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Turandot: Full Score
(Opera). Ricordi is proud to present the first titles in their new series of orchestral scores featuring engaging images (from Casa Ricordi's historical archives) and synopses in Italian, English, French and German. In addition, these scores feature heavier cover and paper stock plus stronger binding.
461 pages, Paperback
First published April 26, 1926
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78 people want to read
About the author
Giacomo Puccini
748 books49 followersAn Italian composer, son of Michele Puccini and fifth in a line of composers from Lucca. After studying music with his uncle, Fortunato Magi, and with the director of the Insituto Musicale Pacini, Carlo Angeloni, he started his career at the age of fourteen as an organist of St. Martino and St. Michele, Lucca, and at other local churches. However, a performance of Verdi's Aida at Pisa in 1876 made such an impression on him he decided to become an opera composer. With a scholarship and financial support from an uncle, he was able to enter the Milan Conservatory in 1880. During his three years there, his chief teachers were Bazzini and Ponchielli.
Punccini's best known operas are: Le villi (1884), Edgar (1889), Manon Lescaut (1893), La Boheme (1896), Tosca (1900), Madama Butterfly (1904), La fanciulla del West (1910), La rondine (1917), Il trittico" and Turnadot (1926).
During the composition of Turnadot, he was diagnosed with throat cancer, and died after receiving treatment in Brussles. Turnadot, was left unfinished, but was completed by Franco Alfano.
Punccini's best known operas are: Le villi (1884), Edgar (1889), Manon Lescaut (1893), La Boheme (1896), Tosca (1900), Madama Butterfly (1904), La fanciulla del West (1910), La rondine (1917), Il trittico" and Turnadot (1926).
During the composition of Turnadot, he was diagnosed with throat cancer, and died after receiving treatment in Brussles. Turnadot, was left unfinished, but was completed by Franco Alfano.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
January 11, 2018
Update January 10, 2018:
I saw a great Chicago Lyric Opera performance of this opera last night, with a magnificent set--complete with a huge dragon, holding a crystal ball in which Turandot symbolically/magically lives, which at one point transforms into an eye--terrific chorus, great music--with amazing arias, and lots of standing ovation time afterwards.
The improbable transformation Turandot makes from cruel, man-hating princess to lover through a "forced kiss" (and also touched by seeing the slave Liu's love for Calaf as a kind of model for genuine devotion), well, it's a hard sell, even in opera, but it is overall pretty exciting to see and hear.
Here's the rave Chicago Sun Times review:
https://chicago.suntimes.com/entertai...
which helped me understand Turandot's motivation for not wanting to marry: "Turandot has walled herself in from any union because she is haunted by the torture and death of a princess who long ago became the victim of an invading foreign prince, and she is determined to avoid a similar fate."
The Chicago Tribune review almost exactly contrasts the Sun Times review, and that of almost every major opera reviewer, so that is interesting. The story is hard to take, thus I would give it 3 stars, but the music is five stars, and the appearance (and singing, last night) of the slave Liu also adds much to the story.
A famous aria from it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fDYg...
Original December 2017 review of the score/libretto:
“His name is love! The light of the world is love!”—Turandot
Giacomo Puccini's best known operas include Manon Lescaut (1893), La Boheme (1896), Tosca (1900), Madame Butterfly (1904), and Turandot (1926).
Puccini wrote Turandot in the last years of his life. Since it was not quite completed at Puccini’s death, F. Alfano composed the final duet and finale. The story is set in “the China of legends and fantasy.” I won tickets to a performance of the critically acclaimed Chicago Lyric Opera production of it in January 2018, so I'm preparing for this performance.
The fairy tale story pf Turandot came from the Persian Tales Book of a Thousand and One Days, not to be confused with Tales of a Thousand One Nights, though it was featured there, too. It was also adapted by the Brothers Grimm, and was made into several other operas and plays, but Puccini’s version is the most famous.
Turan wants his (beautiful) daughter to marry. Turandot (Turan-dot, or Turan’s daught-er) isn’t into this. He insists, and she agrees, IF potential suitors can answer three riddles. If not, they die! And Daddy dearest agrees to this sweet deal. So, clearly few men in the kingdom have brains, because numerous suitors sign up for the challenge. . . and lose. Their heads. In fact, all the losers' heads she decrees will be displayed in the square. The price we are willing to pay for love, eh? But why do that to these guys, seriously? The lovely Turandot may be lovely, but she is also obviously cruel.
