Born in Bologna, Zangarini's father was Italian and his mother was an American. His mixed heritage made him an ideal choice to serve as
Giacomo Puccini's librettist for his 1910 opera
La fanciulla del West; a work which he co-authored with the poet
Guelfo Civinini. Set in the
Western United States and adapted from
David Belasco's 1905 play
The Girl of the Golden West, the opera tells the story of a Californian mining camp during the
1849 Gold Rush. In addition to
La fanciulla del West, Zangarini also wrote the libretti for the operas
I gioielli della Madonna (1911) by composer
Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari and
Conchita (1911) by
Riccardo Zandonai. Zangarini lived his entire life in the city of Bologna, and served as the chair of poetic and dramatic literature at the
Conservatorio Giovanni Battista Martini (then known as the Liceo Musicale di Bologna) during the last seven years of his life (1934-1943). ==References==