The Puccini Heroine: Female Characters in Puccini's Operas
Maddie Hanrahan
The Puccini Heroine
- The Puccini Heroine
- faces a tragic ending (usually)
- suffers for love
- Mother fixation (Carner)
- Puccini wrote 12 operas
- only 5 of the heroines are left alive at the end of the opera
- Mimi & Musetta (La Boheme), Tosca (Tosca), Cio-Cio-San (Madama Butterfly), Angelica (Sour Angelica), and Turnadot & Liu (Turnadot)
La Boheme
Synopsis
- Follows four bohemians
- Rodolfo, Marcello, Colline, and Schaunard
- Rodolfo falls in love with his neighbor, Mimi
- Marcello runs into his former lover, Musetta (singer)
- she flirts with him even though she is with someone else
- Rodolfo and Mimi separate because she is sick and he can't help her
- Mimi dies of consumption
- Rodolfo reunites with Mimi on her deathbed
Mimi
&
Musetta
Mimi
- Sweet, coy, innocent
- Consumption
- Deals with the abusive behavior of Rodolfo
- pushes her away because he can't help her get better
- Seeing another wealthy man
- Rodolfo only returns because she is dying
Musetta
- flirty, femme fatale
- portrayed as unfaithful
- deserting current lover for Marcello and leaving him with the check
Tosca
Synopsis
- The painter Mario Cavaradossi helps hide Cesare Angelotti, an escaped prisoner
- Cavaradossi's lover, Floria Tosca (a singer) thinks Cavaradossi is hiding an affair
- Tosca leads the police chief, Baron Scarpia to Cavaradossi and Angelotti
- Scarpia tortures Cavaradossi in front of Tosca
- Tosca reveals Angelotti's hiding place
- Cavaradossi is to be executed, but if Tosca gives herself to Scarpia he will be saved
- Tosca agrees, gets a notice of safety for her and Cavaradossi, and then kills Scarpia
- Cavaradossi is executed and Tosca kills herself
Floria Tosca
Floria Tosca
- Independent, diva, sensual
- When Tosca tells Scarpia where Angelotti is hiding in order to protect Cavaradossi, Cavaradossi is upset with her
- Treated as an object by Scarpia
- She kills herself after Cavaradossi dies, despite her successful career as a singer
Madama Butterfly
Synopsis
- American Lieutenant Pinkerton is leasing a property in Japan that comes with a geisha wife, Cio-Cio-San
- Pinkerton and Cio-Cio-San go through with the marriage
- Cio-Cio-San is denounced by her family
- Pinkerton abandons Cio-Cio-San and their son
- Pinkerton returns years later with his American wife, Kate
- Cio-Cio-San dies "honorably" by committing suicide in front of her son
Cio-Cio-San
Cio-Cio-San
- pure, sweet, submissive
- strong, courageous
- essentially purchased by Pinkerton
- left to raise their son on her own
- switches religion for Pinkerton
- abandoned by her family because of this
- Pinkerton still abandons her and gets remarried
- Killing herself is seen as the "honorable" thing to do
Suor Angelica
Synopsis
- Angelica is a part of a convent
- The sisters all discuss their desires
- They believe Angelica's deepest desire is to be reunited with her wealthy family that denounced her
- Angelica is visited by her aunt, the Princess
- Her sister is to be married and that she needs to renounce her inheritance for that to happen
- Angelica asks about her illegitimate son
- he has died
- Angelica commits suicide
- She prays for forgiveness and is greeted by the Virgin Mary and her son
Angelica
Angelica
- pure; dedicated life to the convent
- disowned by family
- separated from son, who eventually dies
- Her aunt is making her renounce her inheritance
- Her suicide is seen as a sin
- still needs to suffer to get her happy ending
- victim of fate
- she is blamed for the birth of her illegitimate son
Turnadot
Synopsis
- All of Princess Turnadot's potential suitors must answer three riddles correctly in order to marry her
- those who get the riddles incorrect are killed
- Prince Calaf decides he wants to win Turnadot
- His father and their slave girl, Liu, try to stop him
- Prince Calaf answers the riddles correctly
- Turnadot begs her father to not give her away
- Calaf tells Turnadot that if she can guess his name, he will kill himself
- Liu protects Calaf's identity because she loves him
- she is tortured and then kills herself
- Calaf kisses her before she can react and they fall in love
Turnadot
&
Liu
Turnadot
- Icy, cold, closed-off
- Treated like an object to be won
- doesn't want to be given away to Calaf
- obsessive love
- about lust and desire
- she never "melts"
Liu
Ed il mio bacio scioglierà
(And my kiss will dissolve)
Il silenzio che ti fa mia!
(the silence that makes you mine!)
Vincerò! Vincerò!
(I will win! I will win!)
Nessun Dorma
- selfless, brave, heroic
- willing to do anything for love
- gets tortured for Calaf while he watches
- dies for him
- unrequitted love
Works Cited
Sources
“BACKGROUND & SYNOPSIS - Suor Angelica.” Opera Fusion, www.operafusion.org/
suor-angelica-gianni-schicchi/background-synopsis-suor-angelica/.
Costa, Daniela. Heartbreak and Tragedy: The Women in Puccini. www.daniela-costa.com/
articolo.pdf.
Fleeton, George. “PUCCINI'S HEROINES.” SimpleSite.com, 2015,
www.georgefleeton.com/316605806.
“La Bohème.” Opera North, www.operanorth.co.uk/whats-on/la-boheme/.
“Madama Butterfly.” Metropolitan Opera | Madama Butterfly, www.metopera.org/Discover/
Synopses/Madama-Butterfly/.
Roberts, Maddy Shaw. “What Are the Lyrics to 'Nessun Dorma'?” Classic FM, 22 Oct. 2020,
www.classicfm.com/discover-music/periods-genres/opera/guides/nessun-dorma-translation/.
Sterne, Joseph R. L. “Puccini's Mimi Still Baltimore's Most Glorious Heroine of Them All.”
Baltimoresun.com, 9 Dec. 2018, www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-2000-05-07-0005170326-story.html.
“Tosca.” Metropolitan Opera | Tosca, www.metopera.org/discover/synopses/tosca/.
“Turandot.” Metropolitan Opera | Turandot, www.metopera.org/discover/synopses/
turandot/.
Wigler, Stephen. “Sexual Obsession Underscores the Story and Music of Turandot.”
Baltimoresun.com, 25 Oct. 2018, www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1992-10-11-1992285147-story.html.