La rondine at Finnish National Opera

La rondine
Giacomo Puccini

Magda, a kept woman in high society, disguises herself as a wanton working-class girl and falls in love with a callow youth. He asks her to marry him, but Magda cannot escape her past.

Puccini became acquainted with operettas in Vienna in 1913. To his astonishment, the impresarios wished to commission him to write an operetta. What Puccini eventually wrote was a light opera, premiered in Monte Carlo in 1917. He was so pleased with it that he declared it to be his favourite among all his works!

Some feel that La rondine is in a genre unto itself in the history of opera. It is unmistakeably Puccini in its lovely melodies, exquisite orchestration and skilful handling of drama in music.