Month: October 2015 (Page 2 of 7)

Turandot Libretto was definitely a pleasant change to my typical reading material. The Opera, written by Giacomo Puccini and finished after his death by Franco Alfano, takes a very familiar road in it’s tragic story telling. It tells a story of a troubled princesses named Turandot. She swore to avenge her ancestor’s rape by refusing to let any man take her, and sentence anyone who tried to death. There was an ultimatum though; if a man tried to marry the princess, he would have to correctly answer three of her tricky riddles. Unexpectedly, an exiled prince charming comes out of the blue, ready and eager to accept the challenge. Although receiving several warnings of the dangers lurking around these riddles, Prince Calaf was determined to answer them and take the princess’s hand in marriage.

As expected, the prince answered the unanswerable and baffled Turandot, but plot twist the Princess begs to void the marriage. Calaf then challenged her to a question of his won, if she found out his name before dawn, he would live no more. This leads to a series of events where the prince’s slave commits suicide in an attempt to save his identity from being discover. This Is a major area in the play where the theme of love could be seen. The slaves love for the prince was so strong that she was willing to give her life from him to be able to live with another woman. I just have no words for that, its appalling.

The things people do for love is unexplainable. The Opera shows that love could be very dangerous but at the same time it could save us. I completely agree with this perceptive of love because it better portrays reality. Love could mislead us into doing unthinkable things and potentially ruining up our whole lives over people that could care less about us. But at the same time its what gives us motivation and meaning in life to go on and look ahead for a brighter tomorrow. I feel like the Opera did a very good job at incorporating this dynamic view of love.

After watching the videos of the music and opera singers I was able to better understand the emotions. The way Birgit Nilsson’s voice resonated in my head was beautiful. You could almost feel what she’s feeling and be one with her. I believe that actually hearing music and signing while watching the play will give us a completely different aura.

The opera Turandot by famed author Giacomo Puccini is an interesting piece that is, as with any opera, full to bursting with drama from the opening act. The play begins almost at the climax of a plot point by announcing the execution of the Prince of Persia. The crowd proves to be bloodthirsty and enraged, so much so that an old blind man is pushed around and trampled on by the crowd. His slave cries for help and a man comes forward to aid her.

Upon realizing that the old man is his long-last father Timur, the deposed king of Tartary, he is overjoyed and immediately tells him not to speak his name because he fears the new Chinese rulers. Apparently, Liu (the slave girl) has given her life to help stay by Timur’s side, because the prince had once smiled at her. From the very beginning, the opera is highly unrealistic.

Of course, the Prince of Persia is too handsome to be killed, so the prince of Tartary begs Turandot not to have him executed. Though she ignores the crowd’s pleas, the second the Prince of Tartary sees Turandot, he falls madly in love with her. He immediately strikes the gong, signaling that he wants to marry her. Of course, everyone tells him not to, even Liu. Why? Because she’s in love with him. This part irritated me. She hadn’t seen him in years, and simply because he smiled at her once when he was a child she’s been in love with him ever since? This screams ridiculously cheesy to me.

While reading this opera, I honestly expected it to get better the further in I got. I’m  not so sure that I enjoyed this reading. The fact that she was so confident that she would kill all her suitors just annoyed me. The prince won her hand fair and square, in my opinion. She tells the whole kingdom that she’s going to kill all of them if nobody tells her the Prince’s name by sunrise, which is the complete opposite of what she said would happen if her suitor answered the three riddles correctly. Liu ends up killing herself for this guy. He’s not the great hero I thought he would be, either. He forces himself on Turandot. Their relationship dynamic just doesn’t make any sense. They both hate and love each other at the same time. It’s as if the writers forced a happy ending for the two.

Hopefully I’ll be able to enjoy the live opera, but reading it was just too much drama for me. It felt like something I could watch on basic cable, not something that has been highly acclaimed as Puccini’s best work.

