Festival Puccini
Encyclopedia
The Festival Puccini is an annual summer opera
festival held in July and August to present the operas of the famous Italian composer
Giacomo Puccini
.
The Festival is located in Torre del Lago
, Italy
, a town located between Lago di Massaciuccoli
and the Tyrrhenian Sea, 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) from the beaches of Viareggio
on the Tuscan Riviera and 18 kilometres (11.2 mi) from Pisa
and Lucca
, Puccini's birthplace.
In presenting four or five performances of up to four operatic productions each season, the Festival attracts about forty thousand spectators to its open-air theatre, the Teatro dei Quattromila (so named for its seating capacity, although 3,200 seats were actually installed), located very close to the "Villa Puccini," the house which the composer had built in 1900 and in which he lived and worked on his major operas until pollution from the lake forced him to settle in Viareggio
in 1921. Along with other members of his family who died later, Puccini is buried in a small chapel inside the Villa, in a room transformed into a mausoleum
after his death.
, one of his librettists, in 1924 just before he left for the clinic in Brussels
for his throat operation: "I always come out here and take a boat to go and shoot snipes … but once I would like to come here and listen to one of my operas in the open air." The composer was thought to be expressing the hope that his operas would be performed in the extraordinary natural stage offered by the Massaciuccoli Lake. However, this is disputed by his granddaughter, Simonetta Puccini.
Nevertheless, on 24 August 1930, together with Pietro Mascagni
, who had been fellow student of Puccini’s, Forzano produced the first performances of a Puccini opera on the lake shore, in front of the Maestro’s house. In a provisional theatre, the Carro di Tespi Lirico with its stage built on piles stuck in the lake, a travelling opera company performed La Bohème
directed by Forzano and conducted by Mascagni. The same company came back in 1931 when Beniamino Gigli
and Adelaide Saraceni performed in La bohème, while Rosetta Pampanini and Angelo Michetti performed Madama Butterfly
. This was the beginning of what was to become a major opera festival.
However, in the years before 1949, due to the political and financial climate, there was only one presentation—in 1937—and that was a concert. Returning in 1949 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Puccini's death, the Festival re-opened with La fanciulla del West
and continued into the 1950s with many of the composer's most well known works.
After the creation of the Puccini Festival Foundation in 1990, achieved in order to put the event on a more established financial footing, plans were put in place to create a new open-air theatre with up-to-date facilities and acoustics. The town authorities of Viareggio
have purchased 270000 square feet (25,083.8 m²) of land to create the Parco della Musica (Music Park) and on it was constructed the Teatro al Aperto (the Outdoor Theatre) to seat 3,200. In addition, other facilities for rehearsals and workshops were built, along with a 600-seat covered studio theatre.
, who also made his début as director in Tosca
; Mario del Monaco
, who chose the Festival as his farewell to the stage in Il Tabarro
, and many others who began or ended extraordinary careers.
In 2000, 70th anniversary of Forzano and Mascagni’s initiative, the 46th Puccini Festival presented two major new productions, Madama Butterfly and Tosca. In addition, the program included Puccini’s first opera, Le Villi
, presented in concert, with performances by Katia Ricciarelli
and Josè Cura
. In 2004 the Puccini Festival celebrated its 50th anniversary by a season featuring two great events: one was a new production of Madama Butterfly celebrating the centenary of its première in Brescia
on 28 May 1904. It was conducted by Plácido Domingo
with Daniela Dessì
and Fabio Armiliato
in the leading roles. The second was a special evening dedicated to Puccini's heroines, presenting the most beloved arias from the Maestro's favourite characters, with Plácido Domingo narrating as Puccini.
The 2006 season is unique in that a production of La fanciulla del West
was presented rather later in the traditional season with follow-up performances in Monaco
in October. Many productions originating at the festival have gone on to appear in opera houses throughout the world.
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
festival held in July and August to present the operas of the famous Italian composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
Giacomo Puccini
Giacomo Puccini
Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini was an Italian composer whose operas, including La bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot, are among the most frequently performed in the standard repertoire...
.
The Festival is located in Torre del Lago
Torre del Lago
Torre del Lago is a town of almost 11,000 inhabitants, a frazione of the comune of Viareggio, in the province of Lucca, Tuscany, Italy, between the Lake of Massaciuccoli and the Tyrrhenian Sea....
