Canon
Where to start with Puccini
Essential works to know this composer by — spread across their styles-
StageLa bohème — Opera
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Chamber3 Fugues for String Quartet
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VocalA te, "O quanto è vano"
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OrchestralAdagetto in F major, for small orchestra
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KeyboardAdagio in A major, for piano
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StageMadama Butterfly — Opera
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StageTosca — Opera
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StageManon Lescaut — Opera
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StageTurandot — Opera
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Chamber3 Minuets for String Quartet in A
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VocalAd una morta!
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VocalAvanti, Urania!
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VocalCanto d'anime
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OrchestralCapriccio sinfonico
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VocalCasa mia, casa mia
Listening guide
Hand-curated paths into Puccini's catalogueMost Popular
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La Bohème (opera)
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Tosca
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Nessun Dorma (from Turandot)
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O mio babbino caro (from Gianni Schicchi)
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Madama Butterfly
Most Acclaimed
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Tosca
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Madama Butterfly
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Il trittico (three one-act operas)
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Turandot (unfinished)
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Manon Lescaut
Most Weird
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Il tritticothree one-act operas in completely different moods: Il Tabarro (sordid murder), Suor Angelica (tragic nun), Gianni Schicchi (farce) — rarely performed together as Puccini intended
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Turandot (ending)Puccini died of cancer mid-composition; Alfano completed it; in modern performances conductors sometimes stop at Liu’s death where Puccini stopped
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La rondineoperetta — his most unusual hybrid form
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Le Villi (first opera)forest spirits — his most supernatural work
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Edgarhis most troubled opera — revised four times; he called it ”the blunder of my career”
Similar composers
Same era, overlapping styles — by genre & period affinityWorks 47
- Stage
- ● La bohème — Opera
- ● Madama Butterfly — Opera
- ● Tosca — Opera
- Manon Lescaut — Opera
- Turandot — Opera
- Edgar — Opera
- Gianni Schicchi — Opera
- Il tabarro — Opera
- La Rondine — Opera
- La fanciulla del West — Opera
- Le villi — Opera
- Suor Angelica — Opera
- Chamber
- 3 Fugues for String Quartet
- 3 Minuets for String Quartet in A
- Crisantemi, elegy for string quartet
- Scherzo for String Quartet in A minor
- String Quartet in D
- Vocal
- A te, "O quanto è vano"
- Ad una morta!
- Avanti, Urania!
- Canto d'anime
- Casa mia, casa mia
- Cessato il suon dell'armi, cantata for tenor solo, chorus, and orchestra
- E l'uccellino
- E lucevan le stelle
- Ecce sacerdos magnus, for a cappella choir
- Inno a Diana
- Inno di Roma
- Mentì all'avviso
- Messa di Gloria, for tenor, baritone, bass, chorus, and orchestra in A flat major
- Morire?
- Motet et Credo, for baritone, chorus, and orchestra, "Per San Paolino"
- Nessun Dorma
- O soave fanciulla
- Requiem, for chorus and chamber ensemble
- Salve del ciel regina, for soprano and organ
- Sole e amore
- Storiella d'amore
- Vexilla regis, for tenor, bass, and organ
- Orchestral
- Adagetto in F major, for small orchestra
- Capriccio sinfonico
- Preludio sinfonico in A
- Keyboard
- Adagio in A major, for piano
- Foglio d'album, for piano
- Pezzo, per pianoforte
- Piccolo tango, for piano
- Piccolo valzer, for piano