It’s rare to hear Puccini’s Il Trittico, his triple bill of one-act operas, performed as the single work the composer intended. His publisher’s warnings of the commercial risks the project presented were proved right. On its New York premiere in 1918 Gianni Schicchi was an instant hit, but audiences found the musical language of Il Tabarro indigestibly modern, while Suor Angelica was regarded as overly sentimental and too Catholic for Protestant-dominated New York.
Set in different locations and in sharply contrasting tonal registers, the operas that make up the triptych each centre on the theme of death. This new Scottish Opera and Welsh National Opera co-production, directed by Sir David McVicar, presents the works as three distinct tableaux. While Il Tabarro stays true to the libretto’s pre-first world war Parisian setting, Suor Angelica takes place within the timelessness of a traditional convent, and Gianni Schicchi is located in 1960s Florence – the Duomo is visible through the window behind Buoso Donati’s deathbed, and Hannah Clark’s colourful costumes add to the comedy.
