What is not mentioned here is that Doria Manfredