Throwback Thursday: "Tu che di gel sei cinta" from "Songs of the East"

Happy Throwback Thursday! Today's excerpt is the beautiful aria "Tu che di gel sei cinta," featured in our June 2024 salon, "Songs of the East"! In Giacomo Puccini's final opera, "Turandot," deposed Tartar prince Calaf has wandered into ancient Peking and fallen in love with the icy princess of the opera's title. She has put many suitors to death with a deadly game of riddles, but this foreign prince at last vanquishes her by answering all three correctly. When Turandot begs not to be given to him, he strikes a deal with her: if she can guess his name before dawn, he will be put to death. As dawn grows near, his blind father and loyal slave girl, Liu (Cinballera Co-Founder Rebekah Brannan) are dragged in on suspicion of knowing him. Liu proclaims she alone knows his name, but refuses to confess it, even under torture. As she is about to be dragged off for further interrogation, she breaks free of her guards, telling Turandot to listen to her. She proclaims that the icy princess will come to love the prince as she does. Before dawn, she will close her eyes for the last time so that he may be victorious. As the aria ends, she takes a dagger from one of the guards and stabs herself, sealing her lips with death. #cinballera #ThrowbackThursday #cinballerasalon #operanight #turandot #puccini #italianopera #opera #ancientpeking #china #aria #lastopera #finalaria #sacrifice #tragedy #UnrequitedLove