(One wonders if having the name Schonberg/Schoenberg actually requires one to disapprove of Puccini?)Īrnold Schoenberg’s comment addresses Tosca specifically, and indeed, no one of Puccini’s twelve operas has been more consistently lambasted by critics than Tosca. Realistic, violent incidents – as for example the torture scene in Tosca – which are unfailingly effective should not be used by an artist, because they are too cheap, too accessible to everybody.”

And unlike so many composers whose music was critically rejected in their lifetimes only to become critically celebrated at a later date, it can be honestly said that the critical disfavor of Puccini’s operas has actually grown since his death in 1924!Īrnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) (what’s he smokin’?)Īccording to composer Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951):

No doubt, some critics have said nice things about Puccini’s operas, but they remain in the minority. Unfortunately, unlike Verdi, Mozart, Wagner and Rossini, Puccini’s popularity with audiences has not been matched with equal acclaim from the critics. Based on number of performances worldwide, the five most popular opera composers today are, in order one through five: Verdi Puccini Mozart Wagner and Rossini. We would observe that Puccini is the only composer with two operas in Operabase’s top five. Of course, we will want to know which operas are numbers one through four! They are, starting with number one: La Traviata (1853), by Giuseppe Verdi The Magic Flute (1791), by Wolfgang Mozart Carmen (1875), by Georges Bizet and La bohème (1895), by Giacomo Puccini. According to Operabase, an online database of opera performances, Tosca is the fifth most popular opera in the repertoire today. On Janu– 119 years ago today – Giacomo Puccini’s three-act opera Tosca received its first performance at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome.īased on a play by the French playwright Victorien Sardou (1831-1908) and adapted for opera by the librettists Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Gioacosa, Tosca has been an audience favorite since the day of its premiere.

Puccini opera tosca music