Puccini's first opera, Le Villi and the third act from his last opera: Turandot. The performance of Turandot will include Luciano Berio's new third act completion.
Featuring: Aprile Millo
Hei-Kyung Hong & Franco Farina
The Collegiate Chorale
The Orchestra of St. Luke's
Robert Bass, Music Director and Conductor
Puccini died in 1924 before completing Turandot, and the score was finished by his student Franco Alfano in 1926. Most people find the Alfano ending unsatisfactory and contrary to Puccini's intentions. In 2001, composer Luciano Berio attempted to resolve the awkward dramatic conclusion of the opera by composing a new musical ending. According to Puccini scholar Dieter Schickling, “Although Berio did make use of Puccini's sketches, he integrated them into music that is nevertheless audibly contemporary and makes space for a more credible transformation of the two principal characters into a loving couple.” Unlike Alfano's ending, Berio concludes the opera quietly. Berio's ending of Turandot was first performed in 2002 in the Carney Islands under the direction of Riccardo Chailly. It is to underscore the modernity of Puccini's 1924 composition that caused Robert Bass to look to the Berio reconstruction. “By choosing the Berio ending instead of the traditional one by Alfano, we can experience Puccini's more advanced notions of melody and harmony foreshadowing the dynamic transformations of the 20th century.”
Aprile Millo
Hei-Kyung Hong
While Giaccomo Puccini is among opera's best-loved composers, few audiences are familiar with his first opera Le Villi. After completing his studies at the Milan Conservatory, Puccini submitted Le Villi in a competition for one-act operas sponsored by publisher Edoardo Sonzogno. Although Puccini did not win the prize, his opera brought him to the attention of some influential figures in the world of music.
Puccini ultimately succeeded in having the work produced with the assistance of librettist Ferdinando Fontana and several others including Arrigo Boito, the composer of Mefistofele and librettist of Verdi's Otello, who ironically was a jury member at the competition in 1883. Boito became convinced of the worthiness of Puccini's score and persuaded the director of the Teatro Dal Verme to premiere the opera on May 31, 1884. Although Le Villi was a great success at its premiere, its real significance is that it motivated the publishing house of Ricordi to commission Puccini's second opera, Edgar, thus setting the composer on his path to fame.
Le Villi illustrates Puccini's innate sense of melodic invention, and one can hear even in this early work the composer's singular voice. Le Villi also illustrates Puccini's sense of theatre, his talent for adapting awkward and often dramatically convoluted stories. These abilities along with his mastery of harmony, served him throughout his career.
His final work, Turandot, composed in the four years leading to his death in 1924 contains some of Puccini's most beloved melodies — the arias “In questa reggia” and “Nessun dorma.” In addition, its harmonies are in the composer's most mature style, in a sense situated firmly in the early 20th Century. Unfortunately, Puccini did not live to complete the final act of his opera and Franco Alfano was commissioned to complete the last act of Turandot for the opera's premiere at La Scala in 1926. Most productions use the ending by Alfano, based on Puccini's sketches.
Now a part of opera legend, unhappy with Alfano's re-working of Puccini's ideas, Arturo Toscanini stopped conducting at the last bars of Puccini's completed orchestration. He then laid down his baton, turned to the audience and simply said: “At this point the Maestro died,” and ended the performance.
There is little chance of this happening on January 30th to the Berio completion of Turandot.
Puccini: A Composer's Journey
Monday, January 30 at 8 p.m.
Isaac Stern Auditorium, Carnegie Hall
The cast includes:
Aprile Millo as Anna in Le Villi and Turandot in Turandot
Franco Farina as Roberto in Le Villi and Calaf in Turandot
Hei-Kyung Hong as Liú in Turandot
Valentin Peitchinoff as Timur in Turandot
Carlo Guelfi as Guglielmo in Le Villi
Lester Lynch as Ping in Turandot
Richard Cox as Pang in Turandot
Douglas Purcell as Pong in Turandot
Robert Bass
