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
The Judgement of Paris (opera) power, Pallas victory in war, and Venus the most beautiful woman in the world. Paris gives the golden apple to Venus. A group of English nobles headed by Lord Halifax had become interested in promoting all-sung English opera (most English operas of the day took the form of semi-operas mixing music and spoken drama). In an announcement in the "London Gazette" of 18 March 1700 they offered a "Musick Prize" for the best setting of Congreve's short libretto. First prize was 100 guineas, second 50, third 30, and fourth 20. Four composers entered the competition: John Weldon, John Eccles, Daniel