OPEN JOURNAL FOR STUDIES IN ARTS (OJSA)
ISSN (Online) 2620-0635 * ojsa@centerprode.com
|
Center for Open Access in Science (COAS) OPEN JOURNAL FOR STUDIES IN ARTS (OJSA) ISSN (Online) 2620-0635 * ojsa@centerprode.com |
Spectacular Orientalism: Finding the Human in Puccini’s Turandot
Francisca Folch-Couyoumdjian * fafolch@uc.cl * ORCID: 0000-0001-5543-8024 * ResearcherID: AAD-6899-2019
Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, Faculty of Letters, Santiago, CHILE
Open Journal for Studies in Arts, 2019, 2(2), 45-56 * https://doi.org/10.32591/coas.ojsa.0202.02045f
Online Published Date: 9 November 2019
LICENCE: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
ARTICLE (Full Text - PDF)
KEY WORDS: Puccini, Turandot, spectacular orientalism, human alienation.
ABSTRACT:
Giacomo Puccini’s final opera, Turandot (1926), remained unfinished at his death, and is often read as a merely orientalist opera in the guise of his Madama Butterfly. I argue, however, that the unnerving search for the human element felt to be missing from the work, suggests a deeper reflection on the state of a devastated Italy in the aftermath of World War I. Turandot’s fragmented self-foregrounds the performativity of gender and, ultimately, of the human itself. The libretto’s concern with empty characters whose masks hide a terrifying nothingness, as well as the plot point that shows the character of Liù tortured gratuitously on stage, reinforce the idea that, faced with the rise of fascism, the spectacle presented by this opera reveals a disturbing fascination with the alienation of the human, which had dire implications for the value of humanity that would pave the way for another deadly world conflict.
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR:
Francisca Folch-Couyoumdjian, Facultad de Letras, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Avda.Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Macul, Santiago, CHILE. E-mail: fafolch@uc.cl.
REFERENCES:
Adami, G. (Ed.) (1974). Letters of Giacomo Puccini: Mainly connected with the composition and production of his operas. (E. Makin, Trans.). London: Harrap.
Adami, G., & Simoni, R. (2004). Turandot libretto. Turandot: L’Avant-Scène Opéra. N. 220. Paris: Éditions Premières Loges, 2004. 5-68.
Arnesen, I. J. (2009). The romantic world of Puccini: A new critical appraisal of the operas. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers.
Ashbrook, W., & Powers, H. (1991). Puccini’s Turandot: The end of the great tradition. Princeton: Princeton UP.
Berger, W. (2005). Puccini without excuses: A refreshing reassessment of the world’s most popular composer. New York: Vintage Books.
Cao, H. (2004). Turandot: Literary and musical commentary. Turandot: L’Avant-Scène Opéra, 220, 5-68.
DiGaetani, J. L. (2001). Puccini the thinker: The composer’s intellectual and dramatic development. New York: Peter Lang.
Huysmans, J. K. (1969). Against the grain (À Rebours). (Unknown Trans.). New York: Dover Editions. Retrieved from http://www.ibiblio.org/eldritch/jkh/rebours.html (Original work published 1884).
Kleist, H. v. (1992). On the marionette theater. (Christian-Albrecht Gollub, Trans.). In A. Leslie Wilson (Ed.), German Romantic Criticism (pp. 238-244). New York: Continuum Publishing Company. (Original work published 1810).
Osborne, C. (1982). The complete operas of Puccini: A critical guide. New York: Atheneum.
Prasso, S. (2005). The Asian mystique. New York: Public Affairs.
Said, E. (1994a). Culture and imperialism. New York: Vintage Books.
Said, E. (1994b). Orientalism. New York: Vintage Books, 1994.
Scarry, E. (1985). The body in pain: The making and unmaking of the world. New York: Oxford UP.
Wilde, O. (1904). Salomé. London: Melmoth & Co.
Wilson, A. (2007). The Puccini problem: Opera, nationalism and modernity. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.
© Center for Open Access in Science