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, a town located between Lago di Massaciuccoli
Lago di Massaciuccoli
The Lago di Massaciuccoli is a lake in the Province of Lucca, Tuscany, Italy. Its surface area is 6.9 km². It is located mainly in the municipality of Massarosa and partly in Torre del Lago, a civil parish of Viareggio....
and the Tyrrhenian Sea, 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) from the beaches of Viareggio
Viareggio
Viareggio is a city and comune located in northern Tuscany, Italy, on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea. With a population of over 64,000 it is the main centre of the northern Tuscan Riviera known as Versilia, and the second largest city within the Province of Lucca.It is known as a seaside resort...
on the Tuscan Riviera and 18 kilometres (11.2 mi) from Pisa
Pisa
Pisa is a city in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the right bank of the mouth of the River Arno on the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa...
and Lucca
Lucca
Lucca is a city and comune in Tuscany, central Italy, situated on the river Serchio in a fertile plainnear the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Lucca...
, Puccini's birthplace.
In presenting four or five performances of up to four operatic productions each season, the Festival attracts about forty thousand spectators to its open-air theatre, the Teatro dei Quattromila (so named for its seating capacity, although 3,200 seats were actually installed), located very close to the "Villa Puccini," the house which the composer had built in 1900 and in which he lived and worked on his major operas until pollution from the lake forced him to settle in Viareggio
Viareggio
Viareggio is a city and comune located in northern Tuscany, Italy, on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea. With a population of over 64,000 it is the main centre of the northern Tuscan Riviera known as Versilia, and the second largest city within the Province of Lucca.It is known as a seaside resort...
in 1921. Along with other members of his family who died later, Puccini is buried in a small chapel inside the Villa, in a room transformed into a mausoleum
Mausoleum
A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or persons. A monument without the interment is a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type of tomb or the tomb may be considered to be within the...
after his death.
Origins
The Puccini Festival was started in 1930 following what is believed to have been Puccini’s comment to friend Giovacchino ForzanoGiovacchino Forzano
Giovacchino Forzano was an Italian playwright, librettist, stage director, and film director. A resourceful writer, he produced opera librettos for most of the major Italian composers of the early twentieth century, including the librettos for Giacomo Puccini's Suor Angelica and Gianni...
, one of his librettists, in 1924 just before he left for the clinic in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
for his throat operation: "I always come out here and take a boat to go and shoot snipes … but once I would like to come here and listen to one of my operas in the open air." The composer was thought to be expressing the hope that his operas would be performed in the extraordinary natural stage offered by the Massaciuccoli Lake. However, this is disputed by his granddaughter, Simonetta Puccini.
Nevertheless, on 24 August 1930, together with Pietro Mascagni
Pietro Mascagni
Pietro Antonio Stefano Mascagni was an Italian composer most noted for his operas. His 1890 masterpiece Cavalleria rusticana caused one of the greatest sensations in opera history and single-handedly ushered in the Verismo movement in Italian dramatic music...
, who had been fellow student of Puccini’s, Forzano produced the first performances of a Puccini opera on the lake shore, in front of the Maestro’s house. In a provisional theatre, the Carro di Tespi Lirico with its stage built on piles stuck in the lake, a travelling opera company performed La Bohème
La bohème
La bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...
directed by Forzano and conducted by Mascagni. The same company came back in 1931 when Beniamino Gigli
Beniamino Gigli
Beniamino Gigli was an Italian opera singer. The most famous tenor of his generation, he was renowned internationally for the great beauty of his voice and the soundness of his vocal technique. Music critics sometimes took him to task, however, for what was perceived to be the over-emotionalism...
and Adelaide Saraceni performed in La bohème, while Rosetta Pampanini and Angelo Michetti performed Madama Butterfly
Madama Butterfly
Madama Butterfly is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. Puccini based his opera in part on the short story "Madame Butterfly" by John Luther Long, which was dramatized by David Belasco...
. This was the beginning of what was to become a major opera festival.
However, in the years before 1949, due to the political and financial climate, there was only one presentation—in 1937—and that was a concert. Returning in 1949 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Puccini's death, the Festival re-opened with La fanciulla del West
La fanciulla del West
La fanciulla del West is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Guelfo Civinini and Carlo Zangarini, based on the play The Girl of the Golden West by the American author David Belasco. Its highly-publicised premiere occurred in New York City in 1910...
and continued into the 1950s with many of the composer's most well known works.
