"In questa reggia" ("In this palace") is an aria from Giacomo Puccini's opera Turandot set to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni. The text is based on Friedrich Schiller's adaptation of the play Turandot by Carlo Gozzi. The aria takes place in scene two of the second act, and is sung mostly by the Princess Turandot (soprano), but with a reply from Calaf (tenor), which is a key point of the opera.
In the aria, Turandot explains that she conceived the three riddles as a test for any prince who might want to marry her. She explains that in the same palace, countless generations ago (thousands of years ago), a reigning Princess Lou-Ling was conquered by the King of the Tartars, raped and murdered. In particular, she dwells upon the Princess' final crying out and her moment of death at the hands of a man. Based on the memory and the concept of that crying out having been carried down through the many generations to Turandot herself, she resolves to avenge that death by imposing it on all men who fail in the attempt to marry her. She warns the prince that if he fails to answer any one of the three riddles, he will die.
The climax of the aria occurs with the word "grido" ("outcry" or "crying out") and clearly Turandot is reliving and personifying the last moments of her ancestor, its outrage and its long awaited vengeance.
The orchestra emphasises her ominous final couplet:
But Calaf returns this to her as
Some of the very distinctive music which ends this aria reappears briefly in the act 3 duet Principessa di morte (as completed by Alfano), as Calaf finally embraces a still-reluctant Turandot.
La follaFu quando il Re dei Tartarile sette sue bandiere dispiegò.
TurandotPure nel tempo che ciascun ricorda,fu sgomento e terrore e rombo d'armi.Il regno vinto! Il regno vinto!E Lou-Ling, la mia ava,trascinata da un uomocome te, come te, straniero,là nella notte atrocedove si spense la sua fresca voce!
La follaDa secoli ella dormenella sua tomba enorme.
TurandotO Principi,che a lunghe carovaned'ogni parte del mondoqui venite a gettar la vostra sorte,io vendico su voi,quella purezza, quel gridoe quella morte!Mai nessun, nessun m'avrà!L'orror di chi l'uccisevivi nel cuor mi sta!No, no! Mai nessun m'avrà!Ah, rinasce in me l'orgogliodi tanta purità!Straniero! Non tentar la fortuna!Gli enigmi sono tre,la morte una!
CalafNo, no! Gli enigmi sono tre,una è la vita!
TurandotNo, no! ...... Gli enigmi sono tre, la morte è una!
CalafGli enigmi sono tre, una è la vita!
La follaAl Principe stranierooffri la prova ardita,o Turandot! Turandot!
The crowdIt was when the King of the Tartarsunfurled his seven flags!
TurandotStill in the time all can recall,there was alarm, terror, the rumble of arms!The Kingdom defeated! defeated!And Lo-u-ling, my ancestress,dragged off by a man,like you, like you, stranger,there in the horrid night,where her sweet voice was stilled!
The crowdShe's slept for centuriesin her huge tomb!
TurandotO you princes,with your long caravansfrom every part of the world,who come here to try your fate,in you I avengethat purity, that cry,and that death!No one will ever possess me!The horror of her assassinis still vivid in my heart!No, no one will ever possess me!Ah, in me is reborn the prideof such purity!Stranger, do not tempt Fate!The enigmas are three,but death is one!
CalafNo, no! The enigmas are three,and life is one!
TurandotThe enigmas are three,but death is one!
CalafNo, no! The enigmas are three,and life is one!
The crowdOffer the supreme testto the foreign Prince,O Turandot! Turandot!
Historic recordings go back nearly to the first performance, with those by Eva Turner being particularly notable and available on the web. Turner was present at the first performance, and performed the opera seven months later and throughout the pre-war years.