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How did Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa divide their work on Puccini’s librettos?

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Art Nouveau poster by Adolfo Hohenstein for Puccini's opera Tosca, showing a woman in a gold dress standing over a fallen figure, with dramatic red and black background and bold title text. — Tosca Poster by Adolfo Hohenstein for Giacomo Puccini's opera *Tosca*, 1906.

In the collaboration between Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa on the librettos for Giacomo Puccini, the division of labor was clearly defined.1

Illica was responsible for devising the overall structure of the operas and writing the initial draft. Once this foundation was established, Giacosa would take the draft to polish the text and convert it into verse. This partnership proved highly successful, resulting in the texts for three of Puccini’s most celebrated works: La Bohème, Tosca, and Madama Butterfly.1