Last class on the works of Giacomo Puccini

The last class on Puccini Wednesday cover his final works  including the three one act operas in 1918 called Il Trittico.  Each opera was an hour long.  The first being "Il Tabarro" meaning the cloak.  It is a violent scene on a barge in the Seine river.  The second "Suor Angelica" is religious and redemptive taking place in a cloistered nunnery.  The final opera is "Gianni Schicchi" a comedy taking place in Florence in 1299 with a character from Dante's "Inferno."

In searching for his big production opera to rival Verdi's "Aida," he creates Turandot in 1924.  However he died before the final act was finished so it was completed by Arturo Toscanini and Granco Alfano based on Puccini's notes.  The tenor aria from this opera that helped make Luciano Pavarotti famous is Nessun Dorma which translates as "None shall sleep."  The final line is "I shall win."  Puccini wrote this song and although died before the opera finish...He Won.  Through his main operas "Manon Lescaut," La Boheme," "Tosca," "Madame Butterfly," "La Fanciulla del West," "La Rondine,""Il Trittico," and "Turandot" he lives in our daily hearing, viewing, and singing of his music.