La boheme, Tosca, Turandot, Madama Butterfly - Puccini's operas are among the most frequently performed in the standard repertoire. `Nessun dorma' and other Puccini arias have achieved great levels of fame and recognition. Puccini was a contradictory character - apparently cavalier in his approach to life, with his many affairs with women, but also subject to feelings of great depression. Kendell explores Puccini through his music - confident at first when he emerged as a promising young talent, cautious and uncertain after the failure of his second opera had endangered his career, gradually more assured as he became established as a leading musical figure, then, at the end, anxious to complete his final work before it was too late. Kendell tells the story of the world's most popular operatic composer, progressing through the operas, their plots and how they were composed. He recounts it all in a simple way with explanations of operatic terms so that no expert knowledge is required
