Turandot ( or ; ) is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, set to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni.

Though Puccini's first interest in the subject was based on his reading of Friedrich Schiller's adaptation of the play, his work is most nearly based on the earlier text Turandot by Carlo Gozzi.

Turandot is a staple of the standard operatic repertoire and it appears as number 15 on the Operabase list of the most-performed operas worldwide.

Up to eight of the themes used in Turandot appear to be based on traditional Chinese music and anthems, and the melody of a Chinese song named " Mò Li Hūa ( 茉莉花 )", or " Jasmine ", is included as a motif for the princess.

Turandot — or Turandokht — is a female name in Iran and it means " Turan's Daughter " in Persian.

( It is best known in the West through Puccini's famous opera Turandot ( 1921 – 24 ).

His epitaph is taken from one account of his remarks concluding the 1926 premiere of Puccini's unfinished Turandot: " Qui finisce l ' opera, perché a questo punto il maestro è morto " (" Here the opera ends, because at this point the maestro died ").

In Puccini's last opera, Turandot, Calaf's father Timur is the deposed King of the Tartars.

This is not always true, however – Cavalleria rusticana, Pagliacci, Tosca, and other verismo operas have arias, duets and choruses that are constantly excerpted in recitals, and Turandot ( left incomplete at Puccini's death ) marks a return to a " numbers " style.

She is best known for her performances as Violetta in La traviata, Gilda in Rigoletto, Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly, Mimì ( and occasionally Musetta ) in La bohème, Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor, Adina in L ' elisir d ' amore, Liù in Turandot, Nedda in Pagliacci, all three leading soprano roles in Puccini's Il trittico, Adriana Lecouvreur, and Francesca in Zandonai's Francesca da Rimini.

#[...] it is not his conclusion that is performed in productions of Turandot but only what the premiere conductor Arturo Toscanini included from it ... Puccini had worked for nine months on the following concluding duet and at his death had left behind a whole ream of sketches ... Alfano had to reconstruct ... according to his best assessment ... and with his imagination and magnifying glass " since Puccini's material " had not really been legible.

" Nessun dorma " ( English: None shall sleep ) is an aria from the final act of Giacomo Puccini's opera Turandot, and is one of the best-known tenor arias in all opera.

It is sung by Calaf, il principe ignoto ( the unknown prince ), who falls in love at first sight with the beautiful but cold Princess Turandot.

Paul Potts is a British tenor vocalist who in 2007 became the winner of the first series of ITV's Britain's Got Talent, singing an operatic aria, " Nessun Dorma " from Giacomo Puccini's Turandot.

In questa reggia ( In this palace ) is an aria from Giacomo Puccini's opera Turandot set to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni.

The text is based on Friedrich Schiller's adaptation of the play Turandot by Carlo

The aria takes place in Scene Two of the Second Act, and is sung mostly by the Princess Turandot ( soprano ), but with a reply from Calaf ( tenor ), which is a key point of the opera.

The climax of the aria occurs with the word " grido " (" outcry " or " crying out ") and clearly Turandot is reliving and personifying the last moments of her ancestor, its outrage and its long awaited vengeance.

The story of Turandot was taken from a Persian collection of stories called The Book of One Thousand and One Days ( 1722 French translation Les Mille et un jours by François Pétis de la Croix — not to be confused with its sister work The Book of One Thousand and One Nights ), where the character of " Turandokht " as a cold princess was found.

Furthermore, Dame Eva Turner, the most renowned Turandot of the inter-war period, insisted on pronouncing the word as " Turan-do " ( i. e. without the final " t "), as television interviews with her attest.

His roles there included Rodolfo from Verdi's Luisa Miller, Don Carlo from Verdi's opera of the same name, Lt. Pinkerton from Puccini's Madama Butterfly, Radames from Verdi's Aida, Calaf from Puccini's Turandot, and Gabriele Adorno from Verdi's Simon Boccanegra.

In his adaptation, however, she bore the title Turandot, meaning “ Turkish Daughter ,” the nineteen-year-old daughter of Altoun Khan, the Mongol emperor of China.

