How can the work of a composer who wrote three of the most enduringly popular operas of all time—La bohème, Madama Butterfly, and Tosca—and three more that are produced regularly—Manon Lescaut, La fanciulla del West, and Turandot—be remotely controversial?
But Giacomo Puccini (1858–1924) was and remains an object of controversy. In his lifetime, the popularity of his operas defied the predictions of many critics. Butterfly was a fiasco at its premiere and La Bohème was met with only faint praise. Critics derided Puccini for not being Italian enough. He was accused of courting vulgarity and exploiting cheap sentimentality. He was seen as facile and to have failed, with the possible exception of La fanciulla, to match the profundity and subtlety of Verdi, the grandeur of Wagner, and the dramatic virtuosity of Richard Strauss.
The Bard Music Festival, using Puccini’s complex and tortured biography, Italian politics in the years between Garibaldi and Mussolini, Italian arts and letters between Manzoni and D’Annunzio, and Italian music from Verdi to Dallapiccola, will explore Puccini’s work and the music of his Italian contemporaries. Concerts and panels will reveal his unique genius as well as the legitimate and troubling issues that have kept debates about Puccini alive. Music by Alfredo Catalani, Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari, Alfredo Casella, Ruggero Leoncavallo, Gian Francesco Malipiero, Pietro Mascagni, Franco Alfano, Arrigo Boito, Ildebrando Pizzetti, Ottorino Respighi, Guiseppe Martucci, Goffredo Petrassi, Ferruccio Busoni, and others will be heard. Several operas will be featured, both complete and major excerpts, including Massenet’s La Navarraise, Boito’s Nerone, Catalani’s Loreley, and the last act of Puccini’s Turandot, in Luciano Berio’s completion, paired with Busoni’s setting of the same tale.
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE:
August 5–7
Puccini and Italian Musical Culture
August 11–14
Beyond Verismo
VISIT - http://fishercenter.bard.edu/bmf/schedule/ for details
