Considered the greatest Italian opera composer since Verdi, Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924) created many of the most popular operas in the repertoire, including Madama Butterfly, La Boheme, Tosca, Manon Lescaut, and Turandot. His well-known gifts for lush melody and rapturous lyricism, along with his strong sense of theater, are amply evident in Il Trittico ("The Triptych"), a series of three highly individual one-act operas patterned after the Parisian Grand Guignol's three-part scheme of horror, tragedy, and farce.
Il Trittico, which premiered at New York's Metropolitan Opera in 1918, consists of "Il Tabarro," a somber, near-melodramatic tragedy; "Suor Angelica," a sentimental tragedy with strong melodies and a mystic theme; and "Gianni Schicchi," a delightful comedy, full of wit and vivacity, whose libretto was derived — surprisingly enough — from a few lines in Dante's Inferno. All three works appear in this single volume, reprinted from authoritative early editions.