Before our class discussion on Monday, i had absolutely no experience with operas of any kind. From the class discussion, I expected to see Turandot, Calaf, Liu, The Emperor, and Timur all dead by the ending of the script. This is not what happened, we only see Liu give her life for Calaf, after professing her love for him. While this is incredibly tragic, it is not tragic to the extent of which I expected from the opera experiences of my classmates and professor.

Calaf seems to be a foolish man. Not five minutes after being reunited with his father after a long period of separation, Calaf decides that he must risk his life in order to be with Turandot. This is a selfish decision. Imagine the emotional rollercoaster that Timur must have been on during the rest of the opera. He must have experienced the full range of sadness in seeing an execution, to the joy of finding his lost son, back to the panicked frenzy of trying to talk Calaf out of making the foolish decision of risking his life for the princess, to the terror of seeing his son risk everything in the trial, to the joy of seeing Calaf succeed in solving the three enigmas, to the sheer shock of his son ONCE AGAIN risking his life in the bet that the princess cannot find out his name by dawn, and the final relief of Calaf and Turandot falling in love. It is shocking that Timur did not die of a heart attack!

I do not believe that Turandot is an honorable princess or a role model to the citizens. Turandot is a vengefull woman, she has no problem killing dozens of men that adore her just because her ancestor was tied down in a marriage in situations that she did not like. While this is by no means ok, it is no reason to go around killing your citizens. All the princess had to do was refuse to marry, instead she set up a spectacle of killing to put on a show to satisfy her crazed citizens.

I have no problem at all seeing why this opera was banned in China until the end of the twentieth century. Names like Ping, Pang, and Pong are racist cues that would not fly if this play was released today. I am actually surprised that the performance of this opera does not cause protests to to its racism. The emperor and princess are very eager to execute the suitors, this is certainly not the image you want the leaders of a nation to have.

The Opera, Turandot, by Giacomo Puccini (and later completed by Franco Alfano) tells the story of a cod-hearted Princess named Turandot who poses a challenging riddle to the people of Violet City. She presents three riddles, stating that the person who will be able answer all three riddles correctly, will be able to marry her. Anyone who answers incorrectly would be put to death. An Unknown Prince confidently and correctly answers the three riddles, thus gaining the right to marry Princess Turandot. The princess suddenly breaks down in despair over this occurrence, pleading with her father, Emperor Altoum, not to “cast y
our daughter [herself] into the stranger’s arms!” However, the father makes it clear to Princess Turandot that the Unknown Prince risked his life for her, and so she must follow through with her promise! The Unknown prince then poses a riddle of his own: If she can find out what his name is before dawn, the
n he will agree to meet his death. And if not, she must marry him. Princess Turandot is unable to do so, and therefore is forced to marry Prince Calaf.

What was so interesting about reading this Opera was to see how the idea of Love isn’t glorified with positive connotations as it may be in other stories. In this Opera, Love is
perceived as somewhat of a burden, leading to death, torture, suicide, and unhappiness. It’s a tool that can be used and is used negatively. In Act One, a prince, who attempts to attain Princess Turandot’s love, incorrectly answers the riddle and thus must be executed. Love is achievable only at risk of death. Later on in Act Three, Princess Turandot’s servants threaten Prince Calaf himself, and then later on threatens Liu (a loyal slave girl from Timur’s palace) and Timur (Prince Calaf’s father), to find out his name. To escape love (something that would usually be highly regarded), the servants are willing to threaten and torture people! Liu herself loved Prince Calaf, so much so that she committed suicide to protect him! And finally, when Princess Turandot fails to find out Prince Calaf’s name and is forced to marry him, she reacts negatively and actually weeps about this event! As we see, this play uses Love to mask very negative and dark actions, making it seem like a very evil and bad concept.

What is so tragic, though, is that bad things (suicide) happen to the people who truly love, and good things (marriage) happen to those who didn’t love! Liu ends up killing herself for love, and Princess Turandot get’s love (love the idea and Love the prince) without even loving! This play links love with tragedy; attaining love requires so many bad things to happen! Love (the idea and the man) is perceived as a negative power as Princess Turandot is conquered by it! The Opera ends with Princess Turandot weeping about her future, leaving the audience feeling bittersweet about the notion of Love.

