Turandot at Nationaltheater Mannheim

Never will the princess Turandot a man belong. Therefore all applicants it is puzzling. Those who do not find the answer, be forfeited to the executioner. As it the Prince Calaf succeeds in solving their puzzles, Turandot is dismayed. You may have to their promise now redeem and marry Calaf. Unexpectedly, it makes this an offer: he wants to commit suicide when Turandot to sunrise finds out his name.

The story of Turandot comes from a story from Häzâr-jak Ruz (Thousand and one day), the Persian equivalent of the Arab story from Arabian Nights. Carlo Gozzi wrote a dramatization that has inspired Schiller and later also to Brecht's own stage versions, and Puccini in a production by Max Reinhardt experienced.

Turandot was Puccini's last opera. The exotic fairytale inspired him to write a score with an unusual wealth of timbres. Puccini died at a time when he had got over unresolved dramaturgical problems with the composition falters.