Giacomo Puccini Giacomo Puccini Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini (; 22 December 1858 29 November 1924) was an Italian opera composer who has been called "the greatest composer of Italian opera after Verdi". Puccini's early work was rooted in traditional late-19th-century romantic Italian opera. Later, he successfully developed his work in the realistic "verismo" style, of which he became one of the leading exponents. Puccini's most renowned works are "La bohème" (1896), "Tosca" (1900), "Madama Butterfly" (1904), and "Turandot" (1924), all of which are among the important operas played as standards. Puccini was born Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria
Aria di sorbetto Aria di sorbetto The Aria di sorbetto, or "sherbet aria", was a convention of Italian opera in the early nineteenth century. Nineteenth-century audiences would rarely listen to an opera straight through, preferring instead to talk among themselves, eat, and drink for much of the performance. The "aria di sorbetto" would come fairly late in the second act of the opera, and it would afford vendors the chance to hawk their wares one last time before the evening ended. As most of the vendors sold Sorbetto (a Sorbet) and Gelato (an ice cream) and other sweets, such arias came to be