Death Anniversary: Giacomo Puccini — November 29, 1924

Giacomo Puccini died in Brussels on 29 November 1924, where he had gone to be treated for throat cancer. He left Turandot, his most ambitious opera, unfinished: the ending was completed by Franco Alfano from the composer’s notes. At the Scala premiere in 1926 Arturo Toscanini stopped the performance at the point where Puccini had stopped writing. The anniversary marks that arc, from the triumphs of Tosca and Bohème to the last challenge left hanging — the symbol of a musical age closing with him.