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Turandot(Gozzi)

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Turandot,1859steelpoint engravingby Arthur von Ramberg, from a collection of characters fromSchiller.[1]
Yevgeny Vakhtangov's production ofTurandotin 1922.

Turandot(1762) is acommedia dell'arteplay by CountCarlo Gozziafter a supposedly Persian story from the collectionLes Mille et un jours(1710–1712) byFrançois Pétis de la Croix(not to be confused withOne Thousand and One Nights). Gozzi'sTurandotwas first performed at theTeatro San Samuele,Venice,on 22 January 1762.

Gozzi's play has given rise to a number of subsequent artistic endeavours, including combinations of: versions/translations byFriedrich Schiller,Karl VollmöllerandBertolt Brecht;theatrical productions byJohann Wolfgang von Goethe,Max ReinhardtandYevgeny Vakhtangov;incidental music byCarl Maria von Weber,Ferruccio BusoniandWilhelm Stenhammar;and operas by Busoni,Giacomo PucciniandHavergal Brian.

Original play and performance

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Painting of the Teatro San Samuele byGabriel Bella(1730-1799)

Turandotwas written deliberately in theCommedia dell'artestyle by Gozzi, as part of a campaign in his literary war against the bourgeois, realistic works ofPietro ChiariandCarlo Goldoni.[2]Gozzi was intimate with the out-of-work theatre troupe of Antonio Sacchi, an inveteratecommediaTruffaldino.[3]It was first performed by Sacchi's troupe at theTeatro San Samuelein Venice on 22 January 1762, and received seven subsequent performances.[4]The choice of theatre itself was a pointed attack on Goldoni, since he had been the theatre's director between 1737–1741. In the end, Gozzi won his literary war: according to hisMemoirs,"Chiari stopped writing when he saw that his dramas ceased to take. Goldoni went to Paris, to seek his fortune there, whereof we shall be duly informed in his Memoirs."[5]

Friedrich Werthes

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The poet and playwrightFriedrich Werthes(Buttenhausen,12 October 1748–Stuttgart,5 December 1817) made a translation of Gozzi's complete plays, employing prose rather than verse for the characters' lines.[6]Schiller'sTurandot(see below) is partly based on Werthes' version.

Friedrich Schiller

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The old Weimar Hoftheater in 1800

In 1801Friedrich Schillertranslated Gozzi'sCommedia dell'arteplay, at the same time re-interpreting it in theRomanticstyle.

It was first produced in 1802 by at the 'old' Weimar Hoftheater byJohann von Goethe,who had been the theatre's director since its inception in 1791. Schiller had begun a collaborative friendship with Goethe in 1794 which lasted until Schiller's death in 1805,[7]after which Goethe forsook ballads and turned to the completion ofPart oneofFaust.[8]

Comparison of Gozzi's and Schiller's versions

Gozzi's play has a "light, sarcastic tone" whereas Schiller transforms it into a symbolic epic with an idealised moral attitude. Gozzi, although he also uses both elements of drama and comedy, puts them side by side as independent parts; Schiller combines them and makes them the result of each other. This interaction of dramatic and comical, their interdependence and the fact of their being equally matched, embodies the Romantic principle of universalism.

Gozzi's main character, the princess Turandot, seems to act out of a mood and cruelty whereas Schiller's Turandot is a person who resolutely follows her moral and ethical attitude. Also prince Calàf, who is a kind of lost soul and philanderer in Gozzi's version, becomes a kind lover who surrenders to his deep and true love for Turandot.

Carl Maria von Weber
Johann Vesque von Püttlingen

The classical commedia dell’arte characters in the play, especially Pantalone and Brighella, whose language is rather colloquial in Gozzi's version, lose their naïve nature and even speak in well-formed verses in Schiller's work; they also contribute to the more severe and moralistic atmosphere in Schiller's adaptation.

Carl Maria von Weber

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Carl Maria von Weberbased his 1805Chinese Ouvertureon a Chinese theme found inJean-Jacques Rousseau'sDictionnaire de musique. Weber's friend, the composerFranz Danzi,was employed as Kapellmeister in the Stuttgart court ofKing Frederick I of Württemberg,and when Weber obtained a non-musical position as the private secretary of the King's brother,Duke Ludwig,Danzi encouraged Weber to write some music for a performance of Schiller's play at the court theatre.[9]The result was his 1809Incidental music for Turandot,J.37 which incorporated theChinese Ouverture.

Franz Danzi

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Franz Danzilater wrote his ownsingspielTurandotbased on Schiller in 1816, which was performed inKarlsruhein 1817.

'J. Hoven'

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The lawyer and composerJohann Vesque von Püttlingenwas a friend ofFranz SchubertandFelix Mendelssohn.Born in theLubomirski Palace,nearLublin,West Galicia,he grew up in Vienna and trained as a lawyer, rising to section director in the Austrian Foreign Ministry underMetternich.Under the pseudonym 'J. Hoven' (afterLudwig van Beethoven) he composed over 300 songs and 8 operas, among which wasTurandot, Princess of Shiraz,libretto after Schiller, first performed on 3 October 1838.[10]

Andrea Maffei

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Schiller's play was re-translated into Italian by his friendAndrea Maffeiin 1863.

