Italian opera revisited, history was retold and imagination was stimulated. The strength of it fell into a more violent era for opera: verismo, with "Cavalleria rusticana" by Pietro Mascagni and "Pagliacci" by Ruggero Leoncavallo. Some of the greatest Italian operas of the 20th century were written by Giacomo Puccini (1858–1924). These include "Manon Lescaut", "La bohème", "Tosca", "Madama Butterfly", "La fanciulla del West", "La rondine" and "Turandot", the last two being left unfinished. In 1926 and in 2002 Franco Alfano and Luciano Berio respectively attempted a completion of "Turandot", and in 1994 Lorenzo Ferrero completed the orchestration of the third version of
Giacomo Puccini week of the premiere of Verdi's last opera, "Falstaff", which was first performed on 9 February 1893. In anticipation of the premiere, "La Stampa" wrote that Puccini was a young man concerning whom "great hopes" had a real basis (""). Because of the failure of "Edgar", however, a failure of "Manon Lescaut" could have jeopardized Puccini's future as a composer. Although Giulio Ricordi, head of Casa Ricordi, was supportive of Puccini while "Manon Lescaut" was still in development, the Casa Ricordi board of directors was considering cutting off Puccini's financial support. In any event, ""Manon Lescaut" was Puccini's first and