Written in 1197 by Azerbaijani poet and philosopher Nizami Ganjavi, the poem Haft-Paykar or Seven Beauties is one of the little-known gems of Oriental literature. Few, even in the most erudite circles, are aware that Giacomo Puccini‘s last opera Turandot is in fact a story of a Slavonic princess from Nizami’s poem. Traveling from East to West, Nizami’s story of Bahram’s wife Nasrin-Nush, narrated to him on Tuesday about the color red and a nameless Slavonic princess, has been introduced in the West as a story of Turandot, Princess of China. The tale has appeared in a number of literary pieces even before Giacomo Puccini spotted it for the plot of his last eponymous opera in 1926. Author: Asli Samadova
19 October 2016
