Whilst Puccini’s productions were, on the whole, hugely successful both critically and with audiences, that doesn’t mean it was smooth sailing throughout his career – often, surprisingly, his most famous operas suffered struggles in their early days. Learn more about Nessun Dorma in our Tenor Roles article Despite this, the aria Nessun Dorma is considered one of the most famous arias in the repertoire, being performed by opera singers around the world, including famously performed by the renowned Three Tenors (Luciano Pavarotti, José Carreras and Plácido Domingo), a recording that outsold all other classical recordings worldwide. Puccini continued composing until his death, leaving his final work, Turandot, unfinished. This relationship led to Puccini’s greatest successes, with the following three operas usually considered the most famous: La bohème, Tosca and Madama Butterfly. Whilst his first few operas were well received, he first received critical success with Manon Lescaut in 1893, working with librettists Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. Described as ‘the greatest composer of Italian opera after Verdi’, Puccini is one of the most famous opera composers, having works cited regularly among the best operas of all time.īorn in 1858 into a musical dynasty, Giacomo Antonio Domenioco Michele Secondo Maria Puccini had a formal eduction in music from a young age, and had composed his first opera at the age of 25, Le Villi.

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