Giuseppe Giacosa (21 October 1847 – 1 September 1906) was an Italian poet, playwright and librettist. Regarded at the turn of the 20th century as one of Italy's leading playwrights, Giacosa is remembered chiefly for his association with Puccini in double harness with the librettist Luigi Illica.
Life
Giuseppe Giacosa was born in Colleretto Parella, now Colleretto Giacosa, near Turin. The son of an attorney, he took a law degree from the University of Turin and practiced for a time in his father's office in Turin, but after his first theatrical successes he decided to devote the rest of his life to the stage.
He gained initial fame for his play Una Partita a Scacchi ("A Game of Chess") in 1871. His main field was playwriting, which he accomplished with both insight and simplicity, using subjects set in Piedmont and themes addressing contemporary bourgeois values.
In 1885 he was appointed professor of history and literature at the Academy of Fine Arts in Turin, but withdrew often to the town of Ivrea, near his birthplace, for periods of intense work. Brief journeys to southern Italy, Sicily, France, and Germany opened the world to him, but he preferred a slightly bourgeois family life on his native soil.
In 1888 he moved to Milan, where simultaneously he was appointed director and lecturer at the Academy of Dramatic Arts and professor of dramatic literature at the Conservatory. He had the opportunity to hear many operas at the famous opera house La Scala and became one of Arrigo Boito's closest friend. After only one year he left the Academy, and in 1892 he resigned from the Conservatory as well.
