Turandot
An ice-cold princess, three riddles and the most famous aria in the world
Imperial Peking. Turandot decrees: she will marry anyone who solves three riddles. Those who fail lose their heads. Calaf sees Turandot on the balcony and falls desperately in love with her, despite everyone begging him not to try. In the morning, before the emperor and the court, Turandot poses the three riddles. Calaf solves them all. Turandot is shaken. Calaf offers her a way out: if by dawn she can discover his name, she may still have him beheaded.
'Nessun dorma' — let no one sleep in all of Peking until dawn. Calaf's father and Liù are captured. Liù claims she is the only one who knows the name. They torture her. She does not speak. Then she takes a dagger and kills herself rather than betray him. Here Puccini set down his pen. The posthumous ending: Calaf kisses Turandot, she yields, she falls in love. She reveals his name at dawn: 'His name is Love.'
Many believe the true opera ends with Liù's death — the point where Puccini laid down his pen. Toscanini, at the premiere, stopped there and told the audience: 'Here the Master laid down his pen.' Then he lowered his baton.