The Baths of Caracalla (Terme di Caracalla) will be the stage where the Orchestra and Choir of the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma will perform the new production of Turandot during the summer season 2015; season that is dedicated this year to the great maestro Giacomo Puccini.
This is an opera in three acts, with music by Giacomo Puccini and Italian libretto by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni.
Turandot was premiered after Puccini's death (thus requiring completion by Franco Alfano) on 25 April 1926 at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan.
The protagonist's name, "princess Turandot", is of Persian origin and means "Turan's daughter" - Turan being a region of central Asia which formed part of the Persian Empire.
This opera is based on a Persian poem: a work by the great poet Nezami and which François Pétis de la Croix included in his collection of stories Les mille et un jours (1710-1712; The Thousand And One Days) – changing the original Russian princess for a cold and cruel Chinese one. Taking this tale as a starting point, Carlo Gozzi wrote a tragicomedy, which was subsequently recreated by the German poet Friedrich Schiller. The libretto of Puccini's Turandot is based on an Italian translation of Schiller's work.
This is one of the most popular and widely performed operas in Italy and indeed all over the world, and is the fourth most widely performed of Puccini's operas after La Boheme, Tosca and Madama Butterfly.
Musically, the second act stands out: the role of the soprano is particularly demanding - with very high notes and Wagnerian touches - and the confrontation between tenor and soprano is also noteworthy. In the third act, the famous aria Nessun Dorma stands out, having been performed by tenors with such stature as Miguel Fleta, Jussi Björling, Mario del Monaco, Franco Corelli and Luciano Pavarotti, among others.
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