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Tyler Clark
MUS 3585
composers of all time. Some of his most famous works include La bohème, Madama Butterfly,
and Tunradot. Additionally, Puccini wrote a series of three one-act operas that premiered at the
Metropolitan Opera on December 14, 1918 (Il tabarro, Suor Angelica, and Gianni Schicchi).
Puccini’s compositional style is unique to his work, and regularly utilizes text painting. Text
painting is a great source of emotion and movement that is found within Puccini’s Il trittico.
Biography
Puccini was born on December 22, 1858 in Lucca, Italy. He was born into a family of
well-known musicians who had provided the city for generations with composers and organists.
He was taught basic musical rudiments in the form of piano and voice lessons by Fortunato
Magi, his maternal uncle. He enrolled at the Istituto Pacini full-time at age sixteen where he
studied composition under Carlo Angeloni. Following his graduation in 1880, Puccini moved to
Milan and submitted Le villi—his first opera—for a competition. Even though he lost due to
illegibility, it gained him local attention and the interest of an influential music publisher, Giulio
Ricordi, who was his publisher until the day Puccini died. Many successful operatic works
followed such as La bohème and Madama Butterfly (second premiere). His second-to-last and
final completed opera work, Il Trittico, was made up of three one-act operas. He developed
throat cancer and died of surgical complications on November 29, 1924 in Brussels, Belgium.1
Background Information
1
Budden, Julian. “Puccini, Giacomo.” Grove Music Online. 2002. Oxford University Press.
“something composed or presented in three parts or sections.”2 The three panels typically are
related in some manner—often sharing some sort of narrative. Puccini originally was unsure of
how suitable a title such as Trittico was for his set of three one-act operas because of their
independence from one another; they do not share any recurring characters and have no narrative
connection to one another. However, they are vaguely related in the context of their initial
inspirations. Puccini had originally intended for the three one-acts to be based around the three
parts of the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri —Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradisio. Il tabarro
relates to Inferno in the sense that it is a hopeless, oppressive tale; Suor Angelica relates to
Purgatorio in that mortal sin is met with Divine salvation; and Gianni Schicchi relates to
Paradiso in that it reflects an increase in liberation and quality of life (although this particular act
was actually derived from Inferno). In series, the three acts together form a transition, starting
from darkness gradually rising to light. This provides a common theme in order to create a
Another possible link could have been inspired by the Grand Guignol—a component of
French theatre that was very common in Italy during the time. The Grand Guignol is a theatre
event that is characterized by short plays of contrasting genres and styles. They typically began
with a violent horror, followed by a sentimental piece, and concluded with a comedy; this
Giorgetta, the wife of Michele, asks her husband, if she can bring wine to the stevedores
that are unloading his barge. Michele, the barge-owner, grants her permission, but since she
refuses his kiss does not join them. Luigi, a stevedore, and Gioretta engage in a dance when they
hear an organ grinder nearby, revealing a romantic interest between the two. Michele and
Gioretta discuss which stevedore to dismiss. Michele wants to dismiss Luigi, but Gioretta does
not. Luigi requests he be dismissed and makes plans with Gioretta to meet in secrecy later on,
and kill Michele as well. Later on, Luigi mistakes Michele lighting his pipe for the signal that he
and Gioretta agreed upon. The two begin to fight, and Michele kills Luigi, hides him under his
Il tabarro is based off of La Houppelande (The Cloak), a one-act play written by Didier
Gold. Gold’s original story actually contains a main plotline and an additional sub-plot that runs
parallel to it. The wife of one of the other stevedores, Goujon, in unfaithful to him—and is also a
prostitute. Goujon stabs and kills her in a tavern. Puccini may have decided to omit this sub-plot
Michele has a musical figure during his duet with Giorgetta (appendix 1.0). The longing
sorrow he feels for the faded love from his wife is expressed through a thrice-repeated chromatic
tail-end. This seems to symbolize the ever-present jealousy that invades and torments his mind.
The way that the motive skips up three semitones, drops two semitones, and then skips up again
three semitones makes it seem as though the idea could go on endlessly, much like the lingering
pain and suspicion Michele holds. The second aria shared by Luigi and Gioretta is one that
5
Freeman, John W. The Metropolitan Opera Stories of the Great Operas. New York: Metropolitan Opera Guild :
W.W. Norton, 1984. 347-348.
6
Carner, Mosco. Puccini: A Critical Biography. [1st American ed.]. New York: Knopf, 1959. 404.
focuses on the feelings of guilt, yet their longing for happiness. This situation is characterized
suitably by an ostinato in the bass, muted strings, a minor key, and a repeated vocal phrase
(appendix 1.1).
The plot is one that seems to an original from Giovacchino Forzano (librettist for Suor
Angelica and Gianni Schicchi).7 The opera takes place in a convent in Italy. As a group of nuns
pour water into the tomb of a deceased sister, they begin to discuss their desires. They all profess
their desires except for Sister Angelica, who tells the others that she has no desires. The other
sisters begin to gossip at the sound of this. Sister Angelica truly does have a desire to be
contacted by her rich family that she has not heard from in years. Her aunt, the princess, informs
Sister Angelica that her sister will be married, and that she must renounce her inheritance. Sister
Angelica refuses because she remembers her illegitimate son that was taken from her years ago.
The Princess informs Sister Angelica that her son passed away two years earlier of fever. Sister
Angelica then signs off her inheritance, and poisons herself at the vision of her son calling out to
her. She is then met by her son and the Virgin Mary.8
The Aunt assumes the role of the villain in this story, and so Puccini reflects this in the
music with harsh chromaticism, shifting from C# to C and to D minor (appendix 1.2a). The leap
up of a fourth as seen in 1.2a becomes a fifth the next time it is played as Sister Angelica is
informed of her approach, making a more prominent change in pitch which reflects the
heightened sense of fear. This theme is moved to the bass in the following duet, but given a
7
Carner, Mosco. Puccini: A Critical Biography. [1st American ed.]. New York: Knopf, 1959. 187-188.
