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Scan 749
Baker's biographical dictionary of musicians, 1919
8 lines. Read by computer on 4 September 2026. Printed page 728. See the scan on archive.org.
1acts, text by Fontana), was prod. at La Scala on April 21, 1889, scoring only a moderate succ. By this time P. had become convinced that, in order to write a really effective opera, he needed a better libretto than Fontana had provided. Accordingly, he commissioned Domenico Oliva to write the text of Manon Lescaut; during the composition, however, P. and Ricordi practically rewrote the entire book, and in the publ. score Oliva's name is not mentioned. With Manon Lescaut (4 acts), first prod. at the T. Regio in Turin on Feb. 1, 1893, P. won a veritable triumph, which was even surpassed by the next work, La Bohème (4 acts; text by Illica and Giocosa), prod. at the same theatre on Feb. 1, 1896. These two works not only carried their composer's name throughout the world, but also have found and maintained their place in the répertoire of every opera-house. With fame came wealth, and in 1900 he built at Lago del Torre, where he had been living since 1891, a magnificent villa. The next opera, Tosca (3 acts; text by Illica and Giocosa), prod. at the T. Costanzi in Rome on Jan. 14, 1900, failed to meet expectations, which the phenomenal success of its two predecessors had caused to be pitched too high. At its première at La Scala on Feb. 17, 1904, Madama Butterfly (1 act; text by Illica and Giocosa) was hissed. P. thereupon withdrew the score, and made some slight changes (division into 3 acts, and addition of the tenor air in the last scene). This revised version was greeted with frenzied applause in Brescia on May 28 of the same year. P. was now the acknowledged ruler of the Italian operatic stage, his works rivaling those of Verdi in the number of performances. The first perf. of Madama Butterfly at the M. O. H. (Feb. 11, 1907) took place in the presence of the composer, whom the management had invited specially for the occasion. It was then suggested that he should write an opera on an Amer. subject, the première to take place at the M. O. H. He found his subject when he witnessed a perf. of Belasco's The Girl of the Golden West, commissioned C. Zangarini and C. Civinini to write the libretto, and in the presence of the composer the world-première of La Fanciulla del West occurred, amidst scenes of boundless enthusiasm, at the M. O. H. on Dec. 10, 1910. But the enthusiasm subsided quickly; the following season the work had a few more performances, and then disappeared from the répertoire; it shared the same fate in Italy (1st Ital. perf. T. Costanzi, Rome, June 12, 1911) and other European countries. Since the outbreak of the war P. has completed La Rondine (3 acts; Monte Carlo, April, 1917) and Il Tabarro (1 act, after Didier Gold's La Houppelande; in rehearsal at Monte Carlo, Feb., 1917); he is at present (1917) writing Anima allegra (3 acts).—All operas but Edgar have been prod. in the U. S.: Le Villi (M. O. H., Dec. 17, 1908); Manon Lescaut (Wallack's Th., N. Y., May 27, 1898); La Bohème (ib., May 16, 1898); Tosca (M. O. H., Feb. 4, 1901); Madama Butterfly (Garden Th., N. Y., by Savage Opera Co. in English, Nov. 12, 1906).—It is as yet too early to attempt to fix P.'s place in music. Verdi regarded him as the most talented of Italian dramatic composers then living, an opinion which P.'s subsequent successes have justified. Since then many younger men have come forward, and still P. maintains his supremacy. Of all living Italian dramatic composers none rival him either in technical equipment or fertility of invention. His musical inspiration is almost entirely dependent upon the dramatic situation; whenever the poet soars, the composer follows and writes inspired, often superb, music; when the text descends to the level of the commonplace, the music becomes dull and labored. Madama Butterfly is P.'s masterpiece because the excellence of the text proved a constant inspiration; La Fanciulla del West is a failure because the very subject is unfit for a musical setting.—BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Virgilio, Della Decadenza dell' Opera in Italia (Milan, 1900); A. Brüggemann, Madama Butterfly e l'arte di G. P. (ib., 1904); Wakeling Dry, G. P. (London, 1906); G. Csáth, On P. A Study (in Hungarian; Budapest, 1912; Ger. tr. by H. Horvát, ib., 1912); F. Torrefranca, G. P. e l'Opera Internazionale (Turin, 1912).
3Puccitta [pōō-chēt'ta], Vincenzo, b. Civitavecchia, 1778; d. Milan, Dec. 20, 1861. Pupil of Fenaroli and Sala at the Cons. della Pietà in Naples. Many of his operas enjoyed great vogue during his life. Prod. some 30 operas at Rome, Venice, Milan, London, and Paris, where he was cembalist at the Italian Opera.
5Puchalsky [pōō-hāhl'skē], Vladimir Vlacheslavitch, Russian pianist; born Minsk, Apr. 2, 1848; taught by Leschetizky, Johannsen and Zaremba at the Petrograd Cons.; since 1876 director of the Kiev Music-School.—Works: An opera, Valeria; a Little-Russian Fantasy for orch., op. 9; a Liturgy; pf.-pieces, songs, etc.
7Puchat [pōō'hāht], Max, b. Breslau, Jan. 8, 1859. Composer and pianist; pupil of Kiel at Berlin, and winner of the Mendelssohn prize in 1884. In 1886 munic. mus.-dir. in Hamm; 1896-1903, cond. of the Oratorienverein in Paderborn; 1903-5, cond. of the Musikverein in Milwaukee, then lived in Munich till 1910, when he settled in Breslau
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