The Luigi Boccherini Study Center could not miss the appointment with the centenary of Giacomo Puccini's death. This year the traditional homage to Boccherini is expanded, and offers a range of initiatives in addition to the concert in front of the teenage composer's house in via della Dogana, the celebration in San Francesco and the great concert at the Suffragio auditorium.

The Boccherini days will be preceded by the international conference Il Settecento dei Puccini / Il Settecento di Puccini. The Lucca musical eighteenth century which marked the rise of the Puccini lineage and saw the young Boccherini as the protagonist in his formative years and his first important compositions will be investigated. Furthermore, Giacomo Puccini's multiple relationships with the eighteenth century will be explored, with a focus on the musical life in Lucca in the years of Giacomo senior and the other ancestors of the great opera composer, as well as on the presence of eighteenth-century themes and styles in Giacomo Puccini's works: the thoughts inevitably turn to Manon Lescaut, but this will not be the only work at the center of the contributions.

An assessment will be made of the state of Boccherini's sources, enriched by the discovery of a new autograph, and the digital collection of manuscripts and prints of Boccherini's music will be presented, created on the basis of Yves Gérard's reproductions, with his computerized catalogue, the result of the work of the Study Center and will soon be available online. Click here for the complete list of concerts and musical events