After reading Turnadot, I noticed one particular thing: the play was quite odd. The story started in the middle of an execution. Following that event, the proposal of the UNKNOWN PRINCE–later discovered to be Calaf, who fell in love with the merciless princess at first sight. Although his father and slave Liu asked him to not take the challenge to marry the princess, Calaf ignores them. Miraculously, he was able to solve all of the riddles posed by the Emperor and the minister. The princess disagrees to marrying Calaf, but in the end, she falls in love with him. As you can probably tell from that short summary, the story was pretty brief and transitioned pretty quickly.
Therefore, I asked myself, what is the theme of this opera? After much pondering, I realized the themes of the opera were women’s merciless character , and cruelty of Chinese dynasty. It’s no coincidence that the writer wanted to begin the play with the exalted, dignified, and scary princess executing a prince. She was unforgiving and didn’t even flinch when she passed the order to execute the prince. How merciless! Later on in the play, we do find out why she was so merciless but does, in the end, yield to the unknown prince.
To portray the totalitarian system of ruling in the dynasty eras of China, the writer puts in the scene of executions and fear. After Calaf finished answering the question, Turnadot seems less than hesitant to end all life in the kingdom if no one can tell her Calaf’s name. This seems to be quite extreme; however, it is somewhat accurate. I say that not based on experience but based on numerous TV shows, produced in China. They demonstrate the ruthlessness of the emperors. If you were so much as to make an unnecessary remark, you would be arrested, tortured, and probably have your head cut off. That’s how ridiculous it was.
My reaction to the videos: After listening to Pavarotti – Nessun Dorma, I can hear the music building off each other, just like the piano and the violin we listened to in class. The sounds built off each other harmoniously, creating quite a pleasant rhythm. However, the Turnadot performance was quite abstruse. I couldn’t quite understand what was going on: I couldn’t understand what she was singing. In short, I’m not a big fan of the opera.
I never connected Princess Turnadot’s cruelness to the cruelness of the old Chinese dynasties. If many Chinese emperors were ruthless and harsh, I suppose it makes sense that Turnadot would be characterized in a similar way. Much of Turnadot’s actions seemed extreme. Her indifference to the Prince of Persia’s execution and general harshness seem a bit more understandable if she was meant to represent the merciless Chinese emperors. I agree that it seemed very exaggerated and over the top, but I guess that’s what operas are supposed to do!