Turandot

Turandot was the final masterpiece of Giacomo Puccini who died of throat cancer shortly before his 60th birthday. A colleague, Franco Alfano, was able to finish the opera from sketches left by the composer. Turandot is different from any of Puccini’s other operas. Dramatically, all of the Puccini’s operas before Turandot, including his other oriental opera, Madama Butterfly, present human conflicts in a traditional Western European manner. Turandot takes place in the exotic “Forbidden City” of Ancient Peking and is based on a Chinese fable that closely follows the Greek myth Oedipus and the Sphinx.