Giacomo Puccini is one of the most well-known opera composers of the late 19th and early 20th century. Born in Lucca, Tuscany he was given the full name Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini. His striving for a sense of reality in opera contrasted the grand operas of Verdi, by choosing to focusing on the everyday lives of working class people, rather than the grand lives of kings and queens. This movement, now known as 'verismo' and characterised by a striving for truth and reality in opera, really brought an end to the great era of Italian operas.
Some of the most regularly performed operas in the world were written by Puccini, and names like La Bohème, Madama Butterfly and Tosca have become household names for many opera and non-opera fans alike.
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