In the 12/15 NYTimes Book Review, Gary Tomlinson took on the topic of
critical distain of popular composers, using Puccini as the example.
The whole article is worth reading, but the point of this post is one
set of Tomlinson's assertions:

   "And to my hearing, the best single act Puccini ever wrote is
   the first of 'La Fanciulla del West': emotionally coherent, well
   paced, successfully joining varied musical materials, skillfully
   deploying whole-tone harmonies to capture the vast terrain of
   California and the emotional quest of its inhabitants, all the
   while not forsaking intimate sentimentality.  If the impact today
   of this work is contaminated with the fallout of decades of
   Hollywood westerns--it cannot help but seem to us the first
   spaghetti western, and it is hard to know what the half-life of
   such contamination might be--this is not Puccini's problem but
   ours."

I can't agree.  The climax of the act comes nowhere near that of several
others of Puccini, e.g., the first act of Tosca.  And the miners sobbing
for their mommas, fine as the music is, is too maudlin for the setting.

It's a hard choice, but I wonder what other Listers consider the single
greatest act Puccini ever wrote.  My wife goes for Act 1 of Butterfly;
I still go for Act 2 Boheme.

Jeff Dunn
[log in to unmask]
Alameda, CA