Turandot

To celebrate the 120th anniversary, Lviv National Opera presents the last opera of the famous Italian composer Giacomo Puccini “Turandot”, the first staging in the history of the theatre as well as of the city in general.

The operas “Manon Lescaut”, “La boheme”, “Madama Butterfly” and “Tosca” brought Giacomo Puccini world fame of an exceptional lyricist who subtly embodied the psychological shades of his characters, and in particular, the main characters – gentle, enamoured, fragile and courageous women.

During the composer’s lifetime, his operas were performed at the world’s leading theatres, and the elegant handsome composer, who was fond of cars, achieved great popularity. In his operas, he always stuck to the principle: the most important thing in an opera is the beautiful melody, sophisticated and fine singing. Puccini rejected music trends of that time – he gave up melodics and tonal harmony. “They used to sing in Italy, but now they don’t!” – Puccini claimed. “Only beats, dissonant chords, false expression, transparency, fluidity, colourlessness.”

In 1918, the composer completed three one-act operas – Il trittico – “Suor Angelica”, “Il tabarro” and “Gianni Schicchi”, and he was looking for a plot for a new opera. He admired the play, which was popular at the German theatres – “Turandot” by Friedrich Schiller, directed by Max Reinhardt. On the Italian stage the tragicomic tale about the Chinese Princess was presented by the playwright Carlo Gozzi, who turned to the sources of the 12th century – the story of the Azerbaijani poet Nizami. The composer mentions this in his letter of March 1920 to librettist Renato Simoni and adds:

“Dear Simony, I have read “Turandot”. 

For my part, I would advise that we seize upon this subject. To simplify it by reducing the number of acts and to strive to make it slim and workable, and above all to intensify the amorous passion of Turandot, that for so long has shouldered beneath the ashes of her great pride…” (Giacomo Puccini, letter to Renato Simony, March 18, 1920).

Since then the composer began his effective cooperation on the libretto with Giuseppe Adami, who worked with Puccini on his previous operas – “La rondine” and “Il tabarro”, and the famous playwright and critic Renato Simoni. Unfortunately, due to the busyness of librettists on other projects, the work was too slow, what the composer complained about it in many letters:

“My desire, I would say – almost suffering from idling and the striving for work on the tyrannical Princess – Is growing every day. I remember it was August when we talked about the script! And in twenty days it’s Christmas! … I do not reproach you, but if my words had rowels, then you, my thoroughbred horse, would feel that your sides are pierced with spurs” (Giacomo Puccini, letter to Renato Simony, December 4, 1920).

To a bitter disappointment of the composer, who worked with great enthusiasm on the libretto, looking for typical Chinese themes, the work on the opera lasted for four long years. The opera was missing last love duet of Turandot and Calaf, the text of which Puccini constantly rejected:

“But I have wanted it to be a human thing, and when the heart speaks, whether it be in China or Holland, the sense is all the same and the purpose is that of all people” (Giacomo Puccini, letter to Renato Simoni, March 25, 1924).

Puccini tried to finish the opera as soon as possible (the premiere was already scheduled for April 1925), but his health deteriorated, and eventually, in autumn, he needed a throat operation.

“I suffer like Christ on the cross!” (Giacomo Puccini, letter to his friend Angiolino Magrini, November 1924).

To the hospital in Brussels, Puccini took the most valuable things – drafts of the final duet and choir of the opera “Turandot”, which he didn’t manage to complete: the composer did not survive the surgical complications and died on November 29, 1924. The premiere of his last work, “Turandot”, was cancelled. 

So the last thing Puccini managed to complete was the scene of the death of the slave Liu, her sacrifice in the name of love for Calaf. Lviv National Opera presents the opera staged by Polish director Michał Znaniecki and conductor Ivan Cherednichenko in the original edition of the composer.

After Puccini’s death, a student of the composer, Franco Alfano, decided to complete the opera “Turandot” together with the conductor Arturo Toscanini, who agreed to conduct the premiere at Puccini’s request during his lifetime. A love duet and a happy end were added: at dawn the love for the Unknown Prince was born in Turandot’s heart – there will be no more cruel executions and everyone celebrates the victory of love.

Whether Toscanini was satisfied with the final scene of the opera is still unknown. It is widely known that he had a keen sense of Puccini’s works, and the composer deeply appreciated his conducting and interpretation of his operas. The fact is that during the premiere of the opera “Turandot” at La Scala Theatre in Milan on April 25, 1926, Toscanini lowered his baton and stopped the orchestra at the very note, which was the last one written by Puccini. Opera completed by Alfano with a love duet in the final scene was presented the next day and probably was performed under the baton of another conductor. 

So the opera “Turandot” is a mystery – what was the intended drop scene of the opera? Did Liu’s sacrifice and Calaf’s kiss melt the ice of Turandot’s heart? The death of the composer left many secrets about the opera, like the plot of this fairy tale which is filled with riddles. 

In the opera, the exotic tunes of mythical China are reproduced by vivid melodies and harmonies, strong orchestral score and large epic choral episodes. They serve as a background for the plot and the characters with their human passions and desires: Prince Calaf, his father Timur and two opposite female characters – cold-hearted and unapproachable Turandot and gentle and obedient slave Liu. Imperial ministers Ping, Pong and Pang, whose characters originate from Italian Commedia dell’arte, are sarcastic and even cruel. The production of “Turandot” at Lviv National Opera includes many ballet scenes, such as the solo dance of the Prince of Persia – the first love victim of Turandot. The choreographer of the opera is Diana Theocharidis, who developed choreography online in collaboration with the ballet tutor Igor Khramov, and Stratos Mpapagiannakis, Kostantinos Kafandaris from Greece.

The embodiment of the terracotta army – the legendary imperial army, which was designed to protect the state both in the real world and in the afterlife, plays an important role in set design and images of the choir. The stone Chinese soldiers show no sympathy for the executed princes, and only death of Liu evokes their feelings – and therefore life.

This is not the first time the composer admired the exotics distant countries – in his previous operas “Madama Butterfly” the action takes place in Japan, in the opera “La fanciulla del West” – in the American Wild West. This time Puccini was fascinated by the fabulous Peking. Escape from Europe to the mirage of the exotic East, the world of fairy tales about the breath-taking beauty of the Princess and rich Chinese culture, which will never be fully comprehended by the Western world, became the last exotic journey in the composer’s creativity.