#calaf

Turandot:

Ping, Pang, and Pong:

Calaf:

Liu:

Turandot:

Timur:

Turandot and Calaf:

Nessun Dorma...

(Franco Corelli as Calaf in Turandot (1958))

Tatar prince Calaf. My feeling on him are complicated. On one hand, his pursuit of Turandot is borderline stalkerish. Ugh. And he's so infatuated with her because… she's pretty? Double ugh. And his 'riddle' for Turandot? More of a mockery of her than anything else. Her three riddles, at least, could be solved by thinking, they require logic and wisdom. But learning his name until next dawn breaks?

On the other hand, he's smart. I'll give him that. Strong-willed, too. Definitely, he is not easily scared. Facing a raging mob and telling them: "Your prayers are in vain. So is your threats." Definitely, not easily scared.

All in all a character i love to hate. He is a villain, no matter how hard Puccini's music tries to pesrsued me otherwise.

Giacomo Puccini

Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924) was an Italian composer best known for his operas La Bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot. Puccini drew inspiration from a wide range of literary sources, and his late Romantic music with its immortal melodies emphasised the strong characters, drama, and fast pace of his emotional operas, which remain today as popular as ever.

Early Life

Giacomo Puccini was born in Lucca in the Italian region of Tuscany on 22 December 1858. He came from a long line of musicians who had held the position of organist at Lucca's San Martino Cathedral since the previous century. Giacomo's father Michele (1813-1864), was both the cathedral's organist and choirmaster, and he was the director of the local music school, the Istituto Pacini; he died when Giacomo was just six years old. Unfortunately for tradition, Giacomo, although interested in music, would take an entirely different career path from his forefathers.

Giacomo, the fifth of eight children, was raised by his mother, Albina, who ensured he learnt to play the organ and sing. Giacomo sang in the cathedral choir from age ten. He attended the Istituto Pacini and graduated in 1880, his final exam piece being his Messa di Gloria. Thanks to financial help from a cousin and a successful application for a grant, Giacomo moved on to the Conservatory in Milan. Aiming far higher than the position of organist in Lucca, Giacomo's fate had been sealed back in 1876 when he heard a performance in Pisa of Aida by Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901). The magic of Verdi's tragic opera set in ancient Egypt convinced Puccini that he too should earn a living writing operas.

The young composer's graduation piece at the Conservatory was Capriccio Sinfonico, a promising orchestral piece, but it was Le villi (The Fairies), a one-act opera, that would open doors for Puccini. The work was staged at the Teatro dal Verme in Milan in 1883. Puccini's professional career took off in 1884 when he performed music from his opera at a private party and it happened to be heard by Giulio Ricordi, the famed publisher who had Verdi on his books. Ricordi added Puccini to his publishing stable and commissioned him to write another opera. The result was Edgar, which premiered at Milan's La Scala theatre in 1889. The La Scala audience has always been a testing one to win over, and unlike his first, Puccini's second opera fell flat. The composer himself considered the work a "mistake" (Thompson, 174).

Puccini was on safer ground with his third opera, Manon Lescaut, a tried and tested libretto that had been used for Jules Massenet's opera Manon (1884), which was itself based on the 1731 novel L'histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut by Abbé Prévost. Puccini also tried a new city for his premiere: Turin on 1 February 1893. Manon Lescaut was a raging success – the composer was obliged to take 30 curtain calls – with further productions in London and Philadelphia in 1894. The composer's career was finally launched. The story of Manon Lescaut, told in four acts, has Des Grieux fall in love with Manon, and they elope to escape the clutches of the elderly Géronte. Nevertheless, Manon is attracted by the life of luxury she could lead with Géronte and chooses him over Des Grieux. Géronte is suspicious that Manon has rekindled her affair with his rival, arrests her, and so she will be deported. Des Grieux boards the ship taking away Manon, and they are reunited only for Manon to die in his arms. Audiences loved it. The story of a tragic soprano heroine who dies in a singing finale would be used time and again by Puccini.

And I said I would make a historically accurate Calaf for Zuka ver Turandot cosplay...haha nope!  So much for a Chinese cos...how do I Chinese so bad!? D:  why do I Chinese so bad!?

Series:  Legend of the Phoenix - Calaf and Turandot/ 鳳凰伝－カラフとトゥーランドット Calaf CN:  Yugiri        [Facebook][Instagram][WC][Ko-fi] Photographer/Editor:  Yugiri        [Facebook][Instagram][WC][Ko-fi]