Giacomo Puccini remained popular. "Turandot", Puccini's final opera, was left unfinished, and the last two scenes were completed by Franco Alfano based on the composer's sketches. The libretto for "Turandot" was based on a play of the same name by Carlo Gozzi. The music of the opera is heavily inflected with pentatonic motifs, intended to produce an Asiatic flavor to the music. Unlike "La fanciulla", "Turandot" contains a number of memorable stand-alone arias, among them "Nessun dorma". The libretto of "Edgar" was a significant factor in the failure of that opera. Thereafter, especially throughout his middle and late career, Puccini was extremely
Franco Alfano Hans Sitt and Salomon Jadassohn in Leipzig. While working there he met his idol, Edvard Grieg, and wrote numerous piano and orchestral pieces. From 1918 he was Director of the Conservatory of Bologna, from 1923 Director of the Turin Conservatory, and from 1947 to 1950 Director of the Rossini Conservatory in Pesaro. Alfano died in San Remo. He completed his first opera, "Miranda", still unpublished, for which he also wrote the libretto based on a novel by Antonio Fogazzaro in 1896. His work "La Fonte Di Enschir" (libretto by Luigi Illica) was refused by Ricordi but was presented in Wrocław