Turandot (Busoni)

Source and previous versions

Carlo Gozzi's play Turandot first appeared in 1762. It was originally written to be performed in the small theatre of San Samuele in Venice, and was deliberately written in the Commedia dell'arte style as a reaction to the more modern, realistic plays of Goldoni and others.

Schiller made an adapted translation of Turandot which was published in 1802. Weber wrote his Incidental music for Turandot, Op. 37, for a production of this play. It was composed in 1809 and included the earlier Overtura cinese ("Chinese Overture"), which he had composed on a Chinese theme in 1805. Busoni thought that between them Schiller and Weber had ruined a masterpiece of Italian literature.

Incidental music and orchestral suite

Gozzi's Turandot - in one form or another - occupied Busoni at various times in the years 1904-1917. He was very fond of fantastical and magical tales: his immediately preceding work was the Piano Concerto, Op. 39 BV247, which included music from an unfinished adaptation of Adam Oehlenschläger's Aladdin. In 1904 Busoni began sketching incidental music for Gozzi's Chinese fable. He also arranged a concert suite, which was first performed in 1905 and published in 1906. A production of Gozzi's play with Busoni's music was mounted by Max Reinhardt in Berlin in 1911, and for the second and last time in London in 1913. For more information on the composition of the incidental music and the suite, and the productions of the play with Busoni's music, see the article on the Turandot Suite.

Composition of the opera

After the outbreak of World War I, Busoni, as an Italian, found it increasingly difficult to stay in Berlin and eventually moved to neutral Zurich where he did not have to take sides. Between late 1915 and August 1916 he was occupied with writing his one-act opera Arlecchino, but the Stadttheater in Zurich was unwilling to mount a production without a companion piece. He swiftly wrote a libretto in German based on Gozzi's original and adapted his Turandot Suite into a short two-act opera with some spoken dialogue. Busoni wrote to Egon Petri on 9 November 1916:

The important question as to which piece should be coupled with the hour-long Arlecchino so as to fill an evening, my resultant difficulties and the desire to establish such a programme in a durably valid form have led me to the hasty decision to form an opera in two acts out of the material and substance of Turandot. For a few weeks now I have been hard at work on this delightful task, writing the libretto and music for a Turandot opera. I am re-writing the text completely and independently, and bringing it closer in tone to a pantomime or stage play. It is a more arduous task than I had initially assumed, but it is coming easily to me. The masque-figures common to both pieces serve to link them (although they otherwise contrast completely with each other).

Busoni completed the opera Turandot in double-quick time (300 pages in 100 days) in late 1916, and it was first performed with Arlecchino as a double bill - Busoni conducting - in Zurich in 1917. Dent mentions how pleased Busoni was with his own workmanship.

There are various oddities in Busoni's libretto which recall the play's Commedia dell'arte roots: characters with Italian names like Truffaldino and Pantalone; Allah is praised in China; and there are references to Venice, St. Mark's, and gondolas. The spoken dialogue harks back to Mozart's operas, especially The Magic Flute. In comparison to Puccini's opera on the same subject, Busoni retains the intimate, unreal atmosphere of Gozzi's play. Busoni's princess Turandot is not quite so implacable; her heart is readier to melt.

Composer's revisions

Re-using some of the material he had composed for the opera, Busoni again revised the orchestral Turandot Suite in 1917, replacing the Funeral March of the last movement with Altoum's Warning, BV 248b. Busoni also separately published Altoums Gebet from Act 2 (newly written for the opera) as Altoum's Prayer, BV 277 op. 49 no. 1 for baritone and small orchestra.

Performance history

The premiere performance of Busoni's Turandot took place on 11 May 1917 at the Stadttheater, Zürich. The producer was Hans Rogorsch, and the designer, Albert Isler. Busoni's one-act opera, Arlecchino, was also performed on the program as part of a double-bill.

