Giacomo Puccini e Dante: intorno a Gianni Schicchi

Abstract

This paper focuses on Giacomo Puccini’s third and final part of Trittico, Gianni Schicchi, 1918 (libretto by Giovacchino Forzano). Since the opera is based on an episode mentioned in Dante’s Inferno XXX 31-45, the paper analyses its direct and indirect references to the Divine Comedy. Considering this, the paper globally reevaluates Puccini’s relationship with Dante and his works. Through an analysis of new documents, I suggest that the composer’s valorization of the Dantean source material was more prominent than has previously been sustained.