The Level of Puccini's Turandot - Essay Example

?The plot of Turandot was represented in the story of Nizami - Azeri of the XII century, which was included in various European collections ofPersian tales of the XVIII century. From there it was drawn out by the Italian playwright Carlo Gozzi for his Tales for the Theatre (1761). Translating Gozzi’s play into German in 1801, Schiller strengthened its drama, “amplified” the characters and re-wrote the scene of Turandot’s puzzles. Puccini placed more emphasis on the dramatic atmosphere of the action. Even the funny “masks” of the Italian comedy- Pantalone, Tartaglia, Brighella, having received Chinese names Ping, Pong and Pang, turned from harmless talkers into a violent, though acting under clown guise, enemies of the hero. Happy ending of the opera, as opposed to the play, was gloomed by sacrificial death of Liu. This touching image was created by Puccini, who rethought the original image of Gozzi’s heroine - a captive princess, energetic and insidious, secret rival of Turandot, who revealed the secret of the hero by trick and betrayed him. While Calaf and Turandot occur in Puccini's sources, Liu does not exist in either Gozzi’s or Schiller’s versions of the story. Adami and Simoni, the librettists for the opera, created her at Puccini's insistence and based her somewhat on Gozzi’s character Adelma, who is not very similar. (Digaetani 57) Puccini opposed two contrasting women images: cold, cruel, alien to human senses, princess Turandot and fragile, delicate slave girl Liu. In their spiritual fight the victory remains with Liu, who, with her death, proved the invincible power of love. The idea of ??creating an opera struck Puccini suddenly in November 1919. He took an active part in writing of the libretto, suggesting scenic and dramatic situations, their motives, to his librettists - prolific playwright Giuseppe Adami (1878-1946) and poet Renato Simoni (1875-1952). In 1921, he started to compose music. Feeling that it was his last work, the composer was in a hurry, nevertheless, the work on the opera stretched for several years - the librettists could not finish the last act until 1924. The final duet and finale of Turandot, after Puccini’s death, was completed by his pupil, composer Franco Alfano, who used Puccini’s drafts. Final acts were often very difficult for Puccini, and he often struggled to complete the final acts of his previous operas—a pattern which became tragic in the case of Turandot as his work on the third and final act of this opera was interrupted by terminal cancer. (Digaetani 31) The opera was premiered on April 25, 1926, in Milan, under the direction of Toscanini. When the last chords written by Puccini sounded, the conductor lowered his wand, stopped the orchestra and said, “Here the Maestro laid down his pen.” The curtain slowly fell; loud applause changed, in some minutes, to complete silence when performers and the audience were leaving the theater. Opera was played completely only the next day. Turandot is a drama of strong passions, unfolding against the colorful background, where oddly mixed are oriental splendor and bloody violence, reality and symbolism. Small lyrical ariosos, depicting the feelings of the main characters, are mixed with grandiose crowd scenes with powerful choruses and colorful orchestral episodes. Musical language of the opera is complex. It used many of the achievements of modern harmony and the vocals of the two main characters demand prominent voices. Maybe that is why the last opera by Puccini has not won wide popularity, as his previous works and early creations. In fairy, legendary times lived in Beijing the princess - Turandot. She could only belong to someone of the royal retinue, who could solve her three riddles. A candidate, who fails, will be, like all previous ones, put to death and his severed head will decorate the walls of the palace. The opera begins with a stage of preparation for execution of the Persian prince, who was unable to solve the puzzles. He ought to die with the rising of the moon and the excited crowd demands his death. In the chaos, the crowd knocked down an old man. His young companion cries for help and a young man appears– an unknown Prince. It turns out that the old man was Timur, a powerful Tatar Khan once, a young boy - his son, Calaf, who was believed to be killed in a terrible battle. Sad scenes of meeting and farewell of the heroes were alternated with background episodes of very different character - sometimes dramatic, sometimes clownish and lyric. The speech of mandarin, accompanied by hard chords and quirky instrumentation (xylophone, gong), enters into the general emotional atmosphere of the act; motif of death penalty sounds. It is contrasted with the sad melody of the chorus of