Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924), who created some of the best-loved operas, came from a long line of composers and church organists. During his student years at Milan University, he lived a hand-to=mouth existence; but the success of his first opera, shortly after his graduation, brought him commissions and an annual income form Italy's leading music publisher. In 1893, he became known throughout Italy for his opera Manon Lescaut; after 1896, he was wealthy and would-famous from the enormous success of La Boheme. Tosca (1900) and Madame Butterfly (1904) were also very popular; he died before finishing his last opera, Turandot, which was completed by a friend.
Puccini's marvelous sense of theater has given his operas lasting appeal. His melodies have short, memorable phrases and are intensely emotional; he used the orchestra to reinforce the vocal melody and to suggest mood. To achieve unity and continuity, he minimized the difference between aria and recitative and used the same material in different acts. Puccini was very much concerned with the literary and dramatic qualities of his librettos; he spent as much time polishing them as composing the music and often demanded endless changes fromt he librettists. Some of his operas (notably Tosca) reflect an artistic trend of the 1890's known as verismo--that is, realism, or the quality of being 'true to life.' But they also feature exoticism; Madame Butterfly is set in Japan and Turandot in China, and both have melodic and rhythmic elements derived from the music of those counties.
The above is from Music an Appreciation by Roger Kamien, Brief Edition, McGraw Hill Companies, Inc. Pages 264-265..
