Page "Giacomo Puccini" Paragraph 20

Puccini completed the score of La rondine, to a libretto by Giuseppe Adami in 1916 after two years of work, and it was premiered at the Grand Théâtre de Monte Carlo on 27 March 1917.

The opera had been originally commissioned by Vienna's Carltheater ; however the outbreak of World War I prevented the premiere being given there.

Moreover, the firm of Ricordi had declined the score of the opera, which had been taken up by their rival, Lorenzo Sonzogno, who arranged the first performance in neutral Monaco.

The least known of Puccini's mature operas, the composer continued to work at revising it until his death.