Chapter 13Milan, 1925
With Alfano’s additions to Puccini’s score now complete, Toscanini began to work with the cast in earnest. No more could Miguel and others wonder where they were going—vocally at least. Now they all had a road map. The death of Liù, Calaf’s faithful servant, would signal a sea change in the relationship of the ardent, questing Tartar prince and the adamant, withholding Chinese princess. She would capitulate, and love would triumph—at least onstage, in theory.
In reality, the maestro’s Turandot and Calaf couldn’t have been further apart. In rehearsal, Rosa sat on the edge of a chair from which she could spring into action, looking soigné in a drop-waist black dress, swathed in ropes of pearls and a shawl of flaming colors. Clothes were a kind of armor, Toscanini thou