Turan has three grotesque dignitaries representing him, Ping, Pang and Pong, providing commentary on the action in chorus fashion from time to time. Ping says of these days: “it’s a time of three sounds of the gong, three riddles, and off with the head.”
“Let’s enjoy the torture unholy!” Ping acclaims. It’s opera as blood bath, a slasher fest. Sounds like fun, eh? Maybe if you are a fan of black humor.
A mysterious stranger, Calaf, comes into town with his father and a slave girl, Liu, who secretly loves him. Calaf is smitten with Turandot, though, and is moreover successful in solving all three riddles. However, since Turandot is initially reluctant to agree to her own deal that would have her marry him, Calaf, unusually feminist with respect to the times, says he will not marry her against her will. He sets up his own riddle for her to solve as an escape route, and lets her decide.
The story is problematic on various levels—can you say Ping, Pang and Pong? And it's a little disturbing that the crowds are seized by bloodlust in the manner of Alice’s Red Queen, or Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery." The conclusion has it that “the light of the world is love,” but many many beheadings pave the way to this insight.
And why would the (handsome) Calaf not, if he were really endorsing True Love, just fall into the arms of Liu, the slave girl (an invention only found in Puccini’s version of the story) who truly does love him, instead of choosing the Femme Fatale Turandot, is a mystery that I have yet to solve. Men! Go figure! As Calaf says, “I am in fever heat! I am in pain delirious!” Is this really love? I rest my case.
Should anyone choose the cruel Turandot? The Table Tennis trio (Ping, Pang and Pong!) say no, but they aren’t really into women, shall we say. Ping says it succinctly: “Leave women alone.” Ah, but this is opera, so don’t expect most people to choose celibacy.
Okay, okay, I've made fun of this tale, but I have to admit that the slave girl Liu turns out to make a pretty amazing contribution to this story, embodying True Love as she does. Turandot sees Liu’s love for Calaf, and this is a big part of what suddenly changes Wicked Witch T to Glenda (the Good witch of the North, silly), in the end.
I really do like the three comic horror triplets PingPangPong, and I sort of actually do like the ghosts of all the beheaded losers popping up from time to time. It’s such a deliciously anti-pc story, I’ll probably turn out loving it, as staged. Then I expect expensive fantasy Chinese settings, too. It's opera!
But I have as of today not yet seen the opera in question, and have not yet heard a single note of the music, so I bet the honey-tongued Puccini may just sing me into buying what they are selling here. Stay tuned.
I saw a great Chicago Lyric Opera performance of this opera last night, with a magnificent set--complete with a huge dragon, holding a crystal ball in which Turandot symbolically/magically lives, which at one point transforms into an eye--terrific chorus, great music--with amazing arias, and lots of standing ovation time afterwards.
The improbable transformation Turandot makes from cruel, man-hating princess to lover through a "forced kiss" (and also touched by seeing the slave Liu's love for Calaf as a kind of model for genuine devotion), well, it's a hard sell, even in opera, but it is overall pretty exciting to see and hear.
Here's the rave Chicago Sun Times review:
https://chicago.suntimes.com/entertai...
which helped me understand Turandot's motivation for not wanting to marry: "Turandot has walled herself in from any union because she is haunted by the torture and death of a princess who long ago became the victim of an invading foreign prince, and she is determined to avoid a similar fate."
The Chicago Tribune review almost exactly contrasts the Sun Times review, and that of almost every major opera reviewer, so that is interesting. The story is hard to take, thus I would give it 3 stars, but the music is five stars, and the appearance (and singing, last night) of the slave Liu also adds much to the story.
A famous aria from it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fDYg...
Original December 2017 review of the score/libretto:
“His name is love! The light of the world is love!”—Turandot
Giacomo Puccini's best known operas include Manon Lescaut (1893), La Boheme (1896), Tosca (1900), Madame Butterfly (1904), and Turandot (1926).
Puccini wrote Turandot in the last years of his life. Since it was not quite completed at Puccini’s death, F. Alfano composed the final duet and finale. The story is set in “the China of legends and fantasy.” I won tickets to a performance of the critically acclaimed Chicago Lyric Opera production of it in January 2018, so I'm preparing for this performance.
The fairy tale story pf Turandot came from the Persian Tales Book of a Thousand and One Days, not to be confused with Tales of a Thousand One Nights, though it was featured there, too. It was also adapted by the Brothers Grimm, and was made into several other operas and plays, but Puccini’s version is the most famous.
