Puccini and the Girl

"Set in the American West during the California Gold Rush, La fanciulla del West marked a significant departure from Giacomo Puccini's previous and best-known works. Puccini and "The Girl" is the first book to explore this important but often misunderstood opera that became the first work by a major European composer to receive an American premiere when it opened at New York's Metropolitan Opera House in 1910"--Jacket.