Turandot and Arlecchino were first performed in Germany on 20 October 1918 in Frankfurt with Gustav Brecher as the conductor, and again beginning on 26 January 1919 at the Cologne opera, conducted by Otto Klemperer, who had recently been appointed as "First Conductor." The two operas were performed in Berlin on 19 May 1921 at the Berliner Staatsoper under the baton of the Wagnerian conductor Leo Blech, with considerable success.

The first performance in Italy (without Arlecchino) was on 29 November 1936 in Rome, conducted by Fernando Previtali. Previtali, a Busoni champion, went on to conduct performances in other Italian cities and conducted the premiere of the opera at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires in 1964.

The first performance in England was in London on 19 August 1966, in an English translation by Lionel Salter. The performance was broadcast on the BBC Third Programme. The American premiere was a concert performance on 10 October 1967 in New York's Philharmonic Hall, followed by a semi-staged version on 28 January 1980 at the First Presbyterian Church in Berkeley, California, conducted by the 28-year-old Kent Nagano; a fully staged performance was given on 15 November 1986 by the Connecticut Grand Opera in Stamford with Gregory Stapp as Emperor Altoum, Juan Luque Carmona as Calaf, and Patricia Craig in the title role.

Instrumentation

3 flutes (3rd doubling piccolo), 3 oboes (3rd doubling English horn), 3 clarinets (3rd doubling bass clarinet), 3 bassoons (3rd doubling contrabassoon); 4 horns, 4 trumpets, 3 trombones, 1 tuba; timpani, percussion (glockenspiel, triangle, tambourine, covered drum, bass drum, tam-tam); 2 harps; soloists, chorus; strings.

Synopsis

Busoni greatly simplified Gozzi's 5-act play into an opera of two acts of two scenes each. However,the basic plot is the same. Turandot, daughter of the Emperor, challenges all suitors for her hand with three riddles. She will marry the one who answers correctly, but those who fail are executed. Kalaf, an exiled prince in disguise, takes up the challenge.

Act 1

Scene 1:

Kalaf comes upon the picture discarded by an earlier executed suitor, and determines to win Turandot.

Scene 2:

Emperor Altoum complains of Turandot's intransigence. Kalaf says he would rather die than fail to win Turandot. Turandot enters with her maid Adelma who recognises the Prince, but remains silent. Kalaf correctly answers the three riddles, and challenges Turandot to discover his name and parentage; if she does so, he will depart.

Act 2

Scene 1:

Slave girls dance to a wordless choral version of "Greensleeves". Turandot confesses her mixed feelings for the Prince. Adelma says she knows the Prince's name, and will tell Turandot if she can have her freedom; Turandot agrees.

Scene 2:

Turandot announces Kalaf's name to general consternation, and he makes ready to depart. But Turandot stops him, saying he has awakened her heart. The work closes with a final ensemble 'Was ist das alle Menschen bindet?' ("What is it that rules all men?") to which is the reply 'Die Liebe' ("Love").

Recordings

Busoni: Arlecchino & Turandot - Chorus & Orchestra of the Opéra de Lyon

Busoni: Turandot - Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra

Other versions of the Turandot story

Puccini had heard about the 1911 Max Reinhardt production of Gozzi's play with Busoni's incidental music, and this may have played a role in his decision to write his own version. Andrea Maffei (who also wrote the libretto for Verdi's I Masnadieri) had translated his friend Schiller's version of Gozzi's play back into Italian. The librettists for Puccini's Turandot, Adami and Simoni, used Maffei's translation, but also turned to Gozzi's original. In addition they made reference to the libretto by Gazzoletti for a little-known opera Turanda by Antonio Bazzini, who had been one of Puccini's teachers at the Milan Conservatory. As a result, the libretto for Puccini's opera differs considerably from Gozzi's play. Ashbrook and Powers note that several skillful changes in the 'falling action' of the plot (Busoni's Act 2) enabled Busoni to avoid the pitfalls which plagued Puccini's attempt to set Act 3 of his version of the story.

Bertolt Brecht also prepared a version of the story (1953–54).