Franco Alfano Franco Alfano Franco Alfano (8 March 1875 in Posillipo, Naples – 27 October 1954 in Sanremo) was an Italian composer and pianist, best known today for his opera "Risurrezione" (1904) and above all for having completed Puccini's opera "Turandot" in 1926. He had considerable success with several of his own works during his lifetime. Alfano was born in Posillipo, Naples. He attended piano lessons given privately by Alessandro Longo, and harmony and composition respectively under Camillo de Nardis (1857–1951) and Paolo Serrao at the conservatory San Pietro a Majella in Naples. Later, after graduating, he pursued further composition studies with
Giacomo Puccini composers discovered that they were both engaged in writing operas based on Murger's work. Leoncavallo had started his work first, and he and his music publisher claimed to have "priority" on the subject (although Murger's work was in the public domain). Puccini responded that he started his own work without having any knowledge of Leoncavallo's project, and wrote: "Let him compose. I will compose. The audience will decide." Puccini's opera premiered a year before that of Leoncavallo, and has been a perennial audience favorite, while Leoncavallo's version of the story was quick to fade into obscurity. Puccini's next work after