Born in Lucca, Italy on December 22, 1858;
died in Brussels, Belgium on November 29, 1924

Born in 1858 into a long line of musicians in the Italian town of Lucca, Giacomo Puccini was trained as an organist. At the age of 18, after hearing a performance of Aida, Puccini resolved to become an opera composer and eight years later he began his studies at the Milan Conservatory. Puccini was surrounded by compositional geniuses in Milan: one of his instructors was Amilcare Ponchielli (composer of the opera La Gioconda, 1876). He and Ponchielli shared accommodations with Pietro Mascagni (composer of the opera Cavalleria Rusticana, 1890). In 1882 Puccini entered his first opera Le villi (The Witches) into a competition run by the publishing firm Sonzogno. It didn’t win but it garnered the attention of the publisher Giulio Ricordi, with whom Puccini was to enjoy a lifelong association.

Puccini wrote almost nothing but operas. A meticulous composer, he worked intensely on his scores, constantly revising his work until he was satisfied. Although his style is firmly rooted in the 19th-century Italian tradition, his later works reveal cosmopolitan musical tastes, including the influence of French impressionist composers.