jmc's classics
There is now some controversy with the Metropolitan Opera and the Opera Turandot by Giacomo Puccini. Turandot was Puccini's last opera and it was completed after his death by Franco Alfano. It premiered in 1926. It is based on a play of the same name by Italian playwright
Carlo Gozzi (1720-1806). The German-Italian composer Ferruccio Busoni (1866-1924) also wrote an opera based on that play The Metropolitan Opera issued a statement that said that the opera may be offensive to some people. Turandot is set in ancient China. No specific date. Some Chinese could take offense. To recap it would take too long. Italians have always had an interest in China and Chinese culture. Marco Polo and other Italians visited China during the late Middle Ages and during the Renaissance periods. In a statement which said that the opera is "ripe with contradictions, distortions and racial stereotypes". According to an article in the New York Post. it would be too long to describe the plot of this opera. However it may show some Chinese stereotypes which could offend some Chinese. I can see how this can be offensive. Stereotypes of any kind can be offensive. We have too look at the time when the opera was written which was in the early 1920's. China was over run by foreign powers. It became a republic and in 1949 went communist. In America Chinese and other Asians were sometimes thought to be inferior. Many other operas of that time may not be considered to be politically correct today. Puccini also wrote some instrumental music and some religious music. Like most Italians, He was Catholic. This opera should be heard with these things in mind.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
April 2024
Categories |