Giacomo Puccini (1858–1924): Crazy about Music and More

Abstract

Giacomo Puccini was born in Lucca on December 22, 1858, the sixth of nine children of Michele Puccini and Albina Magi, and the last member of an 18th century pedigree of musicians. Heir of Giuseppe Verdi's melodramatic tradition, Puccini had enormous success on the European and American scenes. He was a passionate hunter but also liked cars, cigarettes, cigars, motorboats and buying and restoring houses. A car crash in 1903 resulted in a poorly healing tibial injury; he was subsequently diagnosed with diabetes and started taking saccharin but in 1923 initiated insulin therapy at empiric dosages. After accidentally swallowing a goose bone in 1923, he began to suffer from recurrent laryngitis, earaches, swallowing pain, dysphonia and swelling of the neck so severe that he could not close his shirt collar. Like after the car crash, famous physicians were consulted. On November 3, 1924, a collegial consultation in Florence among professors Torrigiani, Toti and Gradenigo referred him to doctor Louis Ledoux in Bruxelles, who used radiation therapy for laryngeal cancer. Puccini died on November 29, 1924 in Bruxelles, leaving behind an incomplete Turandot that had its stage debut on April 25, 1926, conducted by Arturo Toscanini.