" ( Werther ) / Puccini " E lucevan le stelle " ( Tosca ) / Puccini " Nessun dorma " ( Turandot ) / Giordano " Un dì all ' azzuro spazio ", also known as " L ' improvviso " ( Andrea Chénier ) / Verdi " Ma se m ' è forza perderti " ( Un ballo in maschera ) / Verdi " Ah si, ben mio ... Di quella pira " ( Il trovatore )

These include Manon Lescaut, La bohème, Tosca, and Madama Butterfly, Turandot and La rondine, the last two being left unfinished.

This interest was first manifested in Weber's incidental music for Schiller's translation of Gozzi's Turandot, for which he used a Chinese melody, making him the first Western composer to use an Asian tune that was not of the pseudo-Turkish kind popularized by Mozart and others.

Toscanini conducted the world premieres of many operas, four of which have become part of the standard operatic repertoire: Pagliacci, La bohème, La fanciulla del West and Turandot ; he took an active role in Alfano's completion of Puccini's Turandot.

In 1997 and 1998, Mehta worked in collaboration with Chinese film director Zhang Yimou on a production of the opera Turandot by Giacomo Puccini which they took to Florence, Italy, and then to Beijing, China, where it was staged, in its actual surroundings, in the Forbidden City with over 300 extras and 300 soldiers.

The making of this production was chronicled in a documentary called The Turandot Project which Mehta narrated.

Gheorghiu also performed at the Met as Liù in Turandot in 2000 ; as Violetta in La traviata opposite Jonas Kaufmann in 2006 and 2007 ; as Amelia in Simon Boccanegra in 2007 ; as Mimì in La bohème in 2008 ; as Magda in the 2008 / 09 season in the ROH / SFO production of La rondine, the Met's first performance of the opera since 1936 ; and for the 2009 / 10 season she appeared as Violetta, replacing her previous engagement as Marie Antoinette in a rare revival of John Corigliano's The Ghosts of Versailles which was replaced due to the recession.

During this time he conducted operas including Jenůfa, From the House of the Dead, I due Foscari, Salome, Fidelio, Mary Stuart, Káťa Kabanová, Peter Grimes, Tristan und Isolde, La forza del destino, The Jacobin, La traviata, Il trovatore, the world première of James MacMillan ’ s Inês de Castro, ( a revival of which was broadcast by BBC television ), The Cunning Little Vixen, Turandot, Hansel and Gretel, La bohème, The Queen of Spades, Dalibor, Der Rosenkavalier, Macbeth, Parsifal, Don Giovanni, Erwartung, Bluebeard's Castle and The Knot Garden.

The group's signature songs included " Nessun dorma " from Puccini's opera Turandot ( always sung by Pavarotti ) and the ballad " O Sole Mio " ( which all three tenors typically sang together ).

The role for which she was, and remains, most famous, was the title role in Turandot.

His most notable production was Turandot by Carlo Gozzi, which has played at the Vakhtangov Theatre ever since 1922 ( the year of his death ).

Another Puccini role, the ice princess Turandot, was a part with which Yeend became particularly associated, portraying the part with the San Antonio Opera, Cincinnati Opera, New Orleans Opera, San Francisco Opera, Philadelphia Lyric Opera Company ( 1958 ), Vienna State Opera ( 1958 ) and at the Arena di Verona Festival ( 1958 ).

Some of the very distinctive music which ends this aria, reappears briefly in the Act 3 duet Principessa di morte ( as completed by Alfano ), as Calaf finally embraces a still-reluctant Turandot.

Her voice was known for its power and extension used in operatic roles such as Turandot in a career spanning four decades.

The New York Metropolitan Opera Company will be here in May, and the board will sponsor the Saturday night, May 13, performance of `` Turandot '' as a benefit.

Ricordi's real concern was not the quality of Alfano's work, but that he wanted the end of Turandot to sound as if it had been written by Puccini, and Alfano's editing had to be seamless.

At this time Paul Hindemith's Mathis der Maler was performing at the theatre and the following opera to be performed was Puccini's Turandot.

# He should not be judged as a composer on the basis of the task he was given in completing Turandot ( La Scala, 25 April 1926 )

However, any man who wishes to wed Turandot must first answer her three riddles ; if he fails, he will be beheaded.