Il trittico: Italian–English Side-by-Side Libretto With Translation

After spending much more time on it than I originally expected, I've finished a major update of my Italian–English side-by-side edition of Giacomo Puccini's Il trittico.

This wasn't just a quick proofreading pass. I went through the entire collection line by line, correcting OCR mistakes, fixing names, punctuation, formatting inconsistencies, and revisiting many translation choices. The project ended up taking much longer than I expected, but the text is now significantly cleaner and more accurate.

The updated edition is now available in three formats:

• Paperback (Amazon): https://amzn.to/4vrPQd8
• Online side-by-side libretto: https://www.librettoarchive.com/Il_trittico_libretto_Italian_English
• Free PDF preview

Three operas, three completely different worlds

Il trittico ("The Triptych") consists of three one-act operas that couldn't be more different:

• Il tabarro — a dark verismo tragedy set on a barge on the Seine.
• Suor Angelica — an intimate spiritual drama inside a convent.
• Gianni Schicchi — one of opera's greatest comedies, based on a brief episode from Dante's Inferno.

Although they premiered together in 1918, each work has its own atmosphere, musical language, and emotional impact.

My favorite: Suor Angelica

Of the three, Suor Angelica has always been the one that affects me the most.

Its story is simple, but emotionally devastating. Puccini gradually builds the drama without rushing, and by the final scene the music becomes almost overwhelming. Every time I work on this opera, I'm reminded how powerful it is—not because of spectacle, but because of its humanity.

Working through the libretto line by line also made me appreciate the text itself much more. Many subtle details are easy to miss when reading only a translation or listening without following the original Italian.

Why these updates matter

Creating bilingual opera librettos isn't simply about translating words. Small OCR errors, misplaced accents, incorrect capitalization, or a missing punctuation mark can change the meaning or make the original text harder to follow.

My goal is to provide editions that are useful both for newcomers discovering opera and for readers who want to study the original Italian alongside an English translation.

This update brings the Il trittico edition closer to that goal.

If you enjoy Puccini—or if you've never explored these three remarkable operas before—I hope you'll find this edition useful.

Happy reading!

— Dmitrii Murashev