Antonio Bazzini

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Antonio Bazzini's operaTuranda,with a libretto byAntonio Gazzoletti,was first performed atLa Scala,Milan, 13 January 1867. Bazzini later taught composition toGiacomo PucciniandPietro Mascagniat theMilan Conservatory.

Sabilla Novello

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A free English translation from Schiller bySabilla Novellowas published in 1872.[11]

BusoniTurandot Suite

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Score of Busoni'sTurandot Suite,cover designed byEmil Orlík,first published in 1906.
Main article:Turandot Suite

After reading Gozzi's play,Ferruccio Busonibegan sketching out some incidental music to accompany it (1904-1905). He swiftly expanded the sketches into theTurandot Suite,first performance 21 October 1905, published in 1906. Busoni added a further movement to the Suite in 1911 for the play's first Berlin production (see below), and substituted another in 1917 after completing his opera on the same subject.

Karl Vollmoeller/Max Reinhardt production - Berlin

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Max Reinhardt in 1911

After completing hisTurandot SuiteBusoni approachedMax Reinhardtin late 1906 about staging a production of Gozzi's play with Busoni's music. His idea eventually came to fruition four years later at theDeutsches Theater,Berlin in 1911, in a production by Reinhardt.Karl Vollmoellerprovided a German translation of Gozzi's play, dedicated to Busoni; the sets were byErnst Stern.The incidental music (probably the publishedTurandot Suitewith the additional number) was played by a full symphony orchestra conducted byOskar Fried.

Max Reinhardt production - London

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Sir George Alexander (r.) inThe Importance of being EarnestwithAllan Aynesworth

Reinhardt's Berlin production was brought to London in 1913 by the actor-manager and impresarioSir George Alexander.Vollmoeller's 1911 translation of Gozzi was re-translated into English byJethro Bithell(1878-1962). A pupil of Busoni's, Johan Wijsman, made an unauthorised reduced orchestration of Busoni's score (and added music by other composers).

Interior ofSt. James's Theatre

Cast of the play as produced at theSt. James's Theatre,London, on 18 January 1913, under the management of Sir George Alexander.

Vollmoeller/J.C. Huffmann

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Percy MacKaye as Alwyn the poet in MacKaye's playSanctuary: A Bird Masque.Autochrome(1913) byArnold Genthe.

Vollmoeller's play was produced in the USA by theShubertsat the Hyperion Theatre,New Haven, Connecticut,on 31 December 1912.[note 1]The producer was J. C. Huffmann, whose production designs were influenced by Reinhardt's. The cast includedEmily Stevens,Josephine Victor,Alice Martin, Margaret Greville, Frank Peters, Pedro de Cordova (José Luis Medrano), Edward Emery (seeFlorence FarrandJohn Emery), Lennox Pawle, Daniel Gilfeather, Anthony Andre and 20 others. Incidental music by Oscar Racin.[12][13]According to a New York Times report, the Vollmoeller script arrived without scenes or acts being designated, and was tidied up by Huffmann; however, the play was not a success.[14]

Percy MacKaye/J. C. Huffmann

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In the wake of the failure of Vollmoeller's play at the Hyperion Theatre,Lee ShubertaskedPercy MacKayeto reviseTurandotfor American audiences. In the end MacKaye wrote a new work,A Thousand Years Ago,[15]which was presented a year later at the Shubert Theatre on 1 December 1913.[16][17]The production re-used Huffmann's earlier set designs and incorporated the ideas of Reinhardt andEdward Gordon Craig.It transferred to theLyric Theatre (New York)in January 1914.[14]

Poster for the premiere of Busoni'sTurandot.

BusoniTurandotopera

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Main article:Turandot (Busoni)

Busoni's operaTurandotwas based on the music of his earlier orchestralTurandot Suite;he wrote his own libretto, also possibly using the translation which Karl Vollmoeller had made for the 1911 Reinhardt production. The opera was first performed in the Stadttheater, Zürich (now theZürich Opera House) 11 May 1917.

Wilhelm Stenhammar

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Wilhelm Stenhammarwrote hisMusik till Carlo Gozzis skådepel "Turandot"(Music for Gozzi's spectacle "Turandot"), Op. 42 (1920) for flute, clarinet, bassoon and percussion (triangle, cymbals, bass drum and tamtam), as incidental music for a (Swedish?) production of the Gozzi play.See also§ External linksbelow.

