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After going to bed at 2 (Platform Decay kept me up) I was sure I'd sleep into at least 11 and must remember to get up then to be mobile before Turandot at 1. But no. Wide awake at 8:30 and couldn't go back to sleep even in the grey rainy light. This isn't a usual side effect of my boosters, quite the reverse. But anyway, I was awake and too bad. Also indoors all day because the rain never stopped and I'm currently fighting the urge to turn on the heat. We'll be back in the muggy 20s by Monday.
Turandot was OK. One can't blame singers for not being Sutherland and Pavarotti, but when you've imprinted on them no one else quite reaches that standard. I fancy half the appeal of this production is the over the top Zeffirelli sets. Still photos make it look fascinating except-- well, even my extremely amateur eye thought 'Surely you're mixing Tang with Qing here?' Yeah, I guess he was trying for anything remotely Chinese to suggest a fantasy country that never existed. And I ought to prefer that to historical accuracy which grounds the action in a real China of whatever description. But speaking of imprinting, my first Turandot was set in basically an Apocalypse Now nightmare land: dark, muddy, heads on poles in a jungle setting. Very id-tastic and much my preference.
And anyway, isn't the original story Persian or Russian or something?
Turandot was OK. One can't blame singers for not being Sutherland and Pavarotti, but when you've imprinted on them no one else quite reaches that standard. I fancy half the appeal of this production is the over the top Zeffirelli sets. Still photos make it look fascinating except-- well, even my extremely amateur eye thought 'Surely you're mixing Tang with Qing here?' Yeah, I guess he was trying for anything remotely Chinese to suggest a fantasy country that never existed. And I ought to prefer that to historical accuracy which grounds the action in a real China of whatever description. But speaking of imprinting, my first Turandot was set in basically an Apocalypse Now nightmare land: dark, muddy, heads on poles in a jungle setting. Very id-tastic and much my preference.
And anyway, isn't the original story Persian or Russian or something?
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The story was supposedly translated from the Persian by "noted Orientalist François Pétis de la Croix" (white guy) and Puccini based it on Schiller's adaptation of an adaptation??
"TURANDOT:
THE CHINESE SPHINX.
A DRAMATIC ODDITY
FREELY TRANSLATED FROM SCHILLER,
AND CORDIALLY INSCRIBED TO
LADY PERCY FLORENCE SHELLEY
by
SABILLA NOVELLO."
What.
Opening:
"KALAF.
The Gods be thanked, at last by patient seeking,
I've found a lodging in this crowded Peking."
Okay that's enough new cultural knowledge for today.
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Kalaf.
Habt Dank, ihr Götter! Auch zu Peckin sollt' ich
Eine gute Seele finden!
Barak (in persischer Tracht, tritt auf, erblickt ihn und fährt
erstaunt zurück).
Seh' ich recht?
Prinz Kalaf! Wie? Er lebt noch!
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Sorry, that's nowhere near as good as 'Popolo di Pekino! La legge e questà'.
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Frankly I never even tried.
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Dear god. That's for the translation. But yeah, we're at a good five degrees of separation here, since the Persian was IIRC a retelling of some tribe's legend up in the north of Persia/ south of Russia. I seem to recall a similar story in Dede Korkut, only I don't think it was a princess there.