people and mournful cries of Liu and Calaf. Entrance of the executioner’s servants was done as a terrible grotesque dance-march. The scene is followed by a chorus showing anticipation of Turandot - with Eastern modulations in the orchestra (harp, flute and celesta); it is adjoined by the chorus of children with a melody in the Chinese spirit. A tragic funeral march sounds as a contrast (the procession of the Persian prince). Solo lyrical episodes were concentrated at the end of the act. Liu’s fragile arioso, My Lord; aria of Calaf - Do not cry, my Liu, are full of sorrow; the melody is wide, sad. In the second act there are two scenes, going one after the other without interruption. The first, which draws a night scene of the three masks, is close to a similar scene from the first act: mocking, rapid patter is replaced by Chinese dreamy and lyrical melodies. The second scene is the culmination. Its center is the scene of puzzles. Straniero, ascolta! - What is born each night and dies each dawn? - Hope. Guizza al pari di fiamma - What flickers red and warm like a flame, but is not fire? - Blood. Gelo che ti da foco - What is like ice, but burns like fire? - Turandot! The scene is framed by two choirs and two solemn arioso of Turandot. The first one, “In this kingdom, thousands and thousand of years ago” is done on alternation of different melodies: one resembles a lullaby, the other - high, pathetic, triumphant. The scene of reading Turandot’s riddles is a dramatic dialogue of her and Calaf: brief declamatory phrases of sharp, angular melodic figure sound in high register, show intensity of heroes’ emotions; each stanza ends with replicas of the choir. Subsequent Turandot’s arioso Son of Heaven shows confusion of the heroine. In the small arioso of Calaf we hear the melody of love. The third act also consists of two scenes. It opens with a nocturne; a distant roll call of heralds and gong give it a disturbing nature, which accentuates serenity of the subsequent arioso of Calaf, This night, none shall sleep in Peking. In this arioso, resembling a romance, we hear a melodious melody of love, expressing confidence in the hero’s close victory. This lyric confronts a disturbing scene of the three masks with eccentric brief melodies. The central scene, dedicated to Liu, consists of a series of contrasting episodes. Her arioso of love, which gives strength, sounds lightly and transparently. Sorrowful and passionate feelings contains the dying aria of Liu, You have chained your heart in ice; this beautiful pathetic melody – Puccini’s swan song, with which he, like his heroine, was saying farewell to life, is taken by Timur and developed by the choir. We see a funeral procession. In the final duetto of the scene, Calaf’s arioso is harsh and resolute at first, then melodious and lyrical. The final scene is short, being dominated by exultant mood: the march is changed by the choir and the theme of love. Turandot remains alone with an unknown prince. This is the last scene that Puccini managed to write. The rest was written by Alfano. The unknown prince reproaches Turandot and then, suddenly, finds her in his arms. Ice, about which Liu sang, melts. Turandot is trying to push away the young man and ... responds to his kiss. Finally, love burns in the heart of the princess. Calaf reveals the secret of his name and proposes his life to her. Tubes sound. There is a new quick change of decorations. At this time all the imperial court is onstage. Turandot addresses the crowd. She learned the name of the stranger, she said. This name is - Love. The central theme of the power of love becomes mystical in the opera because love is presented as the force that can change the cold, bloody princess and her people into loving human beings. While the earlier Puccini emphasized the sensual aspects of love, especially in Tosca and Butterfly, the spiritual aspects of love and its powers of redemption appear in this opera. Calaf and his love have redeemed both the Princess Turandot and her people. (Digaetani 56) Puccini wrote Turandot after a heart attack, being already sick of cancer. However, there is no trace of his fading in the music. It is bolder in harmony and orchestration, than anything the composer wrote before. It demonstrates a new level of choral effects; it has more dramatic force than in all his works in twenty years. Truly, the opera has some boring tedious passages (it seems, too much time was given to philosophers, politicians: Ping, Pong and Pang), but if Puccini had lived longer and had a chance to not only finish the opera, but also to rework it, it would surely satisfy the most demanding critics. Works cited Digaetani, John Louis. Puccini the Thinker: The Composer’s Intellectual and Dramatic Development. New York: Peter Lang, 2001.  Read More