Turandot



Turandot is an opera by Giacomo Puccini.

In ancient Beijing, the beautiful ice princess Turandot executes any potential suitor who can't answer her three riddles. Nevertheless, the poor lads seem to come to the city in spades, and among them our Hero, the Unknown Prince Calaf. Upon his arrival on stage, he meets his long-lost father, the old and blind Timur, and with him his guide, the slave girl Liu. Cue to the last of Turandot's unhappy suitors, the Prince of Persia (no, not that one), being sentenced and beheaded. Calaf sees Turandot for the first time and immediately falls in love with her (duh). Everyone, including Turandot's three ministers, tries to talk some sense into the enamored prince, but he, of course, is determined to win Turandot's hand no matter what. He manages to answer her riddles correctly, and theoretically, he's the winner, but Turandot still refuses to marry him. Calaf, being a prince and a gentleman, offers his conditions: if she learns his name before sun rises, she can add his head to her palace's fancy decorations. If not, however, she must shut up and become his wife.

Turandot gleefully tells her people they must learn the Unknown Prince's name before night ends or she'll kill 'em all in most horrid ways imaginable. Cue Calaf, singing his famous aria "Nessun Dorma". The Beijing folks try to bribe Calaf to get himself out of there and thus save their arses, but he's a Heroic Tenor, so he won't listen. Then Timur and Liu are brought on stage, tied up and beaten. They've been noticed speaking to Calaf in the beginning of the opera, so they're supposed to know his name. Turandot comes and mass torture is about to ensue, when Liu says she alone knows his name but won't tell. She then kills herself, fearing she might give Calaf's name away under the horrible tortures. Followed by the epic Tear Jerker when everyone mourns the brave little Liu and carries her body off the stage.

At this point, Turandot suffered a major case of Author Existence Failure, because Giacomo Puccini died of laryngial cancer. It was left to his disciple Franco Alfano to finish the opera. The ending is still wildly debated to this day, and some other composers, namely Luciano Berio, have written their own versions.

It's a famous opera and known to be freakishly difficult to sing, especially the parts of Turandot and Calaf.


 * Author Existence Failure
 * Beta Couple: Liu and Timur, a non-romantic example.
 * Betty and Veronica: Liu and Turandot
 * Break the Cutie: Poor, poor little Liu.
 * Captain Obvious: The three ministers Ping, Pong and Pang. They also qualify as
 * Deadpan Snarkers
 * Defrosting Ice Queen: What Turandot is after Calaf gives her a passionate Forceful Kiss. Some of the lyrics make this comparison explicit.
 * Determinator: "Let the whole world fall, I want Turandot!". Yeah, sure.
 * Dawson Casting: As often happens in opera, Turandot is supposed to be a young girl but it's an extremely difficult part to sing and is usually not taken by anyone younger than 35. Inverted with Timur, Calaf's aged father, who's often played by a singer at least a decade younger than his supposed "son".
 * Evil Sounds Deep: Inverted. The bass Timur is a nice old guy, the baritone Ping is snarky but not evil, and the lead soprano, let's face it, is a total bitch.
 * Femme Fatale
 * Femme Fatalons: Turandot often has them, as a noblewoman of China would have had.
 * Final Love Duet: Calaf and Turandot get one. Not very convincing, though.
 * God Save Us From the Queen: Technically, the princess, but she's the one who rules.
 * Heroic Sacrifice
 * "I Want" Song: "Nessun Dorma", though it's more like an I'll Have Song.
 * Karma Houdini: Turandot has a fancy for torture (as her three ministers tell us), she has executed 13 people already (and probably much more in the past) and has driven a loving, caring and innocent girl to suicide. And what does she get in the end? A Happy Marriage, no less.
 * Large Ham: You have to be this to pull off Turandot.
 * Love Triangle: Calaf, Turandot, Liu.
 * The Messiah: Liu. Lampshaded in some productions when she's made to stand in a Crucifixion-like pose during the torture scene.
 * Public Domain Soundtrack: Just how many times have you heard this tune?
 * Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Turandot keeps beheading men because eons ago some foreign jerk violated and killed her great-great-great-grandmother.
 * Tenor Boy: Though of a more manly variety than usual.
 * Those Three Guys: Ping, Pang, Pong
 * Villainous BSOD: Turandot gets one after seeing Liu kill herself.