PREFACE; ILLUSTRATIONS; KEY TO SIGLA; 1. Early life at Lucca; 2. The student at Milan; 3. Le Villi; 4. Edgar; 5. Manon Lescaut; 6. La boheme; 7. Tosca; 8. Madama Butterfly; 9. La faniciulla del West; 10. La rondine; 11. Il trittico; 12. Turandot; 13. Puccini as man and artist; APPENDICES; A. Calendar; B. List of works; C. Personalia; D. Select bibliography; INDEX
Julian Budden, formerly the Chief Producer for Opera at BBC Radio, currently serves as the President of the Centro Studi Giacomo Puccini, Lucca, Italy. He is the author of the Master Musicians biography of Verdi as well as the three-volume The Operas of Verdi.
... this will be the standard work on Puccini for years to come. The Tablet Julian Budden's style is waffle-free, elegant and often drily witty. The Tablet ... we get a good picture of Puccini, his friends and the time he lived in. The Tablet ... beautifully printed and set out, a large book that is a joy to handle. It is a joy to read, too. The Tablet Puccini was a master of the leitmotif, connecting characters and moods. Julian Budden can take great credit for helping me to understand how Puccini did this, despite my inability to sight-read the many musical themes he includes. The Catholic Herald Budden's biography, which intelligibly illustrates the developments of Puccini's career and his musical style, is an essential component of Puccini scholarship. Music Research Forum Budden's Puccini: His Life and Works is a well-written and carefully planned study of the career and works of a composer frequently neglected in the academic circle, but extremely popular in the opera houses. He organizes his biography in a manner that enables the readers to navigate easily through the complex history of the composer's career and the making of his works. Music Research Forum Budden draws on his wealth of knowledge of Italian operatic life in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century in order to provide an exceptionally smooth and insightful narrative of Puccini's life and career. Music Research Forum [Budden] achieves a smooth and seamless narrative of the composer's life and an evaluation of his works that focuses on the development of his musical style. Music Research Forum Those acquainted with Budden's previous volumes [on Verdi] will not be surprised by his thorough and detailed knowledge of the 19th- and 20th-century Italian operatic scene, including many of its neglected byways, nor by his fluent and amiable prose style, which is as clear as it is pithy ... one comes away from Budden's analyses with increased admiration for Puccini's constantly developing compositional skills. BBC Music Magazine ... an indispensable reference book. Fiona Maddocks, Spectator At the least, Budden's book will stand as the bellwether of studies of Puccini's music, the starting point for further scholarly work and for informed amateurs alike. At the most, he has given us the best survey we have of Italian opera around 1900. Gary Tomlinson, New York Times A joy to read ... I am sure this will be the standard work on Puccini for years to come. John Amis, The Tablet Budden contrives in the introductory sections of his chapters to give us a canny glimpse of Puccini's life at the time of each opera. And - this is one of the most impressive features of his study - he provides in each chapter vignettes that add up to a historical sketch of the musical culture Puccini lived and worked in. These tackle an impressively wide range of topics. Gary Tomlinson, New York Times Budden ... has made a minor art form of operatic description in prose, expanding the old format of plot-summary-plus-favorite-themes to include music analysis, critical response, and secure judgements as to the echoes of other composers. The New York Times Book Review Blending astute musical analysis with an account of Puccini's life, the book illuminates some of the most popular operas in the repertoire. The Lady Budden's book will stand as the bellwether of studies of Puccini's music, the starting point for further scholarly work and for the informed amateurs alike. The New York Times Book Review He [Budden] has made a minor art form of operatic description in prose ... a prose that will engage even those who cannot follow all the musical particulars. Gary Tomlinson, New York Times
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