St John's C of E Primary School
"Use your God-given gifts to serve others." 1 Peter 4: 10
Italy - Puccini 21.6.21
A musical tour of Europe to celebrate the UEFA EURO 2020.
This week we are travelling all the way to Italy. This is the country where opera was invented in the late 1500s. The first opera was Jacopo Peri’s Dafne. It was performed in 1597–98. This new musical style became popular throughout Europe.
Giacomo Puccini’s family had all been musicians. When he went to hear a performance of Verdi's Aida, he knew that all he wanted to do was compose operas.
In 1896 he wrote La Bohème, which is probably the most loved opera ever written. He also wrote famous operas including Madame Butterfly, Tosca, Turandot and The Girl of the Golden West.
Puccini was good at writing beautiful melodies. He also was able to create operas that audiences were moved by. His characters are easy for people to relate to and the stories in his operas are easy to follow.