 Puccini died in 1924, while working on "Turandot"; he got as far as  the scene in which a major character commits suicide to avoid  cracking under torture, but Frederico Alfano completed it, and most  critics feel that Puccini would have handled the awkward moment in  the ending far better than Alfano did. One of those who believed  this was conductor Arturo Toscanini, a friend of Puccinis, who led  the works world premiere in 1926. Immediately after the suicide  scene, he laid down his baton and with tears in his eyes, spoke to  the audience for the only time in his life: "Here Maestro Puccini  laid down his pen. Death was stronger than art". Toscanini then left  the orchestra pit.