![]() The following year on returning to Lucca, Puccini met Elvira Bonturi, an amateur soprano, who was married with two children to Puccini”s friend Gemignani. He entered a competition for a one-act opera, and despite not winning, Le Villi was nevertheless staged at the Teatro Dal Verme in Milan in 1884 to great acclaim – the Corriere della Sera paper calling Puccini: “the composer Italy has been waiting for.” It inspired him to continue studying, firstly at the Pacini Music School in Lucca and then at the Milan Conservatory, aided financially by a scholarship and his attorney uncle. However Puccini became increasingly attracted to Opera – in 1876 he walked from Lucca to Pisa in order to watch Verdis Aida. His first compositions were therefore sacred vocal and organ music. When only six his father unfortunately died and three years later Giacomo was sent to become a chorister and organist at the Cathedral. Nestled between sandy beaches and pinewoods and perched on the edge of the Massaciuccoli Lake with the Apuan Alps forming a stunning backdrop it is perhaps no surprise Puccini decided this was the place where he wanted to live.īorn 18 kilometres away in Lucca, on December 22nd 1858 to a family comprising four generations of musicians, conductors and composers Puccini”s future profession seemed a foregone conclusion. “This is Paradise!” Giacomo Puccini exclaimed when first setting eyes on the Torre del Lago – the place which was to inspire some of his best-loved operas.
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