Giacomo Puccini Flashcards Preview

History Composers - Romantic Era (1825-1900) > Giacomo Puccini > Flashcards

Flashcards in Giacomo Puccini Deck (6)
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1
Q

Information About Him

A
  • (1858-1924)
  • Italian opera composer
  • known for beautiful melodies, touching harmonies, and characterizations of heroines
2
Q

His Style and Contributions

A
  • inspired by Verdi, another Italian opera composer
  • used rubato and variety in orchestration
  • used the verismo style and exoticism in some of his operas
  • operas: Turandot, Madama Butterfly, Girl of the Golden West, La bohème, Tosca
3
Q

Important Work: Madama Butterfly

A
  • source of play came from David Belasco
  • librettists: Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica
  • premiered in 1904
  • main characters:
  • Madama Butterfly, age 15 (soprano)
  • Pinkerton, lieutenant (tenor)
  • Sharpless, with USA consul in Nagasaki (baritone)
  • set in Nagasaki, Japan, in about 1900
4
Q

Plot of Madama Butterfly

A
  • Act One:
  • Butterfly marries Pinkerton without her family’s approval
  • Act Two:
  • scene 1:
  • Butterfly is waiting for the return of Pinkerton
  • Sharpless arrives at Butterfly’s house to say that Pinkerton is returning with his American wife
  • however, he sees she now has a son so he doesn’t tell her about Pinkerton’s new wife
  • scene 2:
  • Pinkerton and is wife arrive and say they want Butterfly’s son
  • Butterfly agrees and ends her life
5
Q

Prelude of Act One of Madama Butterfly

A
  • in C minor
  • allegro
  • in 2/4 time
  • contrapuntal/fugal texture
  • has accents, strong rhythm, and imitation which make prelude aggressive/agitated
6
Q

Act Two of Scene One of Madama Butterfly

A
  • Un bel di vedremo” (“Soon we’ll see at daybreak”)
  • Butterfly is singing to Suzuki
  • structure: ABAC
  • section A:
  • in G-flat major
  • andante
  • in 3/4 time
  • begins high (characteristic of Puccini’s melodies)
  • orchestra doubles the vocal line (also another characteristic)
  • lots of rubato
  • section B:
  • implies F minor
  • in 2/4 time
  • there are fast, repeated notes which it a speech-lie quality
  • this part of the poetry talks about her waiting on the top of a hill for Pinkerton’s return
  • section A:
  • starts on high G-flat and goes downward
  • she says she will not die (of emotions) in seeing Pinkerton again but it foreshadows her actual death
  • section C:
  • speech-like
  • melody rises to a high B-flat on the words “await him”
  • orchestra finishes the aria with the main theme