Happy Birthday, Fanciulla: Family and Friends Reflect

By buniverse ()

La Fanciulla del West, Puccini's best, least-known opera, recently turned 100. The rollicking spaghetti Western — which takes place during the California Gold Rush — premiered December 10, 1910, at New York City’s Metropolitan [...]Opera. But despite its initial success, it didn't prove to be as popular as La Bohème, Tosca, or Madama Butterfly.

In celebration of the opera’s centennial, Boston University’s College of Fine Arts, in conjunction with the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center, hosted “Fanciulla 100: Celebrating Puccini,” a symposium that featured numerous musical experts and historians. The conference concluded with a three-person panel led by Walfredo Toscanini, grandson of original Fanciulla conductor Arturo Toscanini; writer and music historian Harvey Sachs, author of Toscanini (1978), Reflections on Toscanini (1991), and The Letters of Arturo Toscanini (2002); and Cheryl Green, great-grand niece of David Belasco, whose play The Girl of the Golden West inspired Puccini to write Fanciulla.

Hosted by the College of Fine Arts and the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center on December 6, 2010.
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