Puccini's Turandot : the end of the great tradition / William Ashbrook and Harold Powers.

Author/creator Ashbrook, William
Other author Powers, Harold, author.
Format Book
Publication InfoPrinceton, NJ : Princeton University Press, ©1991.
Descriptionx, 193 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm.
Subjects
Puccini, Giacomo, 1858-1924. Turandot.

SeriesPrinceton studies in opera
Princeton studies in opera. ^A273667
Contents The contexts -- The opera. Turnadot and the Great Tradition ; Turandot as a number opera ; Turandot and the prince -- The sources. Turandot as a spoken play ; Turandot as opera beofre Puccini -- The genesis. Rising action ; Falling action -- The four colors. Chinoiserie ; Dissonances and half-steps ; Persian Prince and Chinese slave ; The Puccinian norm -- The two duets. The Enigma scene ; The final problem -- Turandot staged. The Prima assoluta ; The travels of Turandot.
Abstract Unfinished at Puccini's death in 1924, Turandot was not only his most ambitious work, but it became the last Italian opera to enter the international repertory. In this colorful study two renowned music scholars demonstrate that this work, despite the modern climate in which it was written, was a fitting finale for the centuries-old Great Tradition of Italian opera. Here they provide concrete instances of how a listener might encounter the dramatic and musical structures of Turandot in light of the Italian melodramma, and firmly establish Puccini's last work within the tradition of Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, and Verdi. In a summary of the sounds, sights, and symbolism of Turandot, the authors touch on earlier treatments of the subject, outline the conception, birth, and reception of the work, and analyze its coordinated dramatic and musical design. Showing how the evolution of the libretto documents Puccini's reversion to large musical forms typical of the Great Tradition in the late nineteenth century, they give particular attention to his use of contrasting Romantic, modernist, and two kinds of orientalist coloration in the general musical structure. They suggest that Puccini's inability to complete the opera resulted mainly from inadequate dramatic buildup for Turandot's last-minute change of heart combined with an overly successful treatment of the secondary character.
Bibliography noteIncludes bibliographical references (pages 185-188) and index.
LCCN 90008890
ISBN0691091374 (cloth : acid-free paper) :
ISBN0691027129 (paper : acid free paper) :

Availability

Library Location Call Number Status Item Actions
Music Music Stacks ML410.P89 A7 1991 ✔ Available Place Hold