La Rondine is perhaps the least-known opera from Puccini’s mature period, mainly due to its inauspicious premiere. Unable to present the work in Vienna during the post-World War I era due to animosity between Italy and Germany, it was quietly premiered in neutral Monte Carlo, and never quite gained the popularity many now believe it deserved. Originally conceived as an operetta, its final form includes plenty of soaring melodies, exuberant waltzes, and all the tenets of late Romanticism one would expect from one of opera’s greatest composers.