The Museo del Tessuto’s extraordinary discovery of a collection of costumes and stage jewellery from Giacomo Puccini's Turandot provided the opportunity to create a comprehensive exhibition and this catalogue. This volume includes contributions from specialists with diverse backgrounds. They offer insights to reinterpret the history of one of the most famous and appreciated operas by the great composer from Lucca.
In the costumes and jewels rediscovered, belonging to the wardrobe of Prato soprano Iva Pacetti, were recognised those made by costume designer of the Teatro alla Scala, Luigi Sapelli (also known as Caramba), for the premiere of the opera: subjected to important and complex restoration interventions, they have been investigated in the context of the genesis of Turandot and the artistic partnership between Giacomo Puccini and the artist and friend Galileo Chini, a great interpreter of Italian Liberty who – by reason of a three-year stay in the East – was entrusted with the design of the sets.
Prato, Museo del Tessuto, May - November 2021
Contents
Turandot Costumes and Jewellery at the Museo del Tessuto. Their Discovery, Restoration and Exhibition
Filippo Guarini
Essays
Interweavings between Anthropology and Art. Galileo Chini’s Collection at the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnology in Florence
Monica Zavattaro
A True Story. Galileo Chini, Painting the East and the Siamese Collection
Francesco Morena
“I see the characters and their colour and movements. I am a theatre man. I create theatre”. The Staging and Costumes of Turandot between Puccini, Chini and Caramba
Daniela Degl’Innocenti
Contributions
‘Written’ Inventories of the Teatro alla Scala Warehouse
Rita Citterio
“We defer to the expertise of Corbella”
Elisabetta Franchi
Sartoria Devalle, Caramba’s Costumes and Other Stories
Andrea Devalle
Iva Pacetti
Francesca Cipriani
Entries
The Galileo Chini Collection at the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnology
Caramba’s Costumes for Turandot
Galileo Chini and Giacomo Puccini’s Vision of the East
Restoration
Conservative Restoration of two Turandot Costumes from the Wardrobe of the Soprano Iva Pacetti
Simona Laurini, Azelia Luigia Lombardi, Elisa Zonta
Restoration of Turandot’s Stage Hair Accessory and Crown (1926)
Elena Della Schiava, Tommaso Pestelli, Filippo Tattini
Documentary appendix
A Dressmaking Inventory from the Teatro alla Scala
Daniela Degl’Innocenti
The Genesis of Staging the Opera in the Leading Figures’ Correspondence
Simonetta Bigongiari, Maria Pia Ferraris
List of Sources
Selected Bibliography