Chapter 16Milan, 1925
If Turandot did not require a cast of a thousand, it was close to it. Besides the one hundred musicians under his command in the pit, Toscanini had eleven principals, three hundred choral singers, ninety ballet dancers, procession members, thirty onstage musicians, and two hundred fifty supernumeraries to shepherd to success, and he intended to do it with all the aggressive vigilance of a Border Collie.
Toscanini had a vision of old Peking as a city teeming with merchants, slaves, officials and, despite the prohibitions, foreigners, which would explain the presence of Timur; the Unknown Prince, his son, Calaf; and their faithful servant, Liù.
He imagined a world of blues and whites, like Carla’s Chinese export porcelain tea set, for the nighttime scenes, particular
