Customer Reviews

Puccini: His Life and Works (Master Musicians (Hardcover Oxford))

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Having read nearly all of the books on Puccini, I feel at least competent to evaluate them. The one that moved Puccini to the level of "worth a book" was Mosco Carner's 1959 book, Puccini, a Critical Biography. The information given was fairly accurate for what was known then. The main fault was the continuing"character analyisis" of the composer. In the 60's Wm. Ashbrook wrote a book on the operas. It too is accurate in presenting many new and interesting facts as well as fasitnating interpretations.In addition it is very well written. Since then there have been a number of other books on the composer and his operas. Of the latest two; Budden and Matz, I must choose Budden. Before discussing Budden's merits, I should say that Matz's book is an excellent chronicle of Puccini's life and filled with anecdotes and interesting facts.It is an entertaining read. The basic problem,for me, is it pretty well leaves the music alone. While Puccini's life is certainly interesting, his music is what is most important, at least for me. Budden's book does a fine job of combining Puccini's life and discussing the music. He writes most effectively about the operas. Their creation struggles. Their multipule revisions. The facts are accurate and presented clearly. He writes with a clarity about music that is both refreshing and rare. There is one other book on Puccini I would like to mention and that is a very expensive one [why??] published by Chicago University and written by Michael Girardi. It presents a most original view of the operas but it is not easy to read. It is stimulating. I hope this helps you decide.

Thanks;

Paul Zappa

Julian Budden has already written an indispensible three volume work on the operas of Verdi. He has now done opera lovers a huge favor by writing about Puccini. Unfortunately Puccini died too young leaving far too few operas , however these are some of the most beloved & often performed works in the repertoire. (Manon Lescaut, La Boheme, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, Turandot to name the most popular.) Budden was able to write about all of Puccini's operas and also about Puccini's life in just one volume. This book is EXCELLENT. Budden is a gifted writer who gives technical information but does not present it in a way that is off-putting to non-music scholars. The book is thoroughly enjoyable and extremely informative. I strongly recommend it to anyone interested in learning more about Puccini, the man, and his music. Anyone who loves Verdi should also not hesitate to purchase the three volume Verdi books.

This book is a must for all Puccini scholars and any Music Composition student. Budden's impressive knowledge covers the musical aspect of the Puccini operas in depth as well as his extensive musical innovations.

Being a great fan of Puccini's operas, I wished to deepen my appreciation of his genius by continuing to read more about him and Julian Budden does not disappoint. The major events of Puccini's life are covered, and the chapters are divided according to the chronological order of his operas. The interesting aspects of the background of each opera has been well researched and discussed in a refreshing manner. The backgrounds are then followed by technical observations of Puccini's innovations demonstrating with examples of his written music. These technical discussions are clearly designed for scholars of music composition and often difficult for the layman to grasp, but Budden has organized each chapter so that the layman may easily skim these technical sections.

Having created a fully illustrated libretto of Madama Butterfly The Fully Illustrated Libretto of Puccini's Madama Butterfly (Madam Butterfly or Madame Butterfly) (Graphic Novel) (Illustrated Opera Librettos and Graphic Novels, Volume 1) I found it appropriate to delve more deeply into Puccini's great accomplishments. This book was very helpful to achieve this end andI highly recommend it.

The book offers a thorough biography, a thorough plot synopsis of each opera, and a thorough technical analysis.

It is enlightening to read the book while following along with the score of each opera.

In his technical analysis, however, he sometimes misses the forest for the trees. He neglects to tell us that the prelude to Manon Lescaut is in the rondo form, the prelude to Madama Butterfly is in the sonatina form, or that the waltz in Il Tabarro is in the rondo form.

Also, there is one question which the author leaves unanswered: What is the purpose of the mock funeral in Edgar? If you happen to know the answer to this question, please write back.