Unfinished Art Giacomo Puccini's Turandot

About the unfinished work of art Giacomo Puccini's Turandot, history and description of the piece.

RENOWNED UNFINISHED WORKS FROM THE ARTS TO ARCHITECTURE

8. GIACOMO PUCCINI: TURANDOT (begun 1921)

Puccini's last opera, which might have been one of the finest music dramas of the 20th century, was written in a race against death. The composer, dying from cancer of the throat, remarked, "The opera will be given incomplete and somebody will come forward and say: 'At this point the composer died.' "A year after the composer's death at his prophecy came true. At the premiere--given at La Scala in Milan on April 25, 1926--the conductor, Arturo Toscanini, turned to the audience halfway through the last act and said, "Here the maestro laid down his pen." So that the work could hold the stage, Puccini's friend and fellow composer Franco Alfano was asked to complete it from sketches Puccini had left. Although Alfano used Puccini's themes, the last scene was unable to fulfill expectations raised by the rest of the opera.