JAVS Fall 2022

In the Studio

Puccini, Passion, and My Procrastination Project by Keoni Bolding

Puccini and the Critics The commercial success and public popularity of Puccini has always prompted the esoteric sphere of the music world to narrow its eyes at his compositions. His operas are often described as emotionally manipulative and ostentatious, even approaching kitsch. The prevalent popularity of these works make them low hanging fruit to dismiss and dunk on, particularly in academia. Ripping on Puccini is a swift and simple way to signal that “my artistic sensibilities surpass those of the masses that buy tickets to La Boheme every year.” “We didn’t listen to [Puccini] because we didn’t want to be confused with those who did” - Joel Sach, in one of my new music classes Many others in academia have indicted Puccini’s compositional merit. The celebrated musicologist Joseph Kerman famously condemned Tosca as “a shabby little shocker” and Italian musicologist and critic Fausto Torrefranco considered Puccini to be “the worst possible news for Italian art (and consequently for humanity.)” Because I have never had the renown to disagree with these figureheads of import, my Tosca Paraphrase originally took the form of a guilty pleasure. But the more I listened to the work, the more the brilliance of the score took root in my brain. I began to believe that there is something timeless and ineffable about these indulgent melodies, opulent harmonies, dexterous structure, and imaginative textures. Some unexpected figures that do assume a pro-Puccini stance include Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern. Schoenberg met Puccini in Florence in 1922; he expressed the utmost deference and respect for the Italian composer. A few years earlier, Webern wrote to Schoenberg after seeing a Puccini opera in 1919, calling it “splendid” and “truly original.” He continued “I must say I enjoyed it ... Am I wrong?”

My Own Impulse and Inspiration In the beforetimes of pre-covid, I was lucky enough to see the Philadelphia Orchestra perform a semi-staged production under the masterful baton of Maestro Nezet Seguin. Later that year, a friend showed me the remarkably dope 2002 film version, directed by Benoît Jacquot. Soon after, I began simply messing around with some of my favorite moments from the opera on my viola while warming up or staring out my apartment window. I confided in a friend that part of me truly wanted to play the whole blasted opera on viola, but I felt this was too cringey a goal and too broad in scope to embark on. This friend was ardent in his support of the project and encouraged me to go for it. Feeling slightly more emboldened, I began structuring my stream-of consciousness figurations on the various Tosca themes into a 3 Act Paraphrase for Violin, Viola, and Piano. What began as a sort of guilty pleasure eventually morphed into what my friends dubbed a “procrastination project,” something I would toil away on while my grad school apps and ensemble responsibilities piled up. I came to realize that what I devoted my time into while far more important things were waiting might amount to something of a “passion.” A Tour of the Transcription After playing and feeling through melodies from some of my favorite parts in the opera on viola, I noticed that there is not much written for my instrument in the decadent Puccini language. We’ve got a few splendid works from the turn of the century filled with gorgeous melody and rich harmony, but there is something about the Italian Grand Opera trope, particularly Puccini’s take on it, that is absent from the greater viola repertory. As I took deeper dives into the opera and “favorited” the most stirring tracks on Spotify, I began weaving them together into form on my instrument.

Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 38, No. 2, Fall 2022

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