Act 1: In Peking, in legendary times.
‘The walls of the great Violet City: the Imperial City. The massive ramparts enclose almost the whole stage in a semi-circle.’
At sunset, the square is filled with crowds listening to an announcement from a mandarin. He reads a decree that Turandot, the pure Princess, will wed the man who solves her three riddles. Anyone who stands the trial and fails will be executed. The Prince of Persia, her latest unsuccessful suitor, is to meet this fate at moonrise. The crowd calls for his death, and demand the executioner, Pu-Tin-Pao.
As the guards thrust back the crowds, Timur, the exiled King of Tartary, falls to the ground, and Liù, his slave-girl attendant, calls for help. A young man runs up: it is Calaf, the Unknown Prince, Timur’s son, who has been separated from his father for years. The usurper of their throne is pursuing them, and they can find no safety.
The chorus sings of the blade being sharpened on the whetstone in preparation for the execution. Timur tells Calaf how Liù has guided his flight. The crowd calls for more young lovers to come forward and accept Turandot’s challenge: the riddles are three, but death is one.
As the moon rises, a chorus of boys greet it with a song. Pu-Tin-Tin-Pao confronts the Prince of Persia, and leads him off for execution. The crowd now calls on Turandot for mercy. She appears before them, and confirms the sentence of death. Calaf remains awe-struck by the Princess, and Liù and Timur try to bring him back to his senses. Calaf wishes to win her, and rushes towards the gong to strike the blow that will announce his challenge.
At this moment, Ping, Pang and Pong, Grand Chancellor, Grand Purveyor and Grand Cook, run forward and block his way. They warn the Unknown Prince that he is in danger of death, and should return to his country. The Princess is not worth the sacrifice: she’s nothing but flesh, when all’s said and done. Turandot’s handmaidens call down for silence, but the three Ministers are still determined to deter Calaf from his course. Ghosts of the dead suitors urge him on, and he invokes triumph and the power of love. The executioner holds aloft the Prince of Persia’s head. Timur and Liù plead with him, but he begs her not to cry. All three ask pity of each other, and the ministers make a final appeal, but the moonlight shines on the gong, and the crowd sings that they are already digging his grave. Calaf rushes to the gong and strikes it like a madman: the ministers laugh raucously, exclaiming that it is useless to protest.
Act 2
Scene 1: Ping, Pang and Pong discuss their preparations for what will be either a wedding or a funeral. They lament how China has changed under Turandot’s tyranny: instead of the rule of law, everything has been reduced to this terrible contest. Thirteen have already died this year alone. Ping has a house in Honan, Pang a garden in Kiu, Pong has forests near Tsiang, and they long to return to them. They recollect some of the former suitors: princes of Samarkand, India and the Khirgiz, all killed. They pray that the Princess will find a husband and discover the mysteries of love. Trumpets sound, announcing the start of the ceremony.
Scene 2: Eight sages enter with the sealed answers to Turandot’s three riddles. The crowd greet the sages, and point out Ping, Pang and Pong. Emperor Altoum enters, and the crowd wish him ten thousand years. The Unknown Prince begs three times to face the trial, and the Emperor calls on him to give up his hopeless quest: he is weary of bloodshed. The mandarin announces the rules of the contest as before, and a chorus of boys announces the approach of the Princess.
Turandot narrates how her remote ancestor, the Princess Lao-u-ling, was ravished and abducted by a Tartar invader. It is to avenge her death that Turandot has set up her challenge. She warns Calaf of the rule: the riddles are three, but death is one. Calaf contradicts her: it is life that is one. Turandot reads the first riddle: a ghost rises in the night, invoked by all the world, vanishing with dawn but reborn in the heart. Calaf gives the answer: hope. The sages open the first scroll: the answer is indeed hope. Turandot dismisses this as the hope that always disappoints, and reads the second riddle: what is it that darts like a flame and is not a flame that grows cold with death yet blazes with dreams of conquest? Calaf hesitates, then gives the answer: ‘blood’. The crowd shouts their encouragement, and Turandot, enraged, delivers the third question: frost that inflames you, whiteness and darkness that enslaves you if it wants you free, but in taking you captive, makes you king! Turandot sneers at Calaf’s hesitation, but then he cries the answer: ‘Turandot!’
The crowd rejoices at his victory, but Turandot appeals to her father to spare her the shame of marriage like a slave-girl to a foreigner. The Emperor declares that the oath is sacred. Turandot implores Calaf not to take her reluctant and shuddering into his arms. He tells her that he only wants her ardent with love, and s
ets her a riddle of his own: if she can guess his name before daybreak, he is prepared to die. The Emperor prays that the Unknown Prince will survive, and the crowd hail him.
Act 3
Scene 1: Night. Heralds are heard issuing the royal command: no one shall sleep in Peking. The stranger’s name must be found on pain of death. Calaf repeats their cry, and imagines Turandot in her cold room, looking at the stars as they tremble with love and hope. His secret is locked within him, and no one shall know his name until he speaks it with a kiss. When dawn breaks, he will win!
Ping, Pang and Pong sidle up to him with temptations: if it’s love he wants, they can offer him maidens; if it’s riches, then they have treasures; if it is glory, they’ll arrange his escape to a victory anywhere but here. When he refuses, they threaten him with tortures, and fear that they, too, will be tortured to death if they fail. Just as they are about to attack him, the guards bring in Timur and Liù. Calaf denies that they know him. When Turandot appears, Ping announces his intention to torture the name out of them. First Timur is dragged forward, but Liù goes towards Turandot and tells her that the Prince’s name is known only to her. She cries out under torture, but refuses to give up her secret. Turandot wants to know what has given her such strength to withstand torment, and she tells her that it is love. Turandot is moved for a moment, then orders her ministers to tear her secret from her. Ping and the crowd call for Pu-Tin-Pao, but when the executioner appears, Liù seizes his knife and stabs herself to death. She dies at Turandot’s feet. Timur mourns for Liù. As they carry the body away, even Ping, Pang and Pong feel pity.
Calaf is left facing Turandot. He calls on her to lift her veil and look upon the blood that was shed for her. She refuses: her soul is on high. Calaf clasps her in his arms and kisses her. She admits that dawn has broken, and Turandot’s sun is now setting. Calaf greets the dawn as the beginning of her glory, not the end. Turandot begins to reconcile her conflicting emotions, but still she begs him to leave with his secret. Calaf tells her that there is no mystery now: he is Calaf, the son of Timur. Turandot’s spirit returns with this revelation: now he is in her power, and she can demand his trial before the people. Calaf declares that she has conquered.
Scene 2: The crowd greets the Emperor. Turandot advances towards him, and tells him that she knows the Unknown Prince’s name: it is Love. Calaf and Turandot embrace, while the crowd acclaims the glory of love.