Another Country Heard From, Part 1

Puccini's 1926 Turandot, comes first to mind...mostly visually. But have you taken a good look at its lyrics lately?

Turandot is not simply an icy-hearted woman who gets her kicks by executing suitors. As she herself explains: a thousand years ago, her ancestor, Princess Lo-u-Ling, had been violated by a Tatar king who had invaded her country. Turandot lives in a society that doesn't value female offspring, where she is really just a political pawn of her father. Clearly the sole heir to the current throne, she must marry and procreate, for the good of China -- who can blame her for hating to be seen as nothing more than a sexual vessel. And, indeed, this is how she is viewed: her proposed mating is sniggeringly and graphically detailed at length by Ping, Pang, and Pong, who don't respect her as a divine being. Though she wears a crown, they sing, she is only a piece of meat. Alas, her father would seemingly agree. When Calaf solves her three riddles, she pleads in vain with Altoum, "You can't give me to him, like a slave girl!" Only by clinging to spinsterhood and virginity, does she retain any power over her own life.

Despite her deadly reputation, many suitors have sought to fill the position of husband -- drawn by the challenge? her beauty? the aspiration to rule China once Altoum kicks the imperial bucket? Like Leporello with his list, the three P's have been keeping score on scrolls: in the Year of the Rat, there were six victims; of the Dog, eight. In the current year, of the Tiger, counting the man who has just flunked the quiz, they total thirteen. The Prince of Samarkand, the Indian Sagarika, the Burmese [prince], the Prince of Kirghiz, of Persia.... Whether they guessed "in Sanskrit, in Chinese, in Mongolian," no applicant's answers had been correct...none but Calaf's. Significantly, Calaf is a Tatar, an exile of his homeland following China's takeover of Mongolia. However, the opportunity to avenge Lo-u-Ling by savagely seducing him doesn't seem to enter into Turandot's mind. Ladylike love wins out in the end.

Although Turandot and Calaf are larger than life, and frankly rather cardboard, Ping, Pang, and Pong are complex characters who represent Chinese-ness on a more human scale. Respectively the Grand Chancellor, the Grand Purveyor, and the Grand Cook, in their cunningly crafted Act II opening trio they alternate descriptions of wedding and funeral rituals -- e.g., red lanterns for the one, white for the other. Despite their lustful lyrics, their oddly gleeful dismay at all the executions, they truly wish the matter of Turandot's future could be resolved once and for all so they could return to the serenity of their homes: a little house in Honan, by a lake; a garden near Kìu; forests, near Tsiang. They are religious men, believing in their hearts that in the end all this royal rumpus doesn't really matter -- there is only the Tao.

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