Libretto
Guelfo Civinini and Carlo Zangarini, after the play The Girl of the Golden West by David Belasco.
First performance
New York, Metropolitan Opera House, December 10,1910.
Synopsis
Minnie, an energetic and generous young woman who runs the saloon in a gold-digging village in California, sees her life is turned upside down by the arrival of the bandit Dick Johnson, with whom she is secretly in love; in an attempt to save him from the gallows, she even goes so far as to risk her own happiness in a game of poker.
The Girl of the West is a very original opera, both in its subject matter and its musical style. In January 1907, while in New York to attend a season entirely composed of his operas at the Metropolitan Opera, Puccini attended David Belasco’s play “The Girl of the Golden West” and was deeply impressed. Once back to Italy, he decided to turn it into an opera.
Ricordi bought the rights to the play, the libretto was entrusted to Carlo Zangarini, later joined by Guelfo Civinini. Puccini began composing in late 1907, but from 1908 onwards work suffered a long interruption due to serious personal issues. The opera was completed in July 1910 and premiered in December of the same year at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, with Arturo Toscanini conducting.