These three one-act operas seem unconnected. But are they? Giacomo Puccini assembled them under the title Il trittico (the triptych) and they are facets of a single reality. Instead of making a vain attempt to portray the whole world in a long opera, as in an epic novel, he selects three events and brings them together in a work of music which seeks to convey every shade of human emotion with intensity: from implacable coldness of heart to burning passion, via avarice, artfulness or parody.
