GENRE Dramma lirico in tre atti e cinque quadri
LIBRETTO Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni, after versions of the Turandot legend by Carlo Gozzi and Friedrich von Schiller
FIRST PERFORMED Teatro alla Scala, Milan, 25 April 1926
NOTES

                                                

 Puccini did not live to see the completion and performance of Turandot. He worked with great speed and enthusiasm on the score until reaching the final duet between the ice princess and her suitor. For this scene, Puccini struggled over four versions of the libretto and died leaving only the briefest of musical sketches. Many Puccini scholars have suggested, however, that time alone was not the only inhibiting factor for the duet’s incompletion. Puccini hoped in this scene to write—as Mosco Carner relates— “something exalted and lofty and which was to convey his message to the world: the triumph of all-conquering love over the inhumanity of man.” After Puccini’s death, Toscanini recommended that the promising younger composer Franco Alfano compose the music for the duet and the final scene of the opera. Toscanini was decidely unhappy with Alfano’s solution. At the premiere, he ended the performance at the point where Puccini had left off composing, and he apparently never conducted the new ending. For a second published version, Toscanini made several cuts in Alfano’s music and added some music of his own (drawn in part from Puccini’s notes).


PUBLICATION TITLE Turandot Turandot Title Page 145 kB
VERSION First version
TYPE Italian piano and vocal score
EDITION L’Ultimo duetto e il Finale dell’Opera sono stati completati da F. Alfano. Riduzione per Canto e Pianoforte di G. Zuccoli
PUBLISHER G. Ricordi & C.
DATE 1926
PLATE NUMBER 119772
RICORDI STAMP 3.1926
VOLUME 398 pp.
HOPKINSON NUMBER 12A


PUBLICATION TITLE Turandot Turandot Title Page 138 kB
VERSION First version
TYPE Italian piano and vocal score
EDITION “Edition-de-Luxe” (limited edition of 120 copies)
PUBLISHER G. Ricordi & C.
DATE 1926
PLATE NUMBER 119772
RICORDI STAMP None
VOLUME 398 pp.
HOPKINSON NUMBER 12A (a)
GIFT OF John F. Flagg
NOTES This is copy no. 38 (XXXVIII) of a limited edition of 120 copies printed on handmade paper. The pages are bound in white pigskin and the cover features a sunken hand- painted portrait of Turandot by Leopold Metlicovitz. A notice states that publication of this limited edition was concluded on 16 April 1926.


PUBLICATION TITLE Turandot Turandot Title Page 159 kB
VERSION Second version.
TYPE German piano and vocal score
EDITION Ins deutsche Übertragen von A. Brüggemann. Klavierauszug mit Singstimmen von G. Zuccoli.
PUBLISHER G. Ricordi & Co.
DATE 1926
PLATE NUMBER 120150
RICORDI STAMP 1.1927
VOLUME 384 pp.
HOPKINSON NUMBER 12B (b) (unlisted variant)
NOTES The copy bears the plate number of Hopkinson 12B (b), a German piano-vocal score, but the pagination of 12B, and Italian piano-vocal score. In addition, the Ricordi stamp on this copy is three and one-half years earlier than that on the only dated copy of 12B (b) seen by Hopkinson.


PUBLICATION TITLE Turandot Turandot Title Page 238 kB
VERSION Full orchestral score
TYPE Italian piano and vocal score
EDITION folio edition, 3 vols.
PUBLISHER Ricordi, Milan
DATE 1926
PLATE NUMBER 119761-120030
RICORDI STAMP 10.1942
VOLUME 461 pp. (in three volumes, numbered consecutively)
HOPKINSON NUMBER 12C
GIFT OF John F. Flagg
NOTES These scores are heavily marked in colored pencil and were used for many Italian performances. Each volume contains a list of cities (representing opera companies) to which this rental score was loaned. The number following each city name may refer to a rental inventory list.


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This page is designed by Sam W. Tooley. Last updated 17 April 1997.