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Acknowledgments
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ix Sometimes it seems the people who contribute to a project like this are too numerous to thank. Any omissions here are unintentional, and I regret them; any errors or shortcomings that remain in the book are my own. I am grateful to the University of Houston for a New Faculty Research Program grant that allowed me to write a substantial portion of the manuscript in the summer of 2005, and to the Moores School of Music for course releases and for generous funding that supported travel to domestic and international conferences at which I met valuable colleagues and presented some of these ideas. Many individuals have contributed to my work. David Ashley White has provided immense personal and professional support, and Robert Hatten has been unwavering in supporting all aspects of my career for years now; I will always be grateful to both of them. Jürgen Maehder has been extraordinarily generous with his support, time, and expertise on a wide range of topics in Puccini studies. Peter Ross has likewise been gracious in sharing his expertise on Italian verse and librettos. Helen Greenwald helped me obtain the Ricordi first-edition librettos for Puccini ’s last four operas. Nicholas Baragwanath, Deborah Burton, Michele Girardi, Howard Pollack, Gabriela Biagi Ravenni, David Rosen, Matteo Sansone, and Alexandra Wilson all supported my work, constructively critiqued my ideas and analyses, or read portions of my manuscript. Sandra Celli-Harris was generous with her time in helping me with the Italian translations, which are better as a result of her expertise; Buck Acknowledgments Trittico.indb 9 7/2/10 10:32 AM x · Acknowledgments Ross also provided valuable translation advice. Gregory Malone helped me interpret the actuarial tables, which would have been impenetrable without his assistance. Johanne Cassar provided me a copy of her unpublished dissertation. John Grimmett was my research assistant in the semester in which I finished the manuscript; his efforts saved me hours of work, and I am grateful to him and to the University of Houston for providing him a Provost’s Undergraduate Research Scholarship. Under my supervision, Adam Hudlow was writing his master’s thesis on the vocal music of Richard Strauss—whose strategies are similar to Puccini’s in so many respects—while I was finishing this manuscript, and his work informed some of my ideas. Numerous other graduate students, many of them trained opera singers, in my opera history and analysis seminars at the University of Houston have helped me form ideas on this material. Jane Behnken of Indiana University Press provided valuable editorial advice, and both she and Katherine Baber have been generous with their time in handling my manuscript. And the anonymous reviewers for Indiana University Press provided penetrating critiques that only made the book better. I must thank my family, with whom I know this project caused countless hours of lost time. In fact, I wrote this book during a time of significant personal challenges, during which I was constantly reminded of Dante’s immortal opening: “Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita / mi ritrovai per una selva oscura, / ché la diritta via era smarrita.” Finally, I am grateful to Puccini for all the enjoyment his music has brought me. Trittico.indb 10 7/2/10 10:32 AM ...