The History of Turandot
- Turandot is a Persian word that means “the daughter of Turan,” Turan was previously a region located in the Persian empire, and “dokht” meaning daughter.
- The story of Turandot draws a lot of inspiration from fairy tales and definitely has a lot of ancient and mythical elements. The setting for example, although we know it is Beijing, China, there is still no specific location/time period, the use of the three riddles, the cold hearted princess, the mistreated prince ultimately winning, an emperor who is worshipped like a god, etc.
- The first performance of Turandot was in 1726 – Gozzi’s version which was an epic romance that originated from 12th century Persia.
- In 1920 over lunch Puccini discusses with his colleagues the possibility of Turandot becoming an opera. They begin work on it a few months later.
- Puccini died of throat cancer in 1924 after completing three acts, and Alfano finishes the fourth.
- In 1926 the completed version of Turandot is debuted as we know it today.
