The Washington herald., 1920-07-25
PUCCINI TALKS
ON COMPOSING
Terms Operatic Writing
Highest Form of
Musical Art.

MUSICAL Art.
Giacomo PuccinL the composer of
La Boheme," La Tosca," Madam
Butterfly" The Girl of the Golden
West" and other operas less known
than these, in a recent interview
stated that to his mind operatic
writing was the highest form of
musical art He excluded those op-
erss whose one object is to show
or the singers Puccini told his
interviewer that he was disposed
to rank operatic writing higher
than symphony. and, in his opinion,
1t is much more dificult.
Puccini said:
The operatiC composer must,
first of all, secure a good book.
That, to my mind, is of vital i'm
portance. An opera should always
be based upon a story that appeals
TO our common humanity. Love, ha-
tired. revenge. pity. kindliness-there
is room for each and all of these
to find musical expression at the
hands Of the composer. Also there
should be scope for pictorial dis
play with scenery and dresses. The
particular type of story must de-
pend upon the natural temperament
Of the composer. In my own case,
for example. l never select a sym
bOlic subject
The music must illustrate the
story. 1t must, so to say, form a
commentary upon it so as to at
tune the mind all through to the
emotions the play is designed to
awaken. 1t must have character
that is to say, the musical idiom
must Mt the personages of the play
exactly as the dramatist makes his
dialog ft them. What would be
right and suitable in the mouth
of one character may be entirely
wrong in the mouth of another,
even If beautiful in itself Another
point is that the music should
heighten the dramatic effect of the
play and not impede it. This is
perhaps one of the most difficult
problems the operatic composer is
confronted with; but it is his busi-
ness to solve it.
This tends to show that there
is really a gulf between composing
an opera and composing symphonic
or absolute music. l do not think
] am putting it too strongly If I
say that the difference is greater
between these two forms Of musical
composition than between the arts
Of sculpture and painting. That
may perhaps explain why so few
composers have excelled in both
forms.
Naturally. the views I am eH-
pressing are purely personal, and
7 should not presume to lay them
down as incontrovertibIe. In an
equally personal vein. l would say
TO all aspirants after operatic
honors that melody Is the basis of
opera And 1 mean that there must
be melody for the singers and that
the restriction OF II entirely to the
orchestra is a mistake. In my
humble opinion the symphonic opera
Is a dying form.
Actual knowledge of stage re-
quirements is another factor in the
equipment Of the operatic COM
poser. He must have intuition and
that intuition often carries him far,
hut unless young composers can
have their operas produced cheaply
and inexpensively they will not be
able to hear their own works or
acquire that knowledge which can
only be picked up in the theater
itself. There Is no such educative
process for a composer as hearing
his own works performed.
In my own country, italy, we
have a large number Of theaters
altered all over the country at
which operas can be produced at
so little cost that new works get
a ready hearing. without such
facilities do not see how operaSic
composers can really gain the nee
sssary technical equipment. There
nust be many failures to bring to
birth one success"