Monsieur Butterfly ; the story of Puccini /

I am a mighty hunter of wildfowl, beautiful women, and libretti. . ."" Puccini is best known for Madama Butterfly, Tosca, La Boheme and, today, his magnificent Turandot. Uncompleted at his death, Turandot displayed a new power that might have lifted his future works into the strengths of Verdi, Wagner and Mozart. As is, he remains the most ravishingly melodic and intensely psychological of the Italians, deathless despite plots sometimes built on spun sugar and a woman's sigh. He gave new importance to the orchestra, making it as gripping as the singing. His greatest characters are all women, though his male writing is electrically beautiful. The world of Puccini is sensuous, passionate, with striving soloists rising above the full power of the orchestra only to fall in anguish after a brief flare of exquisite triumph. Only in Suor Angelica, a small oneacter, does he seem to have any religious purpose or vision; all his spirituality was at gut level, and below. He could never have written Parsifal in two lifetimes. But what he did write leaves us forever bewitched with regret for heartbreak folks like Mimi and Butterfly. Stanley Jackson's new bio is as lightweight as a Puccini plot, perhaps just right for most opera fans. Not with deep purpose or high style, it gives just enough to satisfy without really filling. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.