After watching a few segments of the Opera on YouTube, I found that there is a lot of focus on the musicality of the performance. Music and song is literally the language of the play. Emotions, dialogues, opinions (and more!) are all delivered through the music! There is immense power in the music as it truly makes the audience understand the plot through the feelings and emotions that the music and singing evokes! I haven’t been to many operas, and I’m excited to see it next week!

Giacomo Puccini’s 20^th century opera, Turandot, is a masterpiece about sacrifice and love. Turandot is an eccentric tale about a young princess by the name of Turandot.

Princess Turandot does not want to be controlled by a man. Anyone who is a potential suitor of Turandot must answer three riddles correctly or be beheaded. An unknown prince, Calaf, falls head-over-heels in love with Turandot and is willing to bear the risk of death to become her husband. He able to answer the three riddles with little hesitation. Calaf, knowing the Turandot does not want to marry him, tells her that if she can find out his name, then she can murder him. Liu, the servant of the prince, proclaims her love for the prince and kills herself rather than be tortured into revealing his name. In the end, Turandot falls in love with the prince once she sees that he is genuine, romantic, and kind. Turandot proclaims she knows that the prince’s name is “love.”

At face value, the story of Turandot is quite silly. Granted, most plots of operas have a certain level of being over-the-top. It is quite ridiculous that Turandot could believe that answering riddles would be a good judge of character. The obvious response to my observation is that Turandot didn’t want anyone to answer the riddles properly so she could stay permanently single. I would ask why she couldn’t just turn down all the suitors? How could she have the power to behead men but not turn down suitors? If the goal was not to have anyone figure out the riddle, why not make the suitor solve a hundred riddles? While we are covering topics that confuse me, how is hope and answer to “What is born each night and dies at dawn”?

I’m not sure if any of the characters are relatable either. I can somewhat relate to self-sacrificial loyalty of Liù. I feel that type of loyalty towards my friends and family, however I’m not sure Calaf is worthy of that loyalty. Even though he is nice, Calaf seems rather two dimensional. Love isn’t supposed to purely physical. As an amateur writer, this has always been a pet peeve of mine. Love isn’t a one time grand gesture; love is a combination of little moments two people share that grow into love. At the beginning of the opera, I applauded Princess Turandot for being strong and independent. However, it seems like poor character development to make a character with her personality traits give in so easily to spur of the moment emotions. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that people of strong character shouldn’t fall in love, I believe quiet the opposite actually. I’m saying that people should fall in love slowly, with people whose everyday quirks are captivating.  I hope Puccini would have written a better ending where Princess Turandot doesn’t change so drastically.

Libretto of Turnadot tells the story of a mysterious prince and his determination to be with the one that he loves, Princess Turnadot. The conflict of the opera exists in the coldness and cruelty affiliated with Turnadot. Due to her female ancestors poor experience with patriarchy, Princess Turnadot established an oath where if a prince were to marry the princess, he must take upon the challenge of solving three impossibly difficult enigmas, and if he is to fail then he will be executed. The mysterious prince decides to make an attempt at marrying Turnadot, despite warnings from those around him, and succeeds in solving the enigmas. The opera concludes with the two of them happily falling in love with each other. However, this does not happen quite so easily.

What I struck me the most about the opera was that the perspective on “love” was quite unclear until the end of the play. When the prince first sees Turnadot, he is infatuated by her presence and is convinced that he must risk his life in order to marry her, and that if he could not do so his life would be meaningless. This emotion is conveyed rather negatively throughout Act 1. His father begs him not to take the challenge, fearing that that he will simply lose his life because of it, and the ministers of the emperor are assured that he will never win the love that he desires. His passion is portrayed as foolish and blinded, reducing him into a naive boy succumbed to the beauty of Turnadot. This negative attitude towards “love” continues when Turnadot appears, and explains how her greatest desire is to live freely without the limitations that coincide with of marriage to a man. She gravely explains how her beloved ancestor was prisoned into her marriage, and expresses her determination to remain independent and free. In this way, the opera portrays love and something binding and limiting. In spite of this, the opera’s portrayal of love changes as the story evolves.

