What reason would there be for dropping it? The name isn't French.

 

Wikipedia's definition does sound the T - /ˈtʊr.ən.dɑːt/

Puccini used a story by Carlo Gozzi who based his on a 12th century Persian poem about Turan-Dokht (daughter of Turan).

 

Imm the version sung by Pavarotti he pronounces the t on the end

 

It is clearly Turan-dot. Turan-doh is only ever said by those who have never heard an opera in their lives and think Puccini is a kind of pasta!:lol:

 

Actually, it really isn't quite that simple. This conundrum has been going on for years among two different camps.
In the Matz book "Puccini" he writes a letter to his publisher Ricordi and states, " No, no! Turandot no!" Some take this to be a rhyme with the silent "T".

 

Silent T.

http://medicine-opera.com/2008/12/turandot-without-the-t/:

Patrick Vincent Casali has written a long article (Opera Quarterly 13 (4): 77-91, 1997) detailing Puccini's intention that his opera be pronounced Turando[t]. Here's a 1962 interview with the Met's John Gutman and Rosa Raisa the first Turandot:

GUTMAN: In addition to being the very first Turandot, I know, Mme Raisa, that you appeared in other world premieres and several
American premieres. Would you tell our audience, please, what some of those premieres were?
RAISA: My pleasure, Mr. Gutman. In addition to Turando[t], which is pronounced the way I pronounce it and also [the way] it was
pronounced by Puccini and Toscanini, so, [therefore] it is really "Turando[t]," not Turandot!"
GUTMAN: [taken aback] Thank you very much, Mme Raisa. This interests me very much. I know that this has been a controversy for a long time and . . . ah, we certainly take your word for it, since you were the original Turando[t].
RAISA: Thank you.

Listen to the interview here:

Here's another with Robert Lloyd and Dame Eva Turner a famous Turandot who was at the opera's first performance.

LLOYD: Dame Eva, there's one little problem we have to solve before we can have this conversation.
TURNER: Yes?
LLOYD: I've noticed that you say Turando[t]."
TURNER: Yes.
LLOYD: And I say "Turandot." Can you explain why?
TURNER: Yes. Well, because in my day it was always "Turando[t]." And you see, I was at the first performance that Toscanini conducted, and [pause] it was "Turando[t]." And whenever [sic] I sang it for the first time, or whenever I sang it, I say "Turando[t]." And, I think I have to confess, I like it. More especially when it involves a musical line, to keep the continuity going. It isn't quite so chopped. But of course, it isn't quite so Chinese [laughs].

 

Does Calaf pronounce it either way depending on the recording?

 

Turandot, Turandough, tomato, tomayto! Ah, the great mysteries of language. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. Or would it?

 

Which reminds me of the girl auditioning for a broadway show and gets up on the stage with the director sitting in the audience.
She hands her music to the pianist and proceeds to sing:
"You say tomato and I say tomato, you say potato and I say potato..".
Just then the director interrupts her and shouts out, "that's you say tomato and I say tomahto, you say potato and I say potahto".
"Oops! I'm sorry" says the ingenue who clears her throat and begins again: "You say tomato and I say tomato, you say potato and I say potato...".
Annoyed the director interrupts and shouts, "Thank you, we'll call YOU, Miss Levine."
"LEVEEN" yells back the singer.

 

This is similar to the story told by Ira Gershwin in his book about his lyrics. I.e. the ingenue is singing the words to their author.

Interesting thread.

 

We have an "artist", and I use the term loosely, in Scotland called Sydney Devine. Should I now refer to him as Deveen?

 

Do any singers actually pronounce the "t" after sustaining the "o", like when Calaf calls out to Turandot in Act 1? It just adds an ugly spit sound and this ain't German.

 

Turandot ain't German, bit it ain't French either. It ain't Italian. It ain't Chinese. What is it? It's Persian:

'Turandot is a Persian word and name that means "the daughter of Turan", Turan being a region of Central Asia, formerly part of the Persian Empire. The name of the opera is taken from Persian Turandokht, with dokht being a contraction of dokhtar (daughter); the kh and t are both pronounced.' (Wikipedia)

Wiki goes on:

'According to Puccini scholar Patrick Vincent Casali, the final t is silent in the opera's and title character's name, making it sound [turanˈdo]. Soprano Rosa Raisa, who created the title role, says that Puccini never pronounced the final t. Eva Turner, a prominent Turandot, did not pronounce the final t, as television interviews with her attest. Casali also maintains that the musical setting of many of Calaf's utterances of the name makes sounding the final t all but impossible.[2] On the other hand, Simonetta Puccini, the composer's granddaughter and keeper of the Villa Puccini and Mausoleum, has said that the final t must be pronounced. Italo Marchini questioned her about this in 2002. Ms. Puccini said that in Italian the name would be Turandotta. In the Venetian dialect of Carlo Gozzi the final syllables are usually dropped and words end in a consonant, ergo Turandott, as the name has been made Venetian.'

 

On the same subject: I once asked a conductor I knew why everyone seems to call the opera by Janacek "'JEN-uh-fa" yet in the opera itself the characters refer to her as "Jeh-'NOO-fa" and he explained that poetically it is easier to sing that way.
Do you agree with his assessment?

 

No, everybody I know calls it Je-NOO-fa.

N.

 

I say that the more musical version of Turandot rules where opera is concerned! Nowadays we are conditioned to hearing it pronounced as Turandot with not the only the final T sounded, but crossed as well!!! However, this has sounded overly explosive to my ears. I am not a native Italian, but I have heard the language spoken all of my life in both its Tuscan and dialect forms. Yes, it would probably be Turandotta in Italiano which would soften the explosive final T. However given the musical flow of what Puccini composed Turando (senza t) makes much more musical sence. The Turandotta would have too many syllables given the vocal lines composed by Puccini. Plus the three syllables of Turando(t) fit perfectly into all the references to three related to the libretto.

Remember that the Donizetti opera is entitled Maria Stuarda not Maria Stuart or even Maria Stuarta with the D further softening the effect of the T. This sounds more musical to the Italian portion of my ears if not the English lanuauge side of my ears in my opinion.

Also temember that it is "Andiam Macbetto" not "Macbeth"!

So I'm saying that both Gaetano and Giuseppe would probably agree with Giacomo!

Still if Franco Corelli wants to sing it with the T I ain't gonna complain!

 

I always suspected that Puccini saying, "No, no, no, Turandot, no!" was actually pronouncing it without the final "T" to go with his rhyme. (but what do I know, anyway?)

 

Who says that he meant that to rhyme?

N.

 

No one but me "N". I stand alone.