Immortal Bohemian; an intimate memoir of Giacomo Puccini
by Dante Del Fiorentino
Category: Composers

When you lay this book down for the last time, you will know the real Puccini, a man of many faults, yet animated by a warmth, an intensity of feeling that won the respect and affection of all with whom he came in contact. The myriad facets of the composer's personality sparkle and flash as the author reminisces about his brilliant and magnetic friend. Puccini: simple and earthy, a man who liked driving fast, bird shooting and flirting with pretty girls; a man who drew strength from his beloved Tuscan soil, and fell head-over-heels in love with the heroines created by his imagination. The author recalls Puccini's wild adolescence, his love affairs, his stormy life with Donna Elvira, and the tragedy of the innocent Doria. Here is Puccini celebrating the success of La Bohemne by buying an expensive bicycle, Tosca by the largest and noisiest automobile he could find, and his American triumph with an imported speedboat. You see Puccini in love with a story, flinging himself passionately into creative activity; other times having to be prodded by his patient publisher. You see him enjoying the hunt, basking in the convivial companionship of bohemian friends, and incessantly quarreling with poets and librettists. You learn of his violent quarrels with the musician he respected most, Toscinini, to whom he entrusted his final and incomplete opera, Turnadot.