The syndrome is now thought to be
caused by a misplaced amino acid (mutation) on a gene called LMNA and
affects 1 in 4 to 8 million newborn - but it is not genetically
inherited.
http://www.progeriaresearch.org
Puccini, Giacomo
Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924) is known and loved today as one of the
greatest opera composers ever. Suffice it to mention "Manon Lescaut"
and "La Boheme". Yet, his early career was quite disheartening.
The first performance of his "Madame Butterfly" on February 17,
1904 in La Scala was an unmitigated fiasco. It was booed because the
audience found it too much like his earlier work.
The crowd also recalled his elopement with a married woman, Elvira
Gemignani, and the birth of his son, Antonio, out of wedlock in the
late 1880s. This was, at the time, the cause of an enormous scandal.
They married only in 1904, after her husband died.
Nor was "Madame Butterfly" Puccini's only failure. His second opera,
"Edgar", also flopped badly in 1889. His publisher, Giulio Ricordi,
was so desperate that he sent him to Bayreuth in Germany to listen to
the works of Richard Wagner.
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