Berio V Alfano Paper

Putting Puccini to Rest: A comparison of Alfano and Berio’s finales to Turandot By Matt Pollock On April 25 th , 1926 Giacomo Puccini’s final opera ‘Turandot’ was premiered at La Scala in Milan. At the height of the dramatic third act, at which point Liù kills herself and is carried offstage, conductor Arturo Toscanini laid down his baton and announced to the crowd in a quiet voice that at this point in the composition of the opera the composer had died, and the curtain lowered on the stage. 1 Accounts vary as to what exactly Toscanini said, but Puccini’s wishes had been made clear by his own words: “If I do not succeed in finishing the opera, someone will come to the front of the stage and say, ‘Puccini composed as far as this, then he died.’” 2 The opera was a major success, but many felt that for Turandot to truly come to life, the final duet between the Prince and Turandot would need to be completed. Little did the public know, two versions by the Italian composer Franco Alfano had already been composed, but neither held enough validity in Toscanini’s mind that he chose to end it with Puccini’s contribution rather than tarnish his old friend’s image. 3 A group of close friends of Puccini’s had gathered including Toscanini, the librettist Adami, several members of the Ricordi publishing group, and Puccini’s son Tonio. 4 A few major composers were discussed as possible candidates, specifically Puccini’s contemporaries Riccardo Zandonai and Franco Vittadini , but Tonio objected on the grounds of their popular status in the 1 Ashbrook and Powers, Puccini’s Turandot p. 153 2 Adami, Letters of Giacomo Puccini , p. 255 3 Ashbrook/Powers, p. 152-3 4 Fairtile, Duetto a tre": Franco Alfano's Completion of "Turandot" p. 167 Italian opera community. 5 The job then came to Alfano, a contemporary of Puccini’s who was an experienced but less famed composer of opera. The Ricordi representatives were particularly happy with this decision as Alfano was already a member of the Ricordi roster, which would make contracting less of an issue.6 Alfano had some difficult shoes to fill, as well as some very barebones sketches from which to work. His completed version was flatly refused by the hard-to-please Toscanini, and he was sent back to work on a second draft after Toscanini made several cuts of his own.7 In Alfano’s defense, he actually did not even see Puccini’s original orchestration of the first two acts until shortly before finishing his first draft. 8 Although this draft is used today, Toscanini himself never conducted what he saw as an inadequate finale to Puccini’s challenging opera. 9 Alfano’s edited version has been the standard for the years since Puccini’s death, but another finale was commissioned by the Festival de Musica de Gran Canarias and sanctioned by the Puccini family in 2001 from what some saw as an unlikely option: the famed Italian composer Luciano Berio. 10 Berio, a composer who was in the forefront of experimental electronic music as well as a practitioner (at least at times) of dodecaphonic composition, was seen by more traditional musicians as a radical and unfit for the job. However, Berio was a connoisseur of Italian tradition and had extensive experience working with historical musical materials. His finale was premiered in 2002 to mixed reviews. They are both used today, although the general tendency is towards Alfano’s time-tested rendition. Perhaps even more intriguing in this 5 Fairtile, p. 169 6 Fairlite, p. 169 7 Phillips-Matz, Puccini p. 308 8 Ashbrook/Powers, p. 153 9 Ashbrook/Powers, p. 153 10 Uvietta, È l'ora della prova': Berio's finale for Puccini's "Turandot" p. 187 scenario is the challenge of the libretto itself. After a tale depicting the merciless nature of Turandot, the heartless Chinese princess is suddenly changed by a single kiss from the Prince and everyone allegedly lives happily ever after. Puccini’s correspondence with the librettist, Giuseppe Adami, reveals his discontent with the manner of the finale and his fear of how he would ever possibly set it convincingly.11 The challenge that both Alfano and Berio faced with the libretto was painfully clear well before Puccini’s death. Puccini’s perfectionism and forwardness about any changes he desired resulted in the final act being redrafted by Adami at least five times. 