Angelo Rulli reported a stolen music box, dated at 1850 and playing Chinese
music written by Puccini for his opera Turandot.  A bit unlikely -- Puccini
wasn't born until 1858 and he wrote Turandot in 1926.  No wonder it was
stolen, it's surely unique!

Michael Wolff¶
New Zealand¶
michaelw@ihug.co.nz

 [ Editors note:
 [
 [ I think the melodies in "Turandot" were familiar well before 1926.
 [ Our member, Miss Miho Matsuo, wrote to me in October concerning a
 [ Swiss music box which plays Oriental melodies:
 [
 [> Today I hit on the idea that I should also check Puccini's
 [> "Turandot", and it was not useless.  As far as I could recognize there
 [> were 2 [Chinese] tunes included in the opera. This story takes place
 [> in Beijing, and these melodies were described as Chinese folk songs.
 [
 [ snip - "ascii music" ]
 [
 [> This could be the song number one, which I mentioned as a song
 [> brought into Japan about 50 years ago.  Some books say that it was
 [> also popular in Europe at the end of 18th century, and was called
 [> "Moo-Lee-Wha".  Judging from the Chinese characters shown in the book,
 [> it is a kind of chicken often used as a metaphor of dawn.  The motiv
 [> appears through out the whole play, representing a Chinese princess
 [> named Turandot.
 [
 [> Also, some books had an interesting story. I will try to translate.
 [>  "It is said that Puccini quoted several melodies from a music box
 [>   which his friend, Barone Fassini, a consul long resided in China,
 [>   had owned. It played the newly decided national anthem of Ching
 [>   [the Ching Dynasty], and other old Chinese folk music..."
 [
 [ Robbie Rhodes