I. Nivinskiy: set design forVakhtangov'sPrincess Turandot(1922)

Yevgeny Vakhtangov - Moscow

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Yevgeny Vakhtangovstaged a highly acclaimed avant-garde performance of Gozzi's play in Moscow in 1921.[18][19]

Provincetown Playhouse production

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Isaac Don LevineandHenry Alsbergtranslated and adaptedTurandotto open the 1926 season at theProvincetown Playhousein New York.[20]

PucciniTurandotopera

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Main article:Turandot

Giacomo Puccinisaid in a letter that "...Turandotis the most normal and human play in all Gozzi. "[21]The libretto for his (unfinished) operaTurandot(1920-1924) is byAdamiandSimoni.Apart from Gozzi's original they usedAndrea Maffei's Italian translation of Schiller's German version.[22]They also made reference to the libretto byGazzolettiforAntonio Bazzini'sTuranda.Although Puccini had heard reports about Busoni's opera, he didn't see it himself.

Princess Turandot (1934 film)

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Prinzessin Turandotis a German black-and-white sound film made in 1934. It was directed byGerhard Lamprechtwith a script byThea von Harbou,and starredKäthe von Nagyas Turandot andWilly Fritschas Kalaf, the Birdseller.[citation needed]The film includes the songTurandot, bezaubernde TurandotbyFranz DoelleandBruno Balz(recorded byHerbert Ernst Grohin 1935).[23]

Havergal Brian

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Havergal Brianbased the libretto of his operaTurandot(1949-1951) on Schiller's play. Like Busoni, Brian also wrote an associated orchestralTurandot Suite.Brian composed hisTurandotbetween his 8th and 9th Symphonies. In a letter, he wrote: "Turandot. I have not seen any music of the work by Busoni or Puccini.... My reason for tackling 'Turandot' was that I read a German translation and enjoyed it so much that I started work on it as an Opera."[citation needed]

Bertolt Brecht

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Bertolt Brechtalso made his own adaptation of Gozzi's play,Turandot,or the Whitewashers' Congress(1953–1954). Brecht's library contained a 1925 edition of Vollmoeller's translation. Brecht's epic comedy was first performed (posthumously) in Zurich (the same city as the premiere of Busoni's opera), in theSchauspielhauson 5 February 1969.

Contemporary Chinese theatre

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Turandothas been recently rewritten and interpreted in different forms of Chinesexìqǔ(literally, 'theater of song'), often referred to asChinese opera.[24]

See also

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References

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Notes

  1. ^The previous show at the Hyperion was a film calledThe Miracle: a legend of medieval times.This German film (original title:Das Mirakel) was an unauthorised version of another work byKarl Vollmoeller,The Miracle (play)which had played atOlympia, Londonin a spectacular production byMax Reinhardt.The 'genuine' film of the production,The Miracle (1912 film)byJoseph Menchenwas first shown in the US on 17 February 1913 at the Park Theatre, New York.

Citations

  1. ^Pecht, Friedrich; von Ramberg, Arthur (illus.) (1859).Schiller-Galerie.Leipzig: F. A. Brockhaus. (In German)
  2. ^Banham 1998,pp. 438–439.
  3. ^Duchartre 1928,p. 21n.
  4. ^Gozzi 1801,p. 7.
  5. ^Symonds 1890,Vol. 2, Ch. XLV.
  6. ^Werthes 1777,pp. 197 ff.
  7. ^Girardi 2002,p. 445.
  8. ^Craigmyle, Elizabeth [1892] (trans. and ed).German BalladsLondon: Walter Scott.
  9. ^Warrack 1976,p. 77.
  10. ^Hoven, J (Vesque von Püttlingen, Johann, pseud.); Zerboni di Sposetti, Julius (1843).Turandot Prinzessin von Schiras: große Oper in zwei Akten.Mainz: Schott's Söhne.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)Online copy atBavarian State Library,both retrieved 27 October 2015.
  11. ^Novello 1872.
  12. ^New York Times,December 19, 1912
  13. ^New York Times,January 1, 1913
  14. ^abNew York TimesJanuary 11, 1914
  15. ^MacKaye 1914.
  16. ^Harvard Crimson,1 December 1913
  17. ^Harvard Crimson,2 December 1913
  18. ^Metropolitan Acting Studioon Turandot© Marina Volok, 2010
  19. ^A Meeting Point or a Turning Point: On Vakhtangov’s Theatrical Activities and Thought[1]Mei Sun Chang Gung Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences 1:1 (April 2008), 189-201
  20. ^DeMasi, Susan Rubenstein (2016).Henry Alsberg: the driving force of the New Deal Federal Writers' Project.Jefferson, North Carolina. p. 130.ISBN978-0-7864-9535-1.OCLC956984803.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  21. ^Girardi 2002,p. 444.
  22. ^Turandot, fola tragicomica di Carlo Gozzi. Imitate da Federico Schiller e tradotte dal cav. Andrea Maffei(1863). Florence: Successori Le Monnier.
  23. ^Turandot, bezaubernde Turandot.Youtube. Accessed 13 November 2016.
  24. ^A Meeting Point or a Turning Point: On Vakhtangov’s Theatrical Activities and Thought

Sources

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