian, Russian, German or French. Not much less. Perhaps his most important invention was his eclecticism. He skilfully understood and synthesized different languages and musical cultures. All this cocktail and much more was Puccini. Don't miss

La Bohème next month.