Giacomo Puccini "La bohème" was "Tosca" (1900), arguably Puccini's first foray into "verismo", the realistic depiction of many facets of real life including violence. Puccini had been considering an opera on this theme since he saw the play "Tosca" by Victorien Sardou in 1889, when he wrote to his publisher, Giulio Ricordi, begging him to get Sardou's permission for the work to be made into an opera: "I see in this "Tosca" the opera I need, with no overblown proportions, no elaborate spectacle, nor will it call for the usual excessive amount of music." The music of "Tosca" employs musical signatures for
Giacomo Puccini "Edgar" preceded "Cavalleria rusticana". Some view Puccini as essentially a "verismo" composer, while others, although acknowledging that he took part in the movement to some degree, do not view him as a "pure" "verismo" composer. In addition, critics differ as to the degree to which particular operas by Puccini are, or are not, properly described as "verismo" operas. Two of Puccini's operas, "Tosca" and "Il tabarro," are universally considered to be "verismo" operas. Puccini scholar Mosco Carner places only two of Puccini's operas other than "Tosca" and "Il tabarro" within the "verismo" school: "Madama Butterfly", and "La fanciulla del West."