While the average person may not be able to name any of the operas written by the Italian composer and librettist Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924), they’ve likely at least heard the titles of his most famous works: La Bohème, Madama Butterfly, Tosca or Turandot (and yes, it’s actually Madama and not Madame).
Or, if you’re a fan of ‘80s rom coms and/or Cher and have seen Moonstruck, you’ve heard selections from La Bohème. It’s the opera that a smitten Ronny Cammareri (Nicholas Cage) takes his brother’s fiancée, Loretta Castorini (Cher), to see at New York’s Metropolitan Opera and ignites their own love story. Selections from the opera are also heard throughout the film.
“When I was giving another class, if any piece of classical music had an association with a film or a story behind it, it was much easier to get students to relate to it,” says Buck Ross, Professor Emeritus at the University of Houston. Ross was both Founder and Director of the Moores Opera Center from 1985-2022, where he produced and directed over 140 operas.
“And Moonstruck is one of my favorite movies. What a great screenplay! That whole movie swept me away. It showed a romanticism that has always attracted me to opera. [Cher’s character] is so surprised at how much she’s moved by the performance. She shouldn’t have been!”
Coinciding with the centenary of Puccini’s death, the Italian Cultural and Community Center will host a four-part lecture series presented by Ross, Puccini: His Life and Works. The series will survey his operas while exploring how they intersected with his personal life.
Ross has previously taught classes at the ICCC on the general history of opera and one focusing on the works of Verdi. Puccini seemed like the next logical subject for what he says will be akin to “an extended PBS special.” His presentations will include audio, video, photos and slides. He promises it won’t be a “standard, dry academic course” and will include “plenty of lively commentary.”
“I want to demystify [Puccini’s works] in a way, and opera in general. It’s a class, but it’s not a class. It’s not remotely painful!” Ross laughs.
“Opera in this country has gotten a very peculiar reputation as being something that is either for the elite snobs or the rich. You should be able to enjoy opera the same way you got to the movies. And Puccini’s works are good for that. He was a populist! His operas are almost the easiest entrance to opera for people.”
And it’s part of that populism that led to Puccini and his works “not being taken seriously” by many opera aficionados, though Ross has seen his reputation improving in recent times. “It’s about time that tide is turning!” he says.
Giacomo Puccini was born the sixth of nine children in Lucca, Italy to an established musical family of players, composers and maestros, mostly writing for the church. When Puccini was six his father died. And while too young to take over the title of maestro di cappella that his family had held for 124, he still pursued a musical education.
His early operas like Le Villi, Edgar and Manon Lescaut garnered him a reputation, but his breakthrough came with the 1896 premiere of La Bohème, conducted by the world-famous Arturo Toscanini. It was adapted by Henri Murger’s novel about poor, young people whose story does not end well (hey, the tragedy is perfect for an opera!). Many of his works belie a late-Romantic period style and themes.
In his personal life, the married Puccini was a known extracurricular enthusiast of women—engaging in a string of affairs, often with ladies connected to opera or the performing arts. His wife Elvira even accused the family maid of having an affair with Puccini. It drove the maid to commit suicide, but the autopsy concluded that she was indeed a virgin.
Elvira was prosecuted for slander and sentenced to five months in prison. However, a financial settlement from Puccini to the girl’s family meant his wife never saw the inside of a cell. Ross says that practically exemplifies Puccini’s life/work connective tissue.
“There’s no question that his best music in many ways was written for his female characters, especially sopranos. But they were often a certain type of woman. A woman who suffered for their man and in some cases, died for them,” Ross offers.
“That may indicate some aspect of his worldview about the position of women. But yah, he was definitely a womanizer and took advantage of his success.”
Giacomo Puccini continued to produce works until he died in 1924. The lifelong chain smoker contracted throat cancer, but complications and bleeding from a then-experimental radiation treatment led to a fatal heart attack.
Ross says he was initially exposed to Puccini while a college student majoring in both music and theater. In the composer’s work, he was able to find the center of a Venn diagram with the two. “I loved musicals. And when I found out that these operas were really just big musicals, then I understood. And opera was going to use my skills.”
He calls La Bohème probably “the single most popular opera in the entire repertoire of opera” especially during the last 40 years. It was the first one he ever saw.
He also notes that it’s a rare year that the Houston Grand Opera doesn’t included at least one of Puccini’s 12 work resume on its season programming. They’re also easy to direct, he believes, because Puccini has practically timed the music and singing to allow enough time for stage movement.
Nevertheless, Ross believes that operas composed by Italians have been “looked down upon” by some in the wider opera community and scholarship, as its practitioners and tenets have heavily favored a more Germanic bent.
And that favoritism goes down to even the background of symphonic and operatic conductors. He notes that New York’s Metropolitan Opera Company was originally founded to present strictly Germanic works, though that changed quickly.
“Even though I am of Germanic descent, Italian culture has always appealed to me a lot more,” says Ross—who has taken Italian language courses himself at the ICCC for years. “I think a lot of it has to do with this sort of uninhibited emotional places that Italians will go to on stage that people without that background are a little reticent to do.”
Puccini’s last opera, Turandot, was left incomplete but for two scenes finished by another composer based on his notes. It contained one of his most famous numbers, “Nessun Dorma,” which has become a standard.
“That piece is a big thing. It kind of has had a life of its own, and it’s started when Luciano Pavarotti sang it as part of the Three Tenors at the 1990 World Cup. It then became [Luciano] Pavarotti’s kind of signature song,” Ross offers. Since Pavarotti’s 2007 passing, it seems that Andrea Bocelli has adopted the song as one of his signature pieces.
Finally, Ross wants to especially point out that Puccini: His Life and Works will be accessible, and that students don’t need to have a background in the art form to both appreciate and learn from the series.
“In the movies or television, if a character likes opera, it means they’re a James Bond villain or a snob like Frasier. And music critics have never forgiven opera for its structure being based around words rather than musical forms. It’s always gotten a bad rap, until fairly recently,” he says.
“I want people to walk away feeling confident and appreciate [Puccini and opera]. And not be afraid that they don’t know enough,” Ross sums up. “Opera is really for everyone.”
Puccini: His Life and Works runs from 7-8:30 p.m. on Mondays from March 4 through March 25 at the Italian Cultural and Community Center, 1101 Milford. For more information, call 713-524-4222 or visit ICCCHouston.com. $125 general admission/$100 ICCC members. Reservations can be made HERE.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
