Today’s Puccini’s 150th birthday. To commemorate the occasion NPR’s Performance Today had an interview with noted Puccini expert Fred Plotkin. During its course Plotkin followed the now conventional practice of pronouncing Puccini’s last opera with its final t articulated. While this practice is pretty small beans in the course of human events it’s pedantic and based on how the name was pronounced before Puccini got to it rather than on how he wanted it pronounced.
Listen to this excerpt from the first complete recording of Turandot in 1938, just 12 years after the opera’s premiere. Note the absence of a final consonant. Patrick Vincent Casali has written a long article (Opera Quarterly 13 (4): 77–91, 1997) detailing Puccini’s intention that his opera be pronounced Turando[t]. Here’s a 1962 interview with the Met’s John Gutman and Rosa Raisa the first Turandot:
GUTMAN: In addition to being the very first Turandot, I know,
Mme Raisa, that you appeared in other world premieres and several
American premieres. Would you tell our audience, please, what some
of those premieres were?
RAISA: My pleasure, Mr. Gutman. In addition to Turando[t], which
is pronounced the way I pronounce it and also [the way] it was
pronounced by Puccini and Toscanini, so, [therefore] it is really
“Turando[t],” not Turandot!”
GUTMAN: [taken aback] Thank you very much, Mme Raisa. This
interests me very much. I know that this has been a controversy for a
long time and . . . ah, we certainly take your word for it, since you were
the original Turando[t].
RAISA: Thank you.
Here’s another with Robert Lloyd and Dame Eva Turner a famous Turandot who was at the opera’s first performance.
LLOYD: Dame Eva, there’s one little problem we have to solve before
we can have this conversation.
TURNER: Yes?
LLOYD: I’ve noticed that you say Turando[t].”
TURNER: Yes.
LLOYD: And I say “Turandot.” Can you explain why?
TURNER: Yes. Well, because in my day it was always “Turando[t].” And
you see, I was at the first performance that Toscanini conducted, and
[pause] it was “Turando[t].” And whenever [sic] I sang it for the first
time, or whenever I sang it, I say “Turando[t].” And, I think I have to
confess, I like it. More especially when it involves a musical line, to
keep the continuity going. It isn’t quite so chopped. But of course, it
isn’t quite so Chinese [laughs].
This mispronunciation seems to be the fault of Erich Leinsdorf who inserted it into his 1960 recording of the opera. Its now tradition to use it. But remember Toscanini’s definition of tradition: Yesterday’s mistake. And he should know – he was there.
Sorry, but it is indeed pronounced Turandot (with the last T pronounced), no matter what Mme. Raisa or Maestro Toscanini said. The opera is based on a fable by the Venetian writer Carlo Gozzi. There is no silent T in Italian or in Venetian dialect. Some people chose to pronounce it with an O ending because they like how it sounds in the music: “Disgelo Too- Ron- Doh’ leaves the mouth of the tenor open to hold the note longer. But “Disgelo, Too-Ron-DoTE” is more emphatic. and in keeping with the flow of the score. Puccini put a rest after the name is spoken throughout the opera.
The pronunciation of the final T in Turandot is not dependent on the source of the story, but rather on the wishes of its composer. Since he didn’t live to hear its performance that of Toscanini is likely dispositive. Also there are numerous points in the score where “Turandot” is not followed by a rest. For example the Mandarin’s “Turandot la pura” in the first act and Calaf’s first two shout’s of “Turandot” at the end of the same act. Gozzi and the Venetian dialect are irrelevant to what the opera’s creator wished. Should we substitute “Macbeth” (English) for “Mabetto” (Italian) in Verdi’s opera? After all he called the opera “Macbeth” and then never used the word again. Its Verdi not Shakespeare that’s authoritative here. In “Otello” it’s “Otello” (Italian) throughout the opera. In “Falstaff” it’s “Falstaff” (English) all the way through. Verdi obviously was unconcerned about linguistic consistency. If to T of not to T is the question. The answer is not.
As a singer, I much prefer Turandot without the final t. The t breaks up the legato line when in a phrase, and is a somewhat irritating end at the end of a phrase. Why top off a gorgeously held high not by Franco Corelli, the ultimate Calaf, just to end it with a t sound?? This is an Italian opera and words usually end in vowels.
Puccini’s idea was not necessarily set in stone. He often gave singers much leeway when rehearsing a new opera so he might have changed his mind once he heard it both ways.
Kudos to Neil Kurtzman for framing this issue so clearly. As a matter of personal experience, I can say that I pronounced it “TurandoT” for most of my adult life until I read Casali’s careful article. I find the reasoning that eyewitnesses attest to Puccini’s preferring “Turando[t]” thoroughly convincing. I cannot imagine why the kinds of pertinent analogies Mr. Kurtzman cites do not apply here, and it bewilders me that someone as conversant as Mr. Plotkin would (apparently?) not view this that way. No Lady Macbeth singing the Verdi Lady is going to sing, “Andiam, andiam, Macbe-eth” towards the end of the Sleepwalking Scene if she’s singing it in Verdi’s original Italian. Rather — of course — she’s going to sing the original Italian line — “Andiam, andiam, Macbetto”.
It disappoints me that Mr. Plotkin has still not come back to address Mr. Kurtzman’s obvious points. Unfortunately, I’ve been confronted with a few equally stubborn opera fans of my own acquaintance who have actually refused — refused — to address the point whenever I’ve tried to frame the issue in the same way that Mr. Kurtzman does. I’d respect those like Mr. Plotkin more if they’d at least address that point, positively or negatively, rather than simply go on about Gozzi and Italian dialects, as if nothing pertinent has been added to the equation! Either come out and say that the composer’s own preference counts for nothing(!!!!!!!!), or say that Rosa Raisa, Arturo Toscanini and Eva Turner were uniformly liars!!!!!!!!!!!! I can see that both assertions may seem a little silly — and the latter ludicrously coincidental — but at least they’re more intellectually honest than what I’ve seen from those simply dismissing Casali’s article without even addressing Casali’s points — or Mr. Kurtzman’s.
Sincerely,
Stone
So nice to read this … I have always wondered how to pronounce Turandot, but never bothered to do any research. Too lazy, I suppose. I’m glad you filled me in and I’ll trust your blog entry.
[...] I can’t resist revisiting the pronunciation wars. Racette was dotting the final t in Turandot like a gatling gun – dot.com, dot.org, [...]
Yet another word about the pronunciation of Turandot, when the Met re-broadcast the Raisa interview with John Gutman, they deleted her reference to the way it was pronounced by Puccini, Toscanini and that of the role’s creator. They should really count for something, but of course the Met knows better.
I did like Racette’s hostessing much better than the Mesdames Fleming and Graham who sound too grand. Racette sounds like a real person.
And yes, I did check coats at the Old Met and remember those old performances very well. My mind hasn’t gone yet.