Turandot - Bregenzer Festspiele 2015 - Turandot - Bregenzer Festspiele 2015

Description

New production

"Nessun dorma" – no one may sleep, because by daybreak the Chinese princess has to find out the name of the unknown prince. Calaf was the first suitor to solve her riddles, but what he wants is Turandot's love...

One of the most famous of all arias was composed by Giacomo Puccini for his last opera. The Chinese princess Turandot has commanded that no one is to sleep – nessun dorma – for the night because by daybreak she has to find out the name of a mysterious prince – or else return his love. So far she has kept men away by means of a brutal oath: any man that wants to conquer Turandot must first solve three riddles; and if he fails he is beheaded. Like so many men before him, the unknown prince is spellbound by her appearance. He's the first suitor to solve all three riddles. But he wants her heart, so he sets a riddle of his own. If she discovers his name by morning, he's ready to go to his death. Another woman, Liù, knows his name but movingly prefers to take her own life than reveal her secret – she loved the prince too much.

The ecstatic love that then inflames Turandot and Calaf was a problem the composer continued to wrestle with for years. He was unhappy with the text supplied by his librettists, and sketched out a number of possibilities. The opera was left incomplete on Puccini's death in 1924, and his colleague Franco Alfano composed an ending on the basis of the sketches. The Chinese setting, stirring choral scenes, and characters overpowered by their emotions are the distinguishing features of this work. The riddle scene develops into a musical contest between soprano and tenor. With a sure hand for dramatic effect Puccini makes his rapt lovers reach for the stars.

More information is available on the opera house's official website.