Turandot
Opera in 3 acts (5 scenes)
Music by Giacomo Puccini (Act
III [final duet and scene ii] completed by Franco
Alfano)
Libretto by Giuseppe Adami and
Renato Simoni after Carlo Gozzi's dramatised
fable.
Music published by Casa Ricordi
- BMG Ricordi S.p.A.
© 1926 - new Copyright 1929 -
Copyright renewed 1954
Premičre at Teatro alla Scala - 25 April,
1926 with:
| Turandot |
- |
Rosa Raisa |
| Calaf |
- |
Miguel Fleta |
| Liů |
- |
Maria Zamboni |
| Timur |
- |
Carlo Walter |
| Ping |
- |
Giacomo Rimini |
| Arturo
Toscanini |
- U.S. Premičre at the
Metroploitan Opera - 16 November, 1926
with Maria Jeritza and Giacomo
Lauri-Volpi under Tullio Serafin. The Met
web site has a nice feature
on this first performance.
- U.K. Premičre at Covent
Garden - 7 June, 1927
- San Francisco Opera
Premičre - 19 September, 1927 with Anne
Roselle, Armand Tokatyan and Ezio Pinza
under Gaetano Merola
- First performance of the
revised Alfano completion (Alfano II)
at La Scala - 26 April, 1926
- First perfromance of the
original Alfano completion (Alfano I)
at the Barbican, London - 3 November 1982
Characters
| Princess Turandot |
- |
soprano |
| The Emperor Altoum
her father |
- |
tenor |
| Timur exiled
King of Tartary |
- |
bass |
| The Unknown Prince
(Calaf) his son |
- |
tenor |
| Liů a young
slave-girl |
- |
soprano |
| Ping Grand
Chancellor |
- |
baritone |
| Pang General
Purveyor |
- |
tenor |
| Pong Chief
Cook |
- |
tenor |
| A Mandarin |
- |
baritone |
| The Prince of
Persia |
- |
tenor |
| The Executioner
(Pu-Tin-Pao) |
|
|
Chorus
- Soprano I, Soprano II,
Mezzosoprano, Contralto, Tenor I, Tenor
II, Baritone, Bass
Imperial guards, the executioner's
men, boys, priests, mandarins,
dignitaries, eight wise men, Turandot's
handmaids, soldiers, standard-bearers,
musicians, ghosts of suitors, the crowd
Orchestra
- Strings
(16, 14, 12, 10, 9)
- 2 flutes
(2nd flute - piccolo), 2 oboes, cor
anglais, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2
bassoons, contrabassoon
- 4 horns, 3
trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba
- 2 harps,
celesta, organ
- timpani,
percussion (including xylophone,
glockenspiel, tam-tam, chinese gongs,
tubular chimes, cymbals, bass drum, snare
drum, triangle)
- on/back
stage - 2 alto saxophones, 6 trumpets, 3
trombones, bass trombone, drum, large
gong
Music
- Chinese
melodies used in Turandot - with
midi files
Synopsis
- Metropolitan Opera Synopsis
- Arizona Opera
Synopsis
- Synopsis
Where to hear Turandot (Operabase listings) -
upcoming
performances
Recordings
Further reading:
- Turandot:
Opera Guide 27 - published in
association with English National Opera
and the Royal Opera. ISBN 0-7145-4039-0. includes
articles by Mosco Carner, Jürgen
Maehder, John Black, Eva Turner, plus
libretto (and translation by William
Weaver)
- Ashbrook,
William - Puccini's Turandot: the end
of the great tradition - Princeton
University Press, c. 1991 - ISBN
061027129
- Casali,
Patrick Vincent - "The
Pronunciation of Turandot: Puccini's Last
Enigma" - Opera Quarterly
- Summer 1997
- Innnaurato,
Albert - "The Gong Show" -
Opera News - VOL. 56, NO. 10
(February 1, 1992)
- Oliver,
Michael - "The Fourth
Enigma" - International
Opera Collector - Volume 1, number 3
(Spring 1997)
- Porter, Peter
- "Turandot - Which
Recording?" - International
Opera Collector - Volume 1, number 3
(Spring 1997)
- Aubaniac,
Robert - L'Enigmatique Turandot de
Puccini - Edisud, 1995 - ISBN
2857447612
- Korfmacher,
Peter - Exotismus in Giacomo Puccinis
Turandot - Koln-Rheinkassel : Dohr,
1993
- Volpers,
Wolfgang - Giacomo Puccinis
"Turandot" : Untersuchungen zum
Text und zur musikalischen Dramaturgie
- Laaber-Verlag, c. 1994
- Ashbrook,
William - The Operas of Puccini -
Cornell University Press, 1985 - ISBN
0801493099
- Carner, Mosco
- Puccini: A Critical Biography -
Holmes and Meier Publishers, 1977 - ISBN
0841903026
- DiGaetani,
John Louis - Puccini the thinker: the
composer's intellectual and dramatic
development - P. Lang, c. 1987 - ISBN
0820403709
- Osborne,
Charles - The Complete Operas of
Puccini: a critical guide - Da Capo
Press, 1983 - ISBN 0306802007
- Puccini,
Giacomo - Letters of Giacomo Puccini:
mainly connected with the composition and
production of his operas, ed.
Giuseppe Adami, trans. Ena Makin, rev.
Mosco Carner - Harrap, 1974 - ISBN
0245524223
- Weaver,
William and Simonetta Puccini (ed.) - The
Puccini Companion - W.W. Norton, c.
1994 - ISBN 0393029301
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