12 Regardless, the libretto had to be dealt with and each composer did it in his own way. As mentioned above, Puccini completed through the end of Liu’s death scene, but had written much of the vocal confrontation between the Prince and Turandot following this. As far as libretto differences go, they are almost exclusively cuts that Berio has made; his finale is shorter in text than Alfano’s. One of the most obvious changes that Berio makes from Alfano’s ending text is the removal of possessive statements on the part of Calaf. For instance, at rehearsal 38 in Alfano’s version, Calaf states “Ti voglio mia!” (thou art mine), which Berio removes. 3 bars later Calaf reiterates this, and Berio again omits it. 9 bars after rehearsal 44 in Alfano’s version, Turandot states “Ah! Vinta, più che dall’alta prova, da questa febbre che mi vien da te!” (Conquered, not as much by the enigmas as the fever which I get from thee!), to which Calaf responds “Sei mia!” (Thou art mine!). 13 11 Adami, Giuseppe Letters of Giacomo Puccini George G. Harrap & Co. 1931 p.254-318 12 Uvietta, p. 188 13 For all libretto changes, see Puccini, Giacomo Turandot, completamento (del terzo atto) di Luciano Berio p. 14-58 and Puccini, Giacomo Turandot Lyric Drama in Three Acts & Five Scenes (Alfano completion) p. 353-84 Berio seems to avoid these possessive declamations for a couple reasons: First, society has changed quite drastically between 1926 and 2001, and love is not considered a trait based in ownership as it perhaps may have been in the early 20 th century. Although women were seen as possessions in the male-dominant society of Puccini or Alfano’s time, Berio lived in the more egalitarian society we know today and removed these lines to avoid being not only outdated, but also to avoid being offensive. However, even in the sexist atmosphere of the 1920s these possessive characteristics seem out of place in Alfano’s libretto. Turandot is a proud and heartless princess, and the idea of Calaf simply “winning”, putting her on his trophy shelf, and marching home triumphantly does not fit with the tense interpersonal relations throughout the opera. It may be that Puccini also found this a dramatically weak resolution to the opera’s main conflict, which could explain his demand for several revisions and his hesitation to approach the final duet. The largest single cut in Berio’s version from Alfano’s libretto occurs during Turandot’s “Del primo pianto.” Alfano continues on with “ Con angoscia ho sentito il brivido fatale di questo male supremo! Quanti ho visto morire per me! E li ho spregiati ma ho temuto te! C’era negli occhi tuoi la luce degli eroi!” (I felt anguish of that fatal quiver, of that supreme pain! Death’s pallor I beheld with scorn on those that died for me, and yet for thee I trembled! Within thine eyes there shone the light of heroes!”) Berio completely omits this, in what again seems to be his avoidance of the classic 19 th century heroic image that relates to the possessive love concept he previously removed. They rejoin on the following line, “c’era negli occhi tuoi la superb certezza.” Another important contrast in approach to the libretto is the final moments of the opera. In the version finished by Alfano, following Turandot’s declamation that “the name of the stranger is love”, there is a final chorus that exalts the power of love: that “The light of the world is love” and “With smiles and song our infinite happiness greets the sun! Glory be to thee!” This coincides with his related musical ending, which reflects this somewhat superficial happiness that defies earlier events in the plot. Berio on the other hand reiterates “is love! Is love!” repeatedly between Calaf and Turandot, before giving way to a wordless “ah” in the chorus as the final vocal moment. 14 His choice to give less of a resolution to the earlier conflict between these two complex characters is also reflected in his more ambiguous musical ending. Both of these endings will be discussed later in this paper. There are several other small libretto differences, but they only serve to reinforce the points made above. Berio above all seems to be cutting anything questionable in the libretto, making it as concise (at least textually) as possible. This allows him to minimize the amount of material that he has to freely compose, but also gives room for slight interludes based on Puccini’s original sketches which serve to deal with the challenging plot twist from a musical standpoint rather than through dialogue. Alfano seems to be dealing with the plot twist through dialogue, requiring more freely composed music for the text that Puccini did not leave indications for but also sticking to the dialogue outlined by Puccini. The question of how they dealt with music is just as important, and particularly how they approached the existing sketches in relation to what they would have to freely compose themselves.

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