Giacomo Puccini Because only three "verismo" works by Puccini continue to appear regularly on stage (the aforementioned "Cavalleria rusticana", "Pagliacci", and "Andrea Chénier"), Puccini's contribution has had lasting significance to the genre. Both during his lifetime and in posterity, Puccini's success outstripped other Italian opera composers of his time, and he has been matched in this regard by only a handful of composers in the entire history of opera. Eleven of Puccini's operas are numbered among the 200 most-performed operas (worldwide, by composers of any nationality, as surveyed by Operabase). Three of his works ("La bohème", "Tosca", and "Madama Butterfly") rank among
Hariclea Darclée "Manon Lescaut" (Manon Lescaut) – opera composed for her voice and interpreted in première for Teatro alla Scala of Milan on 27 March 1897; Giacomo Puccini "La Bohème" (Mimì) – opera interpreted in première for America at Teatro Colón of Buenos Aires in 1896 and in première for Romania at Bucharest National Theatre on 15 January 1903; Giacomo Puccini "Tosca" (Floria Tosca) – opera composed for her voice; the soprano’s aria was requested to Puccini by Hariclea Darclée suggesting the principal musicals elements, too; the opera was interpreted in prima assoluta at Teatro dell’Opera of Rome on 14 January 1900