Parental anguish is combined with authoritarian anger in both cases. Musical
examples and diagrams display the parallels in the scores.Turandot
ASO33 (1981), ENOG 27 (1984).
- Ashbrook, William, and Harold Powers. Puccini’s “Turandot”: The End of the
Great Tradition.Princeton Studies in Opera. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton U.P., - x, 193p. ISBN 0-691-09137-4. ML410 .P89 A7.
The tradition seen as coming to a close was Italian melodramma. A thorough
technical analysis is offered, along with textual elements, a genesis account,
and reception/performance history. This important book is the starting point
for Turandot studies. Bibliography of about 100 entries, index. - Maehder, Jürgen. “Studien zum Fragmentcharakter von Giacomo Puccinis
Turandot.” Analecta musicologica22 (1984): 298–379.
Translated and reprinted in Quaderni pucciniani2 (1985), Esotismo(#1439),
and ENOG 27 (1984). A valuable, thorough examination of Franco Alfano’s
ending of the work occasioned by the death of Puccini (and Liu, in the opera).
All the relevant sketches and letters by Puccini, the correspondence of Casa
Ricordi, and Alfano’s other compositions are studied. Then there is a detailed
analysis of the Alfano completion, along with Arturo Toscanini’s abridgment
of it. Maehder takes a favorable view of Alfano’s accomplishment. Facsimiles
and musical examples. - Lo, Kii-Ming. “Turandot” auf der Opernbühne.Perspektiven der Opern-
forschung, 2. Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 1996. 491p. ISBN 3-631-42578-3.
ML1700 .P4 v.2.
An exhaustive review of the Turandotstory in Chinese myth and a discussion
of Chinese language and music as related to it. The European literary sources
are described as well, along with music written for them; seven other operas on
the tale are discussed. Genesis of the Puccini version includes some of his previ-
ously unpublished letters to librettist Renato Simoni and three versions of the
libretto. Bibliography, no index. A shorter account is in the next entry. - Lo, Kii-Ming. “Giacomo Puccini’s Turandotin Two Acts: The Draft of the
First Version of the Libretto.” In Giacomo Puccini(#1441), 239–258.
The opera was planned to have three acts. The composer’s first version of the
libretto shows a long first act, but the final libretto shows it divided into two
acts. By the end of 1921, Puccini had decided to make it three acts. Lo
describes all the changes made to reach the final form of the opera and dis-
cusses Puccini’s compositional methods. A letter by Puccini, dated 8 February
1921, includes the little verse “Bevi una tazza di caffè di notte! Vedrai, non
dormi! E pensi a Turandotte!” That end-rhyme should have settled the vexing
puzzle of how to pronounce the name of the opera, but it did not (see Casali,
#1508).
Giacomo Puccini 285