Franco Alfano nine months on the following concluding duet and at his death had left behind a whole ream of sketches... Alfano had to reconstruct...according to his best assessment...and with his imagination and magnifying glass" since Puccini's material "had not really been legible." "Alfano's reputation has also suffered [IC:along with Mascagni], understandably, because of his willingness to associate himself closely with Mussolini's Fascist government." Alex Ross, in "The New Yorker", notes that a new ending of "Turandot" composed by Luciano Berio premiered in 2002 is preferred by some critics for making a more satisfactory resolution of Turandot's change of heart, and 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