Premiere of Turandot

Turandot is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, set in legendary China, and the last he wrote. The cold princess Turandot offers marriage only to a suitor who can answer three riddles, and those who fail are beheaded. The unknown prince Calaf solves them and then offers her a challenge in return. The aria Nessun dorma is among the best known in all opera. Puccini died of cancer before finishing the work, leaving it incomplete after the death of the slave girl Liu, and the ending was completed by Franco Alfano. At the first performance the conductor Arturo Toscanini stopped at the point where Puccini had stopped, and told the audience that this was where the composer's work had ended.

Open on the timeline