De Nationale Opera - Il trittico

Puccini's three faces

The three one-act plays differ greatly in character, setting and story material but have an important common denominator: death. In Il Tabarro (The Cloak), an unhappy sailor couple loses their only child and, therefore, becomes separated, which has fatal consequences. In Suor Angelica, the main character is exiled to a monastery after an out-of-wedlock pregnancy, where she hears seven years later that her son has died. In despair, she commits suicide and is forgiven by the Virgin Mary in a vision of death. In Gianni Schicchi, a rich old man dies, after which his greedy relatives want to control the inheritance with the help of the cunning farmer Schicchi.