Giacomo Puccini was an Italian opera composer who was extremely popular during the romantic period. His work is known for its place in the operatic tradition of verismo, a style of dramatic naturalism on the operatic stage found in the work of such composers as Pietro Mascagni, Umberto Giordano, and Francesco Cilea. His operas include such canonical works as La Boheme, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot.
Puccini was born in Lucca, Italy, the sixth of nine children in a musical family. His family had held the position of maestro di cappella (head of the orchestra) for 124 years, but when it was time for Giacomo Puccini to assume the title, he was only six. As a young adult, he studied...