After the prince solves the three enigmas, Turnadot is outraged and refuses to go with him willingly, to which the prince responds by offering her a deal. He gives her the challenge of discovering his name, and if she is able to do so by dawn, she may have his head. Turnadot agrees to the challenge, and stirs the Imperial City, proclaiming that no one should rest and if the name is not discovered, everyone shall be tortured and killed. Shortly after it is dicovered that the only person that knows the prince’s name is a servant of his family, Liù; however, she refuses to reveal his name because she herself loves the prince, and knowing his passionate desire to be with Turnadot, does not want to take that chance away from him. Turnadot is enraged by this and orders for her to be tortured until she exposes the name. This results in Liù killing herself in order to protect the prince’s identity. Liù’s love is portrayed as innocent and pure, and the crowd mourns for her death as a result. Turnadot herself is shocked by the genuine nature of Liù’s love. In this way, the opera demonstrates love in the form of courageousness and selflessness, a quality that instills a sense of admiration within the audience. This positive portrayal of love is continued with the prince kisses Turnadot, melting her icy heart and bringing joy to both Turnadot and himself. This change of events results in Turnadot accepting his love, and willingly going with him as his lover, concluding the play. This conclusion is portrayed in a celebratory way, and demonstrates love as a source of pure joy, something that should not be stripped away from the heart. This evolution of love was what I found most interesting about the opera.

After reading the play, I became pensive about the idea that love takes many forms. Sometimes it can be foolish, even dangerous, whilst also being motivation for courageousness and a source of joy. All of the emotions that Libretto of Turnadot conveyed through the simple concept of love was diverse and plentiful, which I found quite interesting, considering that the subject itself is singular. The morphing of love throughout the plot is what left me the most intrigued whilst experiencing
the opera, and ultimately, I really enjoyed it.

Like all operas, Turandot, didn’t disappoint when it came to being a very tragic story. People in play were all selfish in their own rights, but in the end love is very powerful and can make anyone do things they usually wouldn’t have done. Due to the fact people were selfish, they were very ignorant about the people that truly loved them, the ones closest to them. Everything you do in life can affect the people closest to you, just like the tragic death of Liu, who gave her life up to protect her love, Calaf.

It’s very understandable why the Chinese government would ban this play because it portrayed the country to be a bit aggressive and liberal with their executions. The crowd (in the play) was getting very excited each time the royalty threatened to bring out the executioner, a little too excited. Also, the play showed a heavy divide in wealth, which contradicts the the communist mindset that China has implemented in its country. This divide in wealth can be seen between the characters of Turandot and Calaf (who was thought to be a slave), she was extremely elitist and wouldn’t have any other way but her way. The play contrasted heavily with the ideals that China had wanted its citizens to know about.

The ending with Liu’s death is very conflicting. In the end she died because her love for Calaf was too great and would do anything to protect him. Calaf did get to marry his “love,” Turandot, however at the cost of Liu’s life. Liu was quite devoted in making sure that Calaf was happy with his life; it takes a really strong person to give up their own life to protect and ensure that the people they care about live happily. In the very last moments she was able to tell Calaf that she loved him, and as result, Calaf was able to marry Turandot.

After listening to the music from the play it greatly shifted my emotions of the play. In the aria/solo, it felt a bit dragged out in length. It seemed that the purpose was to show the agony of emotions that was bottled up in the characters. The solo also emphasized Turandot’s elitist personality because the song was all focused towards her as she was explaining the riddles. The technique required to sing each piece required so much attention and life long practice; it really showed how much you can accomplish in the world if you just stick to anything you do.

Sarasota Opera production of Puccini’s Turandot