TURANDOT
Giacomo Puccini, 1926
Turandot is a beautiful and brutal princess, who challenges her many suitors to answer three riddles on pain of death. No one has ever succeeded. Calaf is a brave, selfish prince from a different land, who watches the princess behead a rival suitor and falls instantly in love.
Despite the wishes of his father and the pleas of a slave-girl who loves him, he declares his desire to suit the princess. She presents her riddles, and in triumph, the unknown prince answers. Turandot despairs and the prince takes pity — offering the ice-cold princess a riddle of his own. That if she can learn his name before sunrise, she may execute him!
But Calaf’s riddle risks more than his own life — everyone else’s hangs in the balance too.
Despite the wishes of his father and the pleas of a slave-girl who loves him, he declares his desire to suit the princess. She presents her riddles, and in triumph, the unknown prince answers. Turandot despairs and the prince takes pity — offering the ice-cold princess a riddle of his own. That if she can learn his name before sunrise, she may execute him!
But Calaf’s riddle risks more than his own life — everyone else’s hangs in the balance too.
