Updated May 10, 2024 at 11:29 AM ET
The Kennedy Center premieres a new ending for one of the world's most famous operas on Saturday in Washington, D.C. The opera is , and its ending has always been, shall we say, problematic. For a good reason.
Composer died shortly before finishing his masterpiece, leaving just musical sketches for the ending 鈥� sketches that his student Franco Alfano filled out posthumously. In Alfano's version, Turandot simply falls in love with Calaf after a single kiss.
Other opera companies have toyed with different endings over time, but were constrained by the fact that the work was still covered by copyright.
Now, however, 100 years after Puccini's death, the copyright is expiring. So, in anticipation of that date, the four years ago commissioned a new ending. More on that a bit later.
World-famous aria
Turandot is one of the world's most lush and luscious operas, with its tenor aria "Nessun dorma" recognized not just by opera lovers, but also by those who have never heard a full opera. , the aria has become a pop culture hit of sorts.
That said, however, Turandot's story line is probably the most ridiculous in all of opera. The titular Chinese princess has declared that no man will possess her unless he can answer three riddles. Princes seeking Turandot's hand in marriage come from far and wide, but when they fail, they don't just have hurt feelings. They are executed. Yes, put to death.
Until Calaf, a disguised prince from a vanquished land, actually succeeds. Turandot is horrified, killing and torturing people to find out who he is. But when he kisses her, she surrenders, declaring that she knows the stranger's name: it is love.
"I've always been frustrated by the ending," says Francesca Zambello, the artistic director of the Washington National Opera. "I felt like Puccini gave us amazing women in all of his operas. The conclusion might be death but usually the death is a kind of triumph, whether its Tosca or Butterfly."
As she observes, none of those women's modernity or independence is present in the traditional Turandot ending: "He kisses her and she's like, okay, fine, I'll do whatever you want."
A more female-empowered ending
Zambello wanted something different, to correct the way China and the characters were depicted in the work, stereotypes that provoked China to effectively ban the opera .
And Zambello also wanted to portray Turandot as a leader. To accomplish her twin goals, she commissioned two Chinese Americans to create a different ending. For the music, she chose Grammy Award-winning composer Christopher Tin. And for the libretto, playwright Susan Soon He Stanton, who won an Emmy for her work on TV's "Succession."
In explaining Turandot's motivations, the duo sought to emphasize the reason for her hostility to men, with a plot twist. Turandot is not only avenging the abduction and killing of her great female ancestor, Princess Lo-u-Ling, but also her own subsequent rape during an attack on the palace.
This is Stanton's first attempt at writing words for opera. And her first draft was as she puts it, "one huge scene." Zambello told her that as written, that scene alone would probably take over two hours just to sing because in opera, "every sentence takes time."
No 'second-rate Puccini'
For composer Tin, the task was perhaps even more delicate. He wanted to use as many of Puccini's musical sketches as possible for the ending.
