The opera was a huge hit and these days it has become one of the most performed operas in the world (only Madame Butterfly, also by Puccini, has been performed more).Puccini's take on opera was rooted in the fluid Romantic style best associated with Verdi, but his stories went in for realism, for those dramatic slices of real life that are as heart-wrenching as overblown tragedies.