They often dined at Del Pezzo’s, an Italian restaurant on 34th Street, and played the card game scopa in the back. Caruso was his constant companion - window-shopping for fancy clothes and expensive automobiles, a passion of Puccini’s. Puccini did not speak English, which sometimes left him feeling isolated, and he loathed the cold. 15, with a cast including Plácido Domingo, to mark the work’s centennial - but World War I kept Puccini from the opening. He visited twice: The Metropolitan Opera brought him over in 1907 to oversee its first productions of “Manon Lescaut” and “Madama Butterfly,” then again in 1910 when it staged the world premiere of his American-themed opera, “La Fanciulla del West.” In 1918, the Met gave the premiere of “Il Trittico” - which the company is reviving Nov. Giacomo Puccini was a quintessentially Italian composer - “La Bohème” and “Tosca” remain opera house staples, more than a century after they were written - but his career was also shaped by the time he spent in New York. He was the toast of Gilded Age New York, thronged by reporters and cheered on by Vanderbilts and Astors. He played cards in the back room of an Italian restaurant on 34th Street with the tenor Enrico Caruso. He visited Little Italy and Chinatown, posed for pictures on the Brooklyn Bridge, marveled at the tall buildings and took in shows.

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