Dramatic Veracity

Puccini's 'Turandot' from St Louis,
reviewed by MARIA NOCKIN

The legend of the princess who executes suitors if they cannot answer her riddles probably originated in Persia. It was first published in 1710 as part of a French anthology by Francois Pétis de la Croix entitled: Persian Tales, the Thousand and One Days. In all probability, it is this version which inspired Carlo Gozzi to write his play Turandotte which was first seen in Venice sometime around 1763. His scenario is not very different from the story of the opera except that the slave, Adelma in the Gozzi play and Liù in the opera, is eventually freed by Turandotte. Friedrich Schiller based his 1802 play Turandot on Gozzi's work. Puccini's librettists, Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni, relied mainly on the Schiller opus for their work.

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