Metropolitan Opera Preview: Il Trittico

Played together, these three short operas form one of Puccini's most ambitious works.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Placido Domingo (seen here as Giorgio Germont in La Traviata) sings the title role in Gianni Schicchi
in the Met's revival of Puccini's Il Trittico. Photo by Ken Howard © 2016 The Metropolitan Opera. 

The Met revives its 2007 presentation of three one-act operas performed in the course of a single evening. This is a centennial revival of these works, that premiered at the Met in 1918. A single production of these very different works, this is a long evening of worthy and wonderful music, which includes Puccini's only stage comedy.

Opera Review: Three on a Match

Il Trittico at the Metropolitan Opera.
by Paul Pelkonen

Barge-music: Juan Pons in Il Tabarro, Part I of Il Trittico.
Photo by Ken Howard © 2007 The Metropolitan Opera.

Long before Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez brought Grindhouse to your local movie theater, Giacomo Puccini conceived the idea of three disparate operas, performed together in the course of one evening. The three operas have had mixed fortunes since their 1918 premiere. They have been performed together, seperately, and paired off with works by other composers (Suor Angelica has been paired with Salome!). With this spiffy new Met production by Broadway director Jack O'Brien, this new Trittico scores three solid goals over the course of a long evening.