"No one shall sleep!" "Nessun dorma!"
It matters little that the tenor Frank Porretta who played the part of Calaf did not have the spunk and depth that Pavarotti had, a thunderous applause followed his splendid rendition of this famous tenor aria. It was Porretta's Met debut.
Turandot is Puccini's final opera and a compelling story of one suitor's bold attempts to win the heart of the man-hating princess. It is also considered a principal piece in any operatic repertoire and is listed as one of the top most-performed operas in North America.
The setting is Peking near the Forbidden City, legendary times. The Princess Turandot has taken a sacred oath that she will marry only a man of noble birth who can solve three riddles. The penalty for failure is death. The cold-hearted Turandot who has sworn vengeance against all men was played by the acclaimed dramatic soprano Maria Guleghina. Her singing was received enthusiastically by the discriminating Met audience. The great baritone Samuel Ramey played Timur and the role of Liu was sung by Marina Poplavskaya.
This is another one of Met's grandly scaled productions, with its massive casting and exuberant costume designs. The props were great on details and the large chorus alternating with arias imbued the opera house with such lush sounds. There probably wasn't an empty seat in the house and I'm willing to bet that many in the crowd belong to the born-and-bred in the opera. You can tell, they're all dressed up and they mingle at the lobby after the performance. The first time I saw Turandot was at the New York City Opera and I'd say that was modest compared to this Met production.
Is it TuranDOT or TuranDOUGH? A question that has followed this opera over the years. The debate probably stems from the fact that the opera was taken from a Persian term Turandohkt which meant daughter of Persia in which case the letters K and T are voiced. According to the scholars, Puccini must have Italian-ized the title and never pronounced the ending letter T, but his granddaughter who is the keeper of Villa Puccini clearly stated that it must be pronounced with the T.
I pronounce it ending with the DOT sound. That again, matters very little. I didn't write the codes for pronunciation so I wouldn't worry about that. This performance was perfect and that's with a T.
On the way home I caught this scene underground near 42nd Street - Music Under New York with a string quartet playing a Bach composition. And no, the cellist is not half-naked. She's just wearing a tube top, okay?
