Baltimore Opera Company

Study Guide

La Fanciulla del West
The Girl of the Golden West

Background

After the success of Madama Butterfly, Puccini spent several years looking for a subject for his next opera. He considered a number of stories, including Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame, but remained unsatisfied. During this period, he was also traveling extensively to attend performances of his works worldwide. In 1907, he was in New York to see the American premieres of Manon Lescaut and Madama Butterfly. While in the city, he attended a performance of The Girl of the Golden West, a play by David Belasco, who had also written the play on which Madama Butterfly was based. Excited by the idea of doing another opera on an "exotic" subject, he decided this would be his next opera.

A number of circumstances interrupted the composition of Fanciulla. His librettists didn't work quite so quickly as he would have liked, slowing his progress. In addition, his family encountered a personal tragedy when a servant girl committed suicide in response to the unfounded jealousy of Puccini's wife. However, three years after his trip to New York, Fanciulla was completed.

Musically, Fanciulla is one of Puccini's most innovative pieces. To an extent not seen in his earlier operas, he experiments with new harmonies and orchestration techniques. Fanciulla also represents an even further shift toward through-sung music drama than the shows which preceded it. The work presents a challenge to both performers and directors in the sheer complexity of the onstage action. More so even than Tosca, this opera requires that its lead singers also be first-rate actors.

Aptly, La Fanciulla del West was premiered at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, under the baton of Arturo Toscanini, with a cast including Emmy Destinn, Enrico Caruso, and Pasquale Amato. The New York audience received the piece with great enthusiasm.

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