Gianni Schicchi – Finally, Puccini wrote a comic opera.

Gianni Schicchi is actually the last opera the maestro completed. It was ready in 1918 and after that, he worked on, but never finished, Turandot until he died in 1924. That fact has a strikingly eery similarity with Verdi’s last opera, Falstaff, which was Verdi’s only attempt to write a comedy (if we don’t count the early flop, Un giorno di regno). Do we understand the true meaning of life better at the end of it?

Anyway, after Mascagni’s huge success with Cavalleria Rusticana, followed by Leoncavalli’s Pagliacci, one-act operas had become high-fashion in Italy. And Puccini wanted to enter the game. For that, he had several ideas. First of all, he wanted to write three short operas, to be presented together, not only one.

He considered three French stories. Then he sought inspiration from his long-time collaborator and friend Giuseppe Giacosa, together with whom he had triumphed in La Bohème, Tosca, and Madama Butterfly. But unfortunately, Giacosa died in 1906. 

Then he turned to the great Russian writer Maxim Gorky, who at the time lived in Italy. But Gorky’s political ideas weren’t all that popular in Puccini’s circles. He turned to Italy, but finding an Italian literary basis for the three stories turned out to be a challenge.

And during all these years he was constantly interrupted by other commissions. First by Madama Butterfly in 1904. Then by La Fanciulla del West in 1910. After he had finished La Rondine in 1916, He managed to complete at least one one-act piece, namely Il Tabarro. But that’s when his inspiration dried out. He even considered combining Il Tabarro with his very first opera, Le Villi. 

Giovacchino Forzano

Forzano was only 30 when he wrote the libretto to Sour Angelica, the second of the operas in The Triptych. When he sent Puccini his libretto, he mentioned that he had a great outline for a comic opera. Puccini was not overly enthusiastic at first, and neither was Ricordi, his publisher. An opera in Florence in the Middle Ages… Well, could that turn out to be funny?

But Forzano’s text was good… brilliant, one could say. The fast, snappy comments, and the pungent satire are quite unique for an opera. And both its subject and style are very different from the tragic and melodramatic heroines that had previously dominated Puccini’s creation. So, he got to work, and in 1918 Gianni Schicchi was finished. 

Gianni Schicchi and World War 1.

1918 was a difficult time for the world. The great war had just finished and most of Italy and Europe lay in ruins. To that came the Spanish flu, and a general lack of possibilities for everything from traveling to setting up big operas. So, Puccini reluctantly agreed to premiere his new Triptych in New York at the Metropolitan Opera House. 

It was a polite success for Il Tabarro and Sour Angelica. For Gianni Schicchi, on the other hand, the reception was overwhelming. Both critics and the audience loved it. Puccini tried to keep his three operas tied together for a few years, but then he just couldn’t hold Gianni Schicchi back. 

Today Gianni Schicchi is more often than not paired with other short operas or ballets, not by Puccini. Every now and then the whole Triptych is performed, and if you have a chance to see it you should definitely go. 

Gianni Schicchi is frequently combined with either Pagliacci or Cavalleria Rusticana. To me, that is actually a better combination than the classical Cav/Pag double. With Gianni Schicchi, you get one brutal and tragic story, and after the interval, you get a comedy. Still, even while smiling at the ridiculous Donatis, the full Puccini strings, and the flowing melodies let you stay safely draped in the Verismo velvet.