Grounded in the biographical and musical scholarship, this work presents an integrated discussion of the composer's life and works, and includes illustrations and music examples, a catalogue of compositions, a chronology and bibliography.

Since Mosco Carner's classic study, Puccini: a Critical Biography (1958, 3rd ed. 1993) a revaluation of this most popular of composers has led to a number of important publications, all of which have furnished material for the present overview. This, the first volume in the Master Musicians series devoted to Puccini, integrates life and works, placing each opera in the context of the composer's career. It traces the evolution of this musical language in relation to that of his contemporaries in Italy and abroad, as well as the development of his dramaturgical technique, with occasional reference to subjects that he hoped, yet failed to set, since these can be shown to have a bearing on those which he eventually did.