This chapter considers how Puccini has been commemorated through biographies and obituaries. It begins with a discussion of biographies or studies of the composer published during his own lifetime, in Britain, Italy, and Germany – some flattering, some decidedly hostile. The author then discusses international responses to Puccini’s death, via press obituaries, remembrance ceremonies, and other tributes. Puccini’s memorialisation in Italy was effusive; that abroad somewhat less so, with some French obituaries verging on the disparaging. Obituarists attempted to weigh up Puccini’s significance within music history and to assess the extent to which he represented a quintessentially Italian style. The chapter then discusses books of various types that were published about Puccini after his death, including biographies and collections of letters. It considers how Puccini was remembered on the occasion of various significant anniversaries and how Puccini’s reputation was reappraised over the century since his death.

This chapter considers the life and works of Puccini’s various librettists and their working relationships with the composer. It also examines the literary sources that provided the inspiration for, or formed the basis of, the various libretti. Ferdinando Fontana, a member of the Scapigliatura movement, collaborated with Puccini on Le Villi and Edgar. Manon Lescaut was a team effort, worked on variously by Marco Praga, Domenico Oliva, Giuseppe Giacosa, the composer Ruggero Leoncavallo, and the publisher Giulio Ricordi. With La bohème, Puccini settled into a regular partnership with Giacosa and Luigi Illica, whose writing careers are expanded upon here at length, and with whom he would collaborate again on Tosca and Madama Butterfly. For La fanciulla del West, Puccini collaborated with more inexperienced writers, Guelfo Civinini and Carlo Zangarini. La rondine, written as a commission for a Viennese operetta venue (though ultimately premiered in Monte Carlo because of the outbreak of war), brought him into collaboration with Giuseppe Adami, who would also work with Puccini on Il tabarro and Turandot (with Renato Simoni). Gianni Schicchi and Suor Angelica were written by the Florentine writer Giovacchino Forzano.