At The Opera, Puccini: Turandot - September 14, 2013
Update RequiredTo play audio, update browser or
Flash plugin.

Turandot is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, completed by Franco Alfano, set to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni.
Though Puccini's first interest in the subject was based on his reading of Friedrich Schiller's adaptation of the play, his work is most nearly based on the earlier text Turandot by Carlo Gozzi. The original story is based on the epic Turan-Dokht from the book Haft-Peykar, work of 12th-century Persian poet Nizami. The opera's story is set in China and involves Prince Calàf, who falls in love with the cold Princess Turandot. To obtain permission to marry her, a suitor has to solve three riddles; any false answer results in death. Calàf passes the test, but Turandot still hesitates to marry him. He offers her a way out: he agrees to die should she be able to guess his real name.
The opera was unfinished at the time of Puccini's death in 1924, and was completed by Franco Alfano in 1926. The first performance was held at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan on April 25, 1926 and conducted by Arturo Toscanini.
This live 1977 recording from The SF Opera stars Montserrat Caballe and Luciano Pavarotti. Riccardo Chailly conducts.
8:00 p.m.
Pietro Mascagni
Cavalleria rusticana, opera Intemezzo
Czecho-Slovak Radio Symphony; Ondrej Lenard, conductor
8:08 p.m.
Caballe/Pavarotti/Mitchell/Tozzi
Giacomo Puccini
Turandot + Interview and Bonus Turandot tracks from Vienna 1961
San Francisco Opera; Riccardo Chailly, conductor Caballe/Pavarotti/Mitchell/Tozzi
11:20 p.m.
Richard Tauber
W.A. Mozart
Die Entfuhrung Aus Dem Serail: Constanze... O Wie Angstlich -
Vienna State Opera; Karl Alwin, conductor Richard Tauber
11:25 p.m.
Erna Berger/Gino Sinimberghi
G. Donizetti
Don Pasquale: Tornami A Dir
Staatskapelle Berlin Erna Berger/Gino Sinimberghi
11:28 p.m.
John Charles Thomas
Giordano
Andrea Chenier; Nemico della Partria
11:33 p.m.
Tito Gobbi
Francesco Cilea
L'Arlesiana: Come Due Tizzi Accesi
La Scala; Umberto Berrettoni, conductor Tito Gobbi
11:37 p.m.
Mariano Stabile/Martin Lawrence
G. Donizetti
Don Pasquale: Cheti, Cheti, Immantinente
; Alberto Erede, conductor Mariano Stabile/Martin Lawrence
11:43 p.m.
Lawrence Tibbett
Charles Gounod
Faust: O Sainte Medaille... Avant De Quitter Ces Lieux -
Lawrence Tibbett
11:56 p.m.
Pietro Mascagni
Cavalleria rusticana, opera Intemezzo
Czecho-Slovak Radio Symphony; Ondrej Lenard, conductor