Synopsis

On today’s date in 1918, the Metropolitan Opera in New York offered the world premiere performance of not one, not two, but three new operas by Giacomo Puccini.

The three one-act operas are collectively billed as Il Trittico, or The Triptych. In order of their presentation at the Met, the triptych consisted of Il Tabarro (The Cloak), a rather sordid tale of passion and murder, followed by a sentimental tear-jerker titled Suor Angelica (Sister Angelica, after its Romantic heroine), and, for a comic finale, Gianni Schicchi, titled after the resourceful hero of its comic plot.

Musical America reported a warm welcome for the three new Puccini operas, but did find Il Tabarro “in the main, black and brutal.” In that journal’s opinion, the hit of the evening was the comic opera, Gianni Schicci. In particular, one brief soprano aria from that opera so pleased the first-night audience that it had to be encored.

Over time, this little aria, “O Mio Babbino Caro,” has become one of Puccini’s greatest hits and has even cropped up in the soundtracks of movies such as A Room With a View and G.I. Jane.

Music Played in Today's Program

Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924) Gianni Schicchi; Angela Gheorghiu, soprano; London Symphony; Antonio Pappano, cond. EMI 56587