He was a pianist and composer born in Posillipo, Italy who studied harmony and composition at the San Pietro a Majella Conservatory in Naples and took private piano tuition. In 1885 he took further composition lessons in Leipzig and while there he wrote many piano and orchestral pieces and also met Edvard Grieg, who was his musical idol.
He travelled widely as a pianist and on various occasions was based in Berlin, Paris, Russia and Italy. He wrote his first opera Miranda in 1896, which still remains unpublished, and went on to write many others that achieved success. The three operas he is most noted for are Risurrezione, La Leggenda di Sakuntala and Cyrano de Bergerac.
Even though he was famed for his own works he is possibly best known for being the composer that completed Turandot after the death of Puccini before it was finished. It has been said that by doing this he may have harmed his career as it has been the subject of much discussion, which took away from his own works.
In 1918 he became Director of the Bologna Conservatory and took the same position in 1923 at the Turin Conservatory.
His compositions, aside from opera, include three ballets, two symphonies, Quartets, quintets, sonatas and numerous piano and chamber works.
He died in San Remo in 1954 aged 79.
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