The Opera
The music is still in the broad category called verismo.The plot is a happy ending love affair with tragedy along the way.
The plot of Turandot, Puccini's last opera, isn't really verismo. The Ice Princess named Turandot isn't an ordinary person at all and her tenor hero is himself a prince. So we are seeing a throwback opera, almost a fairy tale like Hansel and Gretel. Puccini died before the opera was finished. It was finished by Franco Alfano, and his ending was then shortened. There is a lot of discussion about Alfano's ending, but I always think it sounds fine. Quite a bit of it is copied from earlier parts of the opera.
The Story
Act I
Calaf sees his father Timur and his servant Liu arrive in the forbidden city of Bejing. They hear the princess Turandot announce that any prince who can answer three riddles we marry her and inherit the kingdom. However, should he miss any of the answers, he will sacrifice his head. Timur decides to try in spite of the fact that he sees for himself the results of failure.
Hit Tune
Act II
Hit Tune
Act III
Hit Tune
This is the greatest of all operatic hit tunes in the most famous of all performances of it: Luciano Pavarotti at the original Three Tenors concert in Los Angeles.No one is sleeping. Turandot has ordered everyone to search the city to find the Prince's name. In the famous aria "Nessun dorma" the Prince sings that he knows he will win.
And here is Liu's death scene, the last music Puccini ever wrote.
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