Turan wants his (beautiful) daughter to marry. Turandot (Turan-dot, or Turan’s daught-er) isn’t into this. He insists, and she agrees, IF potential suitors can answer three riddles. If not, they die! And Daddy dearest agrees to this sweet deal. So, clearly few men in the kingdom have brains, because numerous suitors sign up for the challenge. . . and lose. Their heads. In fact, all the losers' heads she decrees will be displayed in the square. The price we are willing to pay for love, eh? But why do that to these guys, seriously? The lovely Turandot may be lovely, but she is also obviously cruel.
Turan has three grotesque dignitaries representing him, Ping, Pang and Pong, providing commentary on the action in chorus fashion from time to time. Ping says of these days: “it’s a time of three sounds of the gong, three riddles, and off with the head.”
“Let’s enjoy the torture unholy!” Ping acclaims. It’s opera as blood bath, a slasher fest. Sounds like fun, eh? Maybe if you are a fan of black humor.
A mysterious stranger, Calaf, comes into town with his father and a slave girl, Liu, who secretly loves him. Calaf is smitten with Turandot, though, and is moreover successful in solving all three riddles. However, since Turandot is initially reluctant to agree to her own deal that would have her marry him, Calaf, unusually feminist with respect to the times, says he will not marry her against her will. He sets up his own riddle for her to solve as an escape route, and lets her decide.
The story is problematic on various levels—can you say Ping, Pang and Pong? And it's a little disturbing that the crowds are seized by bloodlust in the manner of Alice’s Red Queen, or Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery." The conclusion has it that “the light of the world is love,” but many many beheadings pave the way to this insight.
And why would the (handsome) Calaf not, if he were really endorsing True Love, just fall into the arms of Liu, the slave girl (an invention only found in Puccini’s version of the story) who truly does love him, instead of choosing the Femme Fatale Turandot, is a mystery that I have yet to solve. Men! Go figure! As Calaf says, “I am in fever heat! I am in pain delirious!” Is this really love? I rest my case.
Should anyone choose the cruel Turandot? The Table Tennis trio (Ping, Pang and Pong!) say no, but they aren’t really into women, shall we say. Ping says it succinctly: “Leave women alone.” Ah, but this is opera, so don’t expect most people to choose celibacy.
Okay, okay, I've made fun of this tale, but I have to admit that the slave girl Liu turns out to make a pretty amazing contribution to this story, embodying True Love as she does. Turandot sees Liu’s love for Calaf, and this is a big part of what suddenly changes Wicked Witch T to Glenda (the Good witch of the North, silly), in the end.
I really do like the three comic horror triplets PingPangPong, and I sort of actually do like the ghosts of all the beheaded losers popping up from time to time. It’s such a deliciously anti-pc story, I’ll probably turn out loving it, as staged. Then I expect expensive fantasy Chinese settings, too. It's opera!
But I have as of today not yet seen the opera in question, and have not yet heard a single note of the music, so I bet the honey-tongued Puccini may just sing me into buying what they are selling here. Stay tuned.
May 24, 2016
الأوبرا مقتبسة عن واحدة من أساطير ألف ليلة و ليلة الفارسية ، عن الأميرة التي إشترطت على المتقدمين لخطبتها حل ثلاثة ألغاز للموافقة على عرضهم ، و إلا سامتهم الموت إن فشلوا في الحل ...
July 16, 2020
Libretto is available at http://www.murashev.com/opera/Turando...
January 31, 2019
Icy mad bitch feminist Princess kills men in revenge for one of her ancestors being raped and killed by enemy soldiers, but all the men keep telling her that she’d change her tune if only she had a good shagging off one of them. She tortures to death the perfect example of femininity, the passively adoring woman who has selflessly nursed the old King and devotedly loved the Prince without reward and who now gives up her life to save his. And then when Princess begs the suitor Prince not to take her by force, he tells her that she doesn’t know her own mind and he kisses her anyway and she immediately falls in love with him and finds out how wonderful having sex with a bloke is and the whole Kingdom rejoices! Rapist’s charter...
Okay, so that's the dodgy story line - but most opera story lines are a weak excuse for the singing so that's par for the course.