Festival expansion since the 1990s
Not until 1966, when the Festival site was moved to reclaimed land just north of and near to the small lake harbour (and the present theatre was built to take advantage of the background of Massaciuccoli Lake), did the Puccini Festival became an annual summer event. With its small villages on the opposite shore, whose flickering lights at night provide unforgettable natural scenery to complement the performances taking place on the stage, the location proved a success, although the theatre's ultra modern design and size have sometimes been drawbacks.After the creation of the Puccini Festival Foundation in 1990, achieved in order to put the event on a more established financial footing, plans were put in place to create a new open-air theatre with up-to-date facilities and acoustics. The town authorities of Viareggio
Viareggio
Viareggio is a city and comune located in northern Tuscany, Italy, on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea. With a population of over 64,000 it is the main centre of the northern Tuscan Riviera known as Versilia, and the second largest city within the Province of Lucca.It is known as a seaside resort...
have purchased 270000 square feet (25,083.8 m²) of land to create the Parco della Musica (Music Park) and on it was constructed the Teatro al Aperto (the Outdoor Theatre) to seat 3,200. In addition, other facilities for rehearsals and workshops were built, along with a 600-seat covered studio theatre.
Recent production history
In over seventy years of the Festival, the stage of Torre del Lago has hosted the most famous and acclaimed names of world opera. Among them was Tito GobbiTito Gobbi
Tito Gobbi was an Italian operatic baritone with an international reputation.-Biography:Tito Gobbi was born in Bassano del Grappa and studied law at the University of Padua before he trained as a singer. Giulio Crimi, a well-known Italian tenor of a previous generation, was Gobbi's teacher in Rome...
, who also made his début as director in Tosca
Tosca
Tosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900...
; Mario del Monaco
Mario del Monaco
Mario Del Monaco was an Italian tenor who is regarded by his admirers as being one of the greatest dramatic tenors of the 20th century....
, who chose the Festival as his farewell to the stage in Il Tabarro
Il tabarro
Il tabarro is an opera in one act by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Giuseppe Adami, based on Didier Gold's play La houppelande. It is the first of the trio of operas known as Il trittico...
, and many others who began or ended extraordinary careers.
In 2000, 70th anniversary of Forzano and Mascagni’s initiative, the 46th Puccini Festival presented two major new productions, Madama Butterfly and Tosca. In addition, the program included Puccini’s first opera, Le Villi
Le Villi
Le Villi is an opera-ballet in two acts composed by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Ferdinando Fontana, based on the short story Les Willis by Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr. Karr's story was in turn based in the Central European legend of the Willis, also used in the ballet Giselle...
, presented in concert, with performances by Katia Ricciarelli
Katia Ricciarelli
-Biography:Born at Rovigo, Veneto, to a very poor family, she struggled during her younger years when she studied music.She studied at the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory in Venice, won several vocal competitions in 1968, and made her professional debut as Mimì in La bohème in Mantua in 1969,...
and Josè Cura
José Cura
José Cura is a prominent operatic tenor known for his intense and original interpretations of his characters, notably Verdi’s Otello and Saint-Saëns’ Samson, as well as for his unconventional and innovative concert performances. He is also able to perform high baritone roles with the extended...
. In 2004 the Puccini Festival celebrated its 50th anniversary by a season featuring two great events: one was a new production of Madama Butterfly celebrating the centenary of its première in Brescia
Brescia
Brescia is a city and comune in the region of Lombardy in northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, between the Mella and the Naviglio, with a population of around 197,000. It is the second largest city in Lombardy, after the capital, Milan...
on 28 May 1904. It was conducted by Plácido Domingo
Plácido Domingo
Plácido Domingo KBE , born José Plácido Domingo Embil, is a Spanish tenor and conductor known for his versatile and strong voice, possessing a ringing and dramatic tone throughout its range...
with Daniela Dessì
Daniela Dessì
Daniela Dessì Born May 14, 1957, in Genoa, Italy is an Italian lirico-spinto soprano.Daniela Dessì completed her singing studies at the Conservatory of Parma and the Accademia Chigiana of Siena. After having won the first prize at the International Competition organized by RAI TV in 1980, she had...
and Fabio Armiliato
Fabio Armiliato
Fabio Armiliato is an Italian tenor.-Career:Born in Genoa, he has had an impressive career and has being hailed by critics as "the best Chénier of our time"....
in the leading roles. The second was a special evening dedicated to Puccini's heroines, presenting the most beloved arias from the Maestro's favourite characters, with Plácido Domingo narrating as Puccini.
The 2006 season is unique in that a production of La fanciulla del West
La fanciulla del West
La fanciulla del West is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Guelfo Civinini and Carlo Zangarini, based on the play The Girl of the Golden West by the American author David Belasco. Its highly-publicised premiere occurred in New York City in 1910...
was presented rather later in the traditional season with follow-up performances in Monaco
Monaco
Monaco , officially the Principality of Monaco , is a sovereign city state on the French Riviera. It is bordered on three sides by its neighbour, France, and its centre is about from Italy. Its area is with a population of 35,986 as of 2011 and is the most densely populated country in the...
in October. Many productions originating at the festival have gone on to appear in opera houses throughout the world.