Giacomo Puccini was an Italian composer, celebrated for his dramatic and emotionally charged operas that rank among the most performed in the world. Born into a family of musicians in 1858, he continued the tradition and became the leading figure in Italian opera after Verdi. Puccini’s style evolved from late Romanticism to the realistic verismo movement, making his works vivid and relatable. His masterpieces include La bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and the unfinished Turandot, which remains a staple of the operatic repertoire.