The Great Giacomo Puccini

Giacomo Puccini is widely regarded as the last great opera composer, and for that reason there is no national opera in any country which doesn't give performances based on his work. George Bernard Shaw referred to him as Giuseppe Verdi's heir. He was the one and only who produced in a wholly personal language, who branded the first twenty years and therefore the entire twentieth century with his musical creation, who was not imitated but found dozens of imitators.

Puccini wrote the well-known operas 'Tosca,' 'Bohème,' 'Madame Butterfly,' and the unfinished 'Turadot,' works which continue to enthrall audiences in national operas around the world.

Giacomo Puccini, who was born in Lucca, Italy in 1858, at the age of just 14 worked as an organist in the churches of his hometown, and very quickly began to deal with composition.

When he died, Puccini was valued approximately $200 million USD. He is regarded as one of the most commercially successful composers in history. Puccini had a long-running affair with a married woman called Elvira until her husband died, allowing Puccini to marry her. Composer’s life was determined from this relationship as Elvira suffered from psychological and jealousy issues and their lives were often in newspaper’s frontpages. 

As Puccini was an avid fan of technology and cars he demanded in every contract with the national opera Met to have free car, accommodation and expenses. His life was glamorous and shadowy because of his love affair with Elvira and finally the composer died after he lost fight with throat cancer in 1924 in Brussels.