📘 Umberto Menotti Maria Giordano (1867-1948) was an Italian composer, mainly of operas, best known for his opera based on the life of the French poet, André Chénier. Luigi Illica (1857-1919) was an Italian librettist who also wrote for Giacomo Puccini and is best known for the libretti of La bohème, Tosca, and Madama Butterfly.