Giacomo Puccini

From The Classical Music Pages, a site that provides “everything you need concerning classical music:”

In his early 60s Puccini was determined to ‘strike out on new paths’ and started work on Turandot, based on a Gozzi play which satisfied his desire for a subject with a fantastic, fairy-tale atmosphere, but flesh-and-blood characters. During its composition he moved to Viareggio and in 1923 developed cancer of the throat. Treatment at a Brussels clinic seemed successful, but his heart could not stand the strain and he died, leaving Turandot unfinished. (It is usually played today with Franco Alfano’s ending.) All Italy went into mourning and two years later his remains were interred at his house at Torre del Lago which, after his wife’s death in 1930, was turned into a museum.