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Turandot is deeply, deeply weird.
So, it’s always been one of my favorite operas.
In the age of social justice warriors, it’s also politically controversial since it commits the sin of Orientalism.
As if any of the three people reading this needed any further proof that I am the un-Woke—just think of that as the political equivalent of the un-Dead!—I will merely note here that I LUV Orientalism; indeed, I love mythologizing human cultures in all their forms and honestly can’t see much difference between Charlie Chan movies and The Godfather or Jersey Shore.
But I digress.
Turandot is largely a choral piece. It takes place in an imaginary Peking—so not Beijing!—and has this almost Brechtian beginning in which the city residents march around, singing to one another with great relish about the various tortures that have been visited upon the Principessa Turandot’s unfortunate suitors.
See, Principessa Turandot just doesn’t want to get married!
We are given an explanation for this: Thousands of years ago, some female ancestor was raped and tortured, blah, blah, blah. But instinctively, we know this is bullshit: She just doesn’t wanna!
To protect herself from marriage, Turandot has devised three riddles. If a prospective suitor can guess the answers, she’ll marry him; otherwise, he gets turned over to Pu-Tin-Pao, the lord high executioner, for fun and games.
They should try this spin on The Bachelor some time, don’t you think?
Of course, Our Hero Calaf gets the answers right away, so poor Turandot is forced to blast out dramatic arias in despair—Christine Goerke was singing Turandot yesterday. Man, what a voice! —and this absolutely bizarre Rumpelstiltskin plot twist materializes from nowhere: If Turandot can guess Calaf’s name, then she can still torture and execute him.
So, Turandot announces: People of Peking! Nobody’s sleeping till I get that name!
Hence inspiring one of the most famous arias in opera-dom, Nessun Dorma.
There’s also a subplot involving a faithful slave girl, whom Turandot tortures to death. Are we sensing a pattern here?
At this point, Puccini himself died, so Turandot is unfinished.
The production I saw yesterday used a stock ending by some minor Italian composer in which Turandot decides that Calaf’s true name is LUV, and they all live happily ever after.
But I like to think that if Puccini had survived, Calaf would have been tortured and executed like all the other creepy suitors.
###
Anyway, I had a great time at the opera. Not so great at the subsequent party where banter was expected and I was almost lured into an argument over the relative merits of Christine Goerke versus Eleonora Buratto, which I only sidestepped at the last possible moment.
I started liking opera when I started going to live performances. Recorded opera only moves me insofar as I like the orchestrations. Vocals on opera recordings fully live up to their bad reputation in Bugs Bunny cartoons.
But in person, opera singers make these strange, otherworldly sounds that are just amazing. They don’t sound human; they sound like supernatural beings. And I find that absolutely mesmerizing.
Goerke could shatter every wine glass at the bar mitzvah with that voice. But since I don’t actually know anything about music theory, I couldn’t really argue the point effectively.
no subject
Date: 2019-10-13 03:42 pm (UTC)I love mythologizing human cultures in all their forms --I like this idea; especially, I like seeing the weird ways different cultures are interpreted when they are mythologized, e.g., a famous Japanese manga turned Takarazuka [famous all-female theater troupe] production, "The Rose of Versailles," is a Japanese "Orientalization" of 18th century France.
I was almost lured into an argument --Is this where your bad mood from the previous entry would have gotten you into trouble? Or were you already in an improved mood by this point?
no subject
Date: 2019-10-14 01:25 pm (UTC)I know, right? Like I say, deeply weird! 😀
Manga does a very good job with that borrowing from other cultures stuff. Social Justice Warriors call it "cultural appropriation;" I call it syncretism. 😀
Is this where your bad mood from the previous entry would have gotten you into trouble?
Yeah, definitely. I'm in a punchy mood. Not exactly sure why. But I gotta watch myself.
no subject
Date: 2019-10-15 12:55 pm (UTC)And yes, why should a princess have to marry anyway?
no subject
Date: 2019-10-16 01:46 pm (UTC)And that production looks great.
Production I saw used the Zefferelli staging. Critics were sneering about how creaky it was in the reviews I read afterwards, but I liked it a lot.