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Synopsis
Turandot - Composer: Giacomo Puccini |
ACT I. Peking, legendary times. In a quarter
swarming with people near the Forbidden City, a
Mandarin reads an edict: any prince seeking to marry
Princess Turandot must answer three riddles - and
if he fails, he will die. Her latest suitor, the
Prince of Persia, is to be executed at the rise
of the moon. Bloodthirsty citizens urge the executioner
on, and in the tumult a slave girl, Liù,
calls out for help when her aged master is pushed
to the ground. A handsome youth recognizes him as
his long-lost father, Timur, vanquished king of
Tartary. When the old man tells his son, Prince
Calàf, that only Liù has remained
faithful to him, the youth asks her why. She replies
it is because once, long ago, Calàf smiled
on her. The mob again cries for blood, but the moon
emerges, and all fall into sudden, fearful silence.
The doomed suitor passes on the way to execution,
moving the onlookers to call upon Turandot to spare
his life. Turandot appears and, with a contemptuous
gesture, bids the execution proceed. The crowd hears
a death cry in the distance. Calàf, smitten
with the princess' beauty, determines to win her
as his bride, striding to the gong that proclaims
the arrival of a new suitor. Turandot's ministers
Ping, Pang and Pong try to discourage the youth,
their warnings supplemented by the entreaties of
Timur and the tearful Liù. Despite their
pleas, Calàf strikes the fatal gong and calls
out Turandot's name.
ACT
II. In their quarters, Ping, Pang and Pong lament
Turandot's bloody reign, praying that love will
conquer her icy heart so peace can return. As the
populace gathers to hear Turandot question the new
challenger, the ministers are called back to harsh
reality.
The
aged Emperor Altoum, seated on a high throne in
the Imperial Palace, asks Calàf to give up
his quest, but in vain. Turandot enters and tells
the story of her ancestor Princess Lou-Ling, brutally
slain by a conquering prince; in revenge Turandot
has turned against all men, determining that none
shall ever possess her. She poses her first question:
what is born each night and dies each dawn? "Hope,"
Calàf answers correctly. Unnerved, Turandot
continues: what flickers red and warm like a flame,
yet is not fire? "Blood," replies Calàf
after a moment's pause. Shaken, Turandot delivers
her third riddle: what is like ice but burns? A
tense silence prevails until Calàf triumphantly
cries "Turandot!" While the crowd gives
thanks, the princess begs her father not to abandon
her to a stranger, but to no avail. Calàf
generously offers Turandot a riddle of his own:
if she can learn his name by dawn, he will forfeit
his life.
ACT
III. In a palace garden, Calàf hears
a proclamation: on pain of death, no one in Peking
shall sleep until Turandot learns the stranger's
name. The prince muses on his impending joy; but
Ping, Pang and Pong try unsuccessfully to bribe
him to withdraw. As the fearful mob threatens Calàf
with drawn daggers to learn his name, soldiers drag
in Liù and Timur. Horrified, Calàf
tries to convince the mob that neither knows his
secret. When Turandot appears, commanding the dazed
Timur to speak, Liù cries out that she alone
knows the stranger's identity. Though tortured,
she remains silent. Impressed by such endurance,
Turandot asks Liù's secret; "Love,"
the girl replies. When the princess signals the
soldiers to intensify the torture, Liù snatches
a dagger from one of them and kills herself. The
grieving Timur and the crowd follow her body as
it is carried away. Turandot remains alone to confront
Calàf, who at length takes her in his arms,
forcing her to kiss him. Knowing physical passion
for the first time, Turandot weeps. The prince,
now sure of his victory, tells her his name.
As
the people hail the emperor, Turandot approaches
his throne, announcing that the stranger's name
is - Love.
by John W. Freeman
-- courtesy of Opera News
