Birth Anniversary: Giacomo Puccini — December 22, 1858

Giacomo Puccini was born at Lucca on 22 December 1858, the last great heir of the Italian operatic tradition. With La Bohème, Tosca and Madama Butterfly he took the theatres of the world by way of an immediate melody and a thoroughly modern sense of the stage, contemporary with the Belle Époque and Art Nouveau. His refined orchestration and his unforgettable women make him the most performed opera composer after Verdi. The anniversary marks the musician who closed the age of Italian melodrama in style.