puccini

Turandot is an opera by Puccini; the word is of Persian origin, and the Wikipedia article I linked extensively discusses how Puccini intended for the title to be pronounced in Italian.

For instance, both Puccini and Verdi had Francesco Maria Piave write libretto for multiple operas.

Sure: I can like light entertainment when it has singing of Puccini by di Stefano and Callas!

Take a stab at someone like Rossini or Verdi (I find Puccini awfully hard to grok).

For instance, I'm sure you recognize names like Puccini and Verdi as famous opera composers.

And yet, we still think of Puccini and Verdi as having written their respective operas.

I'm now a fan of Puccini (predicatble?) and Nixon in China is amazing.

If you compare it to the work of master orchestrators - Ravel, Stravinsky, Puccini - it's not hard hear just how flat and colourless these scores are.

I didn’t enjoy Verdi or Puccini al that much though.

Yes, and on the other hand you have works like the Puccini opera Tosca where Napoleon is the harbinger of freedom which liberates Rome from tyranny and oppression of the Church.

E.g., just now in my computer's DVD burner is a CD of the Puccini opera 'Tosca' with the two lovers, sung by di Stefano and Callas, and then too soon facing the evil Scarpia.

One of the stories-within-the-story is the original source of Puccini's "Turandot".

Would you call Puccini's music shallow, "cheap", ear candy?

La Boheme (Puccini, and lots of other Puccini) I sang in all of these.

Still in the Western classical canon, Puccini's Madame Butterfly is fantastic, if you're into opera.

First we stepped back into the Renaissance, and then slowly forward from the romantics through Puccini, Mahler, and the like.