Puccini
Here is a story
of Puccini, the great Italian writer of such classic operas as «Madame
Butterfly» and «La Boheme.» It seems when Puccini was fairly young, he
contracted cancer, and so he decided to spend his last days writing his
final opera, Turnandot, which was one of his most polished pieces. When
his friends and disciples would say to him,
‘You are ailing; take it easy and rest,’ he would always respond, «I’m
going to do as much as I can on my great masterwork and it’s up to you,
my friends, to finish it if I can’t» Well, Puccini died before the
opera was completed. Now his friends had a choice. They could forever
mourn the friend and return to life as usual or they could build on his
melody and complete what he started. They chose the latter.
And so, in 1926 at the famous La Scala Opera House in Milan, Italy,
Puccini’s opera was played for the first time, conducted by the famed
conductor Arturo Toscanini. When it came to the part in the opera where
the master had stopped writing because he died, Toscanini stopped
everything, turned around with eyes welling up with tears, and said to
the large audience, ‘This is where the master ends.’ And he wept. But
then, after a few moments, he lifted up his head, smiled broadly and
said, ‘And this is where his friends began.’ Then he finish, conducting
the opera.
This story maces a good point at funerals, especially when told to you
people.