SYNOPSIS

Act One

   In legendary times, Princess Turandot lives in Peking. She would belong only to that suitor who could solve her three riddles. But the one who would try and fail would be exe­cuted just like all those before him and his chopped head would be added to those which already decorated the Palace walls.
    The opera begins with a scene of preparation for the execution of the Prince of Persia, who didn't manage to answer the riddles. He has to die at the rise of the moon and the blood­thirsty crowd is urging his death. In the tumult one feeble, aged man is trampled under peo­ple's feet. To the cries for help of his companion-a young slave-girl, responds a young man-Calaf, the Unknown Prince. The old man is Timur, once upon a time the powerful King of Tartary, and the young man-his own son, Prince Calaf, who the King believed dead after a horrible fight. The King, stripped of his power by crafty enemies, is accompanied in his wan­derings around the world by the young slave Liu, who serves him loyally. Long ago she was overcome with gratitude and tender feelings about Calaf because of the friendly smile that he gave her once in the Palace.
    The executioner and his servants arrive. The servants begin to sharpen the enormous sword. While doing this they sing a song: "Ungi! Arrota!..." ("Grind the sword until the blade is sharp and shining!"). Everyone waits for the rise of the moon ("Perche tarda la luna?"-"Is the moon never coming?"). The moon rises slowly. The crowd's excitement grows even higher. The look of the young Prince of Persia arouses the crowd's mercy, and it appeals for forgiveness. But Turandot appears in all her cold, royal beauty and gives a sign for the execution to proceed. The crowd watches the procession going to the execution.
    Calaf, seeing Turandot for the first time, falls in love with her at the first glimpse of her. Everyone tries by all means to persuade him not to challenge himself with answering the rid­dles, which has been the reason for so many deaths already. Timur tries to dissuade him and so does the slave-girl Liu ("Signore, ascolta"-"Oh, Sire, please hear me!"). The three minis­ters-Ping, Pang and Pong do the same. Calaf's answer to Liu is the splendid aria "Non pian-gere, Liu" ("Oh, weep no more, Liu"). Nothing can change his mind. At the end of the First Act he strikes the big gong hanging in front of the Palace three times, and calls out Turandot's name-this is a signal that there is a new suitor for her hand.

Act Two

    In the introductory scene the three ministers are talking in the Court in Peking. These are Ping (The Grand Chancellor), Pang (The General Purveyor) and Pong (The Chief Cook). Their characters are based on the main figures from the comedy dell'arte. They are lamenting and thinking how to stop all this bloodshed, which has continued for years already because of the caprice of the haughty Turandot; they pray for a calm life, each min­ister in his country house, away from Peking. They wish that the princess would fall in love with someone ("Non v'e in China, per nostra fortuna..."-"Happy is China, her princess no longer…").
    The curtain opens and the audience sees the whole assembled court. On a high throne, under a richly decorated canopy sits the Son of the Heavens himself, the powerful Emperor. He and his ministers are warning Calaf about his intention to try to answer the riddles. Calaf, of course, insists on doing it. The Princess arrives and also warns Calaf about what will follow if he can't solve even one of the riddles. She explains the reasons for this cruel game: once upon a time her ancestress was ravished, abducted and cruelly killed by a foreign con­queror who came from faraway. Because of all this, on behalf of all dynasties, Turandot feels that she has to exact revenge, so she has turned against all men. Turandot warns Calaf once more, but at the end of the duo their voices join in harmony defining briefly the condition: "The riddles are three-the death only one!"- Turandot announces. "The riddles are three-the death only one!"- Calaf answers with pride.
    Turandot poses the riddles and Calaf answers:
    Question: "What changes a man a lot at night, dies each dawn and is born again each night?"
    Answer: (ready at once): "Hope" (which draws you to Turandot)
    Question: "What flickers like a flame, yet is not fire? If a man dies-it cools down, if a man dreams of a conquest it flickers like the sun?"
    Answer: (almost as quick as the first one) "Blood" (in a man burning from love for Turandot)
    Question: "What is like ice but burns?"
Answer: (Calaf answers after a long hesitation, during which Turandot teases him) "Turandot" The crowd is in excitement because the young prince has correctly solved the fatal rid­dles, but Turandot herself is not happy at all. She asks the Emperor: let him cancel the decree and take back his promise to give the princess' hand to the one who would solve the three riddles. But the Emperor answers that his oath cannot be broken. Calaf, though, is not only in love-he possesses a very generous heart, too. He doesn't want to force Turandot. She is free to make her choice, but she will have to answer just one riddle to win this right: what is his name? The answer must be given next morning.

Act Three

    Again, like in the First Act, the scene is in the Imperial garden, under the walls of Peking. The heralds announce that on pain of death no one is allowed to sleep tonight-the name of the Unknown Prince must be found. Calaf sings his aria: "Nessun dorma" ("No one sleeps") in which he expresses his confidence in his recent victory as no one but himself knows his name. In such a way Turandot will be his bride soon.
    The three talkative courtiers-the inseparable Ping, Pang and Pong come to Calaf and try to bribe him with various goods, if he will only tell them his name. Otherwise, thousands of citizens will have to die if the furious Turandot doesn't find the answer to the riddle. They even guarantee him a safe escape from China. Calaf rejects all this.
    But then Timur and Liu are dragged in by the Guards. They have been seen with Calaf and those who arrested them are sure that they know his name. Liu bravely says that only she knows the name of the prince. She is immediately subjected to horrible torture, but in vain-Liu remains silent. Turandot, watching the scene, asks her a question: what gives her such strength? It is love, Liu answers, and in the aria "Tu, che di gel sei cinta" ("Ah, you have chained your heart in ice") she predicts that the haughty Princess Turandot, "with a heart chained in ice", soon will experience love-love for Calaf. At the end of the aria she grabs the Guard's sword and under fear that she will not be able to stand further torture, she commits suicide. Timur gets very upset: he is inconsolable in his grieving, the crowd shares his pain. The funeral procession leaves the gardens. Turandot stays on her own with the Unknown Prince.
    This is the last that Puccini managed to write. The following was written by Alfano.
    The Unknown Prince reproaches Turandot and then, surprisingly, takes her in his arms. The ice of which Liu was singing, melts. Turandot tries to push him away and…returns the kiss. Finally, love springs in the princess' heart. Calaf tells her the secret of his name and offers her his life.
    Sound of trumpets. Fast rearrangement of the set. This time everyone is gathered in the Imperial Palace. Turandot addresses the people. She has found the name of the stranger, she says. This name is Love.