Chorus (with soloists)
and piano (solos:
2S2Mez6TBar7B - choir:
SSAATB - 2(picc).2(cor
ang).2(Bb-clar).2(dble
bsn) - 4.2.3.0 -
timp.perc(3) - hp - cel -
str - stage music:
trp.2tbne.perc)
SKU:
BR.EB-9429
A
Chinese Fable in 2 Acts
after Carlo Gozzi.
Composed by Ferruccio
Busoni. Choir. Edition
Breitkopf. Opera; Music
theatre; Early modern.
Piano/Vocal Score.
Duration 85'. Breitkopf
and Haertel #EB 9429.
Published by Breitkopf
and Haertel (BR.EB-9429).
ISBN 9790004189061. 0
x 0 inches. German /
Italian.
Text by
the composer based on a
drama by Carlo
GozziTranslation: engl.
(L. Salter), ital. (O.
Previtali)Place: Im
aussersten Orient. Vor
dem Stadttor Pekings,
Thronsaal im
Kaiserpalast, das
Frauengemach
TurandotsCharacters:
Altoum, Kaiser (bass) -
Turandot, seine Tochter
(soprano) - Adelma, ihre
Vertraute (mezzo-soprano)
- Kalaf, Sohn des Timur,
ein Prinz (tenor) -
Barak, sein Getreuer
(baritone) - Die
Koniginmutter von
Samarkand, eine Mohrin
(soprano) - Truffaldino,
Haupt der Eunuchen
(tenor) - Pantalone,
Minister (bass) -
Tartaglia, Minister
(bass) - Acht Doktoren (4
tenors, 4 basses) - Eine
Vorsangerin
(mezzo-soprano) - Der
Scharfrichter (stumme
Rolle)Busoni's work,
which antedates Puccini's
famous setting by a few
years, seems rather cool
in com-parison to the
later piece. Busoni tones
down the colors of his
orientalisms and totally
eschews sentimental
lyricism. His strengths
lie especially in the
scintillating,
unfathomable characters
and in a music that
hovers in an ambivalent
manner between brightness
and darkness, sadness and
humor, danger and
harmlessness. This work
of art makes its
references clear: Gozzi's
play about the murderous
princess is peopled with
familiar commedia
dell'arte figures, and
one is not quite sure
whether this mixture of
fun and danger gives a
more relaxed feeling to
the activity on the stage
or whether it does not do
precisely the opposite,
adding the irreconcilable
perspective of a gondola
trip on the edge of a
bottomless gulf. Busoni
is more faithful to Gozzi
than Puccini and thus to
the gracious levity that
hovers over the excesses
of the action. His mild
chinoiseries repeatedly
lead to a Neo-Classicism
inspired by Venetian
folklore. (Hans-Klaus
Jungheinrich, 1985)
Turandot was premiered
with Arlecchino in Zurich
on 11 May 1917.
Turandot