This is only the second ever time I've attended an opera, the first being thirty years ago when I was still a teenager - the one with some woman dying of TB whilst managing somehow to sing on the top of her lungs (or does that not narrow it down much?). Before we attended this one at the Palermo Opera House in Sicily we'd listened to it via streaming and I'd been dreading having to sit through it. However, I am now an opera convert because it was the most amazing production. A fantastic spectacle and a brilliant experience, helped immeasurably by there being subtitles in Italian and English across the top of the stage so we could follow the story, and the audience were nearly as good as the cast - dressed to the nines, including cloaks and crowns (and that was just the men - no kidding) leaping to their feet shouting 'Brava' after arias, red carpets and even the local Cardinal was there. In the background were weird symbolic projections - mostly quite misogynistic - but that's the message of the opera after all.
Okay, so that's the dodgy story line - but most opera story lines are a weak excuse for the singing so that's par for the course.
This is only the second ever time I've attended an opera, the first being thirty years ago when I was still a teenager - the one with some woman dying of TB whilst managing somehow to sing on the top of her lungs (or does that not narrow it down much?). Before we attended this one at the Palermo Opera House in Sicily we'd listened to it via streaming and I'd been dreading having to sit through it. However, I am now an opera convert because it was the most amazing production. A fantastic spectacle and a brilliant experience, helped immeasurably by there being subtitles in Italian and English across the top of the stage so we could follow the story, and the audience were nearly as good as the cast - dressed to the nines, including cloaks and crowns (and that was just the men - no kidding) leaping to their feet shouting 'Brava' after arias, red carpets and even the local Cardinal was there. In the background were weird symbolic projections - mostly quite misogynistic - but that's the message of the opera after all.
June 1, 2016
Bought this as I wanted to get a copy of the Nessun Dorma music for my son ... which took a bit of searching through the score to actually find it. I read the synopsis of the opera ... and wow what a story. I gave it to my 18 year old son to read, and he came away stunned. What a great story ... I am hanging out to see it for real now.
July 18, 2023
El cierre de la carrera de Puccini es una negación o superación de sus obras anteriores. El verismo, que no deja de persistir en el resultado final en momentos aislados, se ve sobrepasado por una composición simbolista, por audacias armónicas y formales, por sustituir el realismo como algo a lo que la música se supedita a crear grandes bloques formales, en los que la voz y la música tienen una dimensión sinfónica más que lírica. Puccini, ante el anuncio de su muerte inminente, dejó la ópera inacabada, aunque no sin terminar. La dejó en el momento en que Liù: belleza, amor, poesía, moría por no traicionar a su enamorado Calaf, el cual apenas se daba cuenta de su presencia. Un personaje y una situación que no está en los precedentes milenarios (Nizami y cuentos orales persas milenarios, por una parte, y la recreación de Petit Le Croix en los 1001 días y los dramas posteriores de Lesage, Gozzi y Schiller) y que no son sino un reflejo de un episodio biográfico del joven Puccini. EL final se encargó al fascinante compositor Franco Alfano, por los méritos de su entonces reciente Sakuntala. Un final fascinante y de una gran fuerza, basado en los pocos bosquejos que dejó Puccini y retomando de forma inteligente y sensible los temas previos implantados por él en la ópera.
March 6, 2024
Tonight's deadly stabbing really hurt because it is pure love that pays the price and dies. Calaf is a man mired in desire and lust. Turandot is a woman bogged in cold vengeance and hate. It is truly tragic that the immaculate and selfless Liu sacrifices herself in order to make their tainted union be. Proclaiming Calef's name love is B.S.! Love has only one name and it is Liu! UPDATED SCOREBOARD:
Stabbings 6, Operas 4. If stabbing #6 doesn't bring tears to your eyes, your name is Turandot!
Stabbings 6, Operas 4. If stabbing #6 doesn't bring tears to your eyes, your name is Turandot!
August 24, 2024
4 / 5 stars
I love how dramatic the portrayal of love is in operas - are we to put ourselves in such a position for love? To die for proof of it? *dramatic pause*
Listening to the widely adored "Nessun dorma" made the Prince's love for the ice princess all the more convincing...
I'm still team Liù, though.
I love how dramatic the portrayal of love is in operas - are we to put ourselves in such a position for love? To die for proof of it? *dramatic pause*
Listening to the widely adored "Nessun dorma" made the Prince's love for the ice princess all the more convincing...
I'm still team Liù, though.
August 21, 2024
Masterpiece
October 27, 2012
Great opera. Where the tenor aria, "Nessun Dorma" comes from.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews