The first performance of Puccini’s Turandot – archive, 1926

Turandot: the new Puccini opera From a correspondent17 April 1926 It was only to be expected that a new opera by the lamented composer Giacomo Puccini should excite great public interest in Italy. It is not too much to say that the production of Turandot at the Milan Scala is awaited with scarcely less impatience than was Boito’s Nerone, another posthumous work. Details are now available concerning the degree of completion arrived at before Puccini’s death. It is highly satisfactory to learn that the opera was within a fortnight of being finished and that Puccini has sent the greater part already to the publisher. Only the finale remained unready, and Franco Alfano, friend of Puccini, accepted the pious task, and has devoted himself to finishing the work according to indications afforded by the preceding material and Puccini’s individual style. Puccini’s estimate of his last work may be worth quoting. Writing to the librettist, he says: “It seems to me that I have laboured (travagliato) well. It is possible I may deceive myself, considering the modern tendencies towards rough successions of sounds and discordance; where feeling, that feeling which gives me joy and pain, is abolished or kept at a distance. I have put all my soul into this opera. We shall see if my vibrations synchronise with those of the public.” Puccini’s last opera: performance at Milan 26 April 1926 To-day was a historic date in the history of the Scala, where Puccini’s last opera Turandot was presented for the first time with Signor Toscanini as conductor. The opera was unfinished at the death of the composer. The Scala was resplendent and overcrowded with the elite of Italian society. When the first melodious notes – so characteristic of the music of Puccini – came from the orchestra, the entire audience, deeply impressed, seemed to be rather celebrating a rite for a national master than witnessing a theatrical presentation. The sweetness and power of the music emphasised the bizarre Oriental…