8
Freeman, John W. The Metropolitan Opera Stories of the Great Operas. New York: Metropolitan Opera Guild :
W.W. Norton, 1984. 349-350.
march feel in the form of a creeping ostinato appendix (appendix 1.2b). When this bassline is
paired with the chromatic, creeping melody above it, a truly unmistakable musical aesthetic
appears. Puccini uses these intense motives and harmonies to extract as much emotion out of the
Gianni Schicchi
Canto XXX of Dante’s Inferno serves as the inspiration for the third and final act, Gianni
Schicchi, in which Virgil guides Dante to the Eighth Circle of Hell, which is inhabited by the
“Falsifiers of Words, Persons, and Coins.” There they find two shades, one of whom being
Gianni Schicchi, who was condemned for impersonating Buoso de’ Donati while forging a will
in his name. Gianni Schicchi was an actual person, and actually committed the aforementioned
crime.9
The wealthy Buoso Donati has passed away, but his family is more interested in the
contents of his will than mourning his death. After searching for the will, they finally find it only
to discover that he has left all of his possessions to a monastery. Rinuccio sends a younger
member of the family to fetch Gianni Schicchi, a crafty peasant, for assistance, but is met with
scorn from the rest of the family who want nothing to do with such a person. Meanwhile, a
romantic subplot takes place between Rinuccio and Schicchi’s daughter, Lauretta. 10 Juxtaposed
by the greed harbored by the other relatives, this subplot serves as Rinuccio’s motivation for
forging the will—despite Zita’s harsh disapproval of the union due to Lauretta’s impoverished
upbringings. When Schicchi arrives, he assesses the situation and begins a plan to pretend as
Donati in order to fool a lawyer into changing the recipients of the inheritance. When the lawyer
9
Carner, Mosco. Puccini: A Critical Biography. [1st American ed.]. New York: Knopf, 1959. 419-420, 425.
10
Freeman, John W. The Metropolitan Opera Stories of the Great Operas. New York: Metropolitan Opera Guild :
W.W. Norton, 1984. 350-352.
shows, Schicchi then proceeds to leave many of the possessions to himself, knowing that the
family cannot do anything about it in fear of the law, which outlines the consequence as
banishment from Florence and amputation of the hand. The act concludes with the relatives
looting the house, Rinuccio and Lauretta relishing in their newly-favored love, and Gianni
Schicchi’s self-condemnation of his own soul (which serves as a tribute to Dante’s Divine
Comedy).11
There are three distinct motives that are associated with the titular character (appendix
1.3a-c). 1.3a is used the most liberally, for it is heard during the march while Schicchi is reading
the will and pacing the floor as well as when he raises his trembling hand in the presence of the
notary. 1.3b is introduced by Rinuccio at the first mention of Schicchi, and then a few measures
the word “Schicchi.” 1.3c, which is first sang by Rinuccio, represents Schicchi’s superiority in a
fanfare-like manner. The motive is repeated again in the final scene of the opera in which
Schicchi is sitting triumphantly in his newly-acquired home. Another notable motive that appears
more than once during the act is the “Warning” (appendix 1.4) motive. 12 The “Warning” motive
makes its first appearance in Schicchi’s second aria, “Primo un avertimento” (also known as the
“Stump Aria” since Schicchi is warning the relatives of the penalty for forgery). It is
characterized by a melisma (x), which is distinctive of Tuscan folk-songs, and is partly modal
over the course of the words “Addio, Firenze” (goodbye, Florence). The motive returns later
with an extended melismatic figure, which he uses when the relatives begin to turn against him
up of a descending melody initiated by an appoggiature over fifths in the bass. The overall effect
is one that seems very gloomy. What makes this motive particularly interesting is that the
appoggiature is placed on the weak beat, deceiving listeners into thinking that the up-beat is the
strong beat. Another effective technique is the interchange between major and minor used in this
motive. The displaced appoggiature accentuates the difference in the harmonic quality since it
contains the changing third. The two lovers—Rinuccio and Lauretta—have their own musical
motive (appendix 1.6), and receive more individual musical attention than the rest of the
relatives. Unlike the rest of the opera which is dominated by woodwind accompaniment, the
lovers are accompanied by music heavy with strings. In addition, every bar contains a suspension
on the first beat, creating a sweet, sentimental effect by forming brief moments of tension that
Conclusion
Text painting is not always evident at first glance or listen, but with careful observation
and active listening, one can appreciate the artistry and understand of true beauty that is required
in order to utilize text painting. Puccini was a master of this skill, and consistently used it both
subtly and in more obvious manners. A skill such as text painting is what helps to connect music
to words, using our preconceived ideas of musical patterns and characteristics. While much can
be learned about text painting from the analysis of Puccini, there are countless other composers
who use it in their own unique way. The study of a wide variety of composers and music will
13
Carner, Mosco. Puccini: A Critical Biography. [1st American ed.]. New York: Knopf, 1959. 433, 435.
Bibliography
Budden, Julian. “Puccini, Giacomo.” Grove Music Online. 2002. Oxford University Press.
Carner, Mosco. Puccini: A Critical Biography. [1st American ed.]. New York: Knopf, 1959.
Davis, Andrew C. Il Trittico, Turandot, and Puccini’s Late Style. Bloomington: Indiana
Freeman, John W. The Metropolitan Opera Stories of the Great Operas. New York: Metropolitan
Appendix 1.1
Appendix 1.2 A-B
Appendix 1.4
Appendix 1.5
Appendix 1.6