Succeeding Puccini

Celebrating the 150th anniversary of his birth, this first critical biography of Italo Montemezzi (1875-1952) offers fascinating new insights into the life and work of an important opera composer, seventeen years younger than Puccini, who became internationally famous with L'amore dei tre re (1913). For many years, it seemed as if Montemezzi was Puccini's obvious successor, with numerous critics prepared to rank L'amore dei tre re above any Puccini opera, judging it a distinctively new kind of Italian opera, closer to the Wagnerian music drama. The fascinating story of Montemezzi's life and career, divided between Italy and America, and set against the background of two world wars, will interest anyone who has ever wondered what happened to Italian opera after Puccini.