Giacomo Puccini - La Fanciulla del West 1956 (2 CD) / Gigliola Frazzoni, Franco Corelli / Directed by Mario Frigerio / Antonio Votto / Teatro alla Scala / 2012 CD

• Language ‏ : ‎ Italian, English
• Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.68 x 0.79 x 5.71 inches; 13.62 Ounces
• Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ La Scala
• Original Release Date ‏ : ‎ 2012
• Date First Available ‏ : ‎ April 21, 2012
• Label ‏ : ‎ La Scala
• Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 2

This opera was performed for the first time one hundred years ago, on the 10th of December 1910, at the Metropolitan in New York, with Arturo Toscanini and the Italian tenor par excellence in America, Enrico Caruso. On the 4th of April 1956, at La Scala, the task was passed to the thirty-five year old Franco Corelli, who made his first Milanese appearance in the role of Dick Johnson. Accompanying him on stage were Gigliola Frazzoni and Tito Gobbi. The directing of Mario Frigerio, the scenery and costumes of Nicola Benois and the conducting of Toscanini's pupil, Antonino Votto, crowned this an historical staging. A masterpiece to be rediscovered in the year of its one hundredth anniversary.

La fanciulla del West (The Girl of the West) is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Guelfo Civinini [it] and Carlo Zangarini [it], based on the 1905 play The Girl of the Golden West by the American author David Belasco. Fanciulla followed Madama Butterfly, which was also based on a Belasco play. The opera has fewer of the show-stopping highlights that characterize Puccini's other works, but is admired for its impressive orchestration and for a score that is more melodically integrated than is typical of his previous work. Fanciulla displays influences from composers Claude Debussy and Richard Strauss, without being in any way imitative. Similarities between the libretto and the work of Richard Wagner have also been found, though some attribute this more to the original plot of the play, and have asserted that the opera remains quintessentially Italian.

The opera had a successful and highly publicised premiere at the Metropolitan Opera, New York City, in 1910. Nevertheless, while Puccini deemed it one of his greatest works, La fanciulla del West has become a less popular opera within the composer's repertoire, drawing a mixed public reception overall. Despite the plot being a source of significant criticism, the majority of academics and musicians agree in calling it a magnum opus, particularly lauding its craftmanship. The conductor of the work's premiere, Arturo Toscanini, called the opera a "great symphonic poem". In 2006 the philanthropist Bruce Kovner donated a large collection of original manuscripts to the Juilliard School; including Puccini's manuscript for La fanciulla del West.