Turandot Puccini's publisher Tito Ricordi II decided on Alfano because his opera "La leggenda di Sakùntala" resembled "Turandot" in its setting and heavy orchestration. Alfano provided a first version of the ending with a few passages of his own, and even a few sentences added to the libretto which was not considered complete even by Puccini himself. After the severe criticisms by Ricordi and the conductor Arturo Toscanini, he was forced to write a second, strictly censored version that followed Puccini's sketches more closely, to the point where he did not set some of Adami's text to music because Puccini had
Manon Lescaut (Puccini) compositions for strings: the quartet "Crisantemi" (January 1890), three "Menuets" (probably 1884) and a "Scherzo" (1883?). The love theme comes from the aria "Mentia l'avviso" (1883). Puccini's publisher, Ricordi, had been against any project based on Prévost's story because Jules Massenet had already made it into a successful opera, "Manon", in 1884. While Puccini and Ricordi may not have known it, the French composer Daniel Auber had also already written an opera on the same subject with the title "Manon Lescaut", in 1856. Despite all the warnings, Puccini proceeded. "Manon is a heroine I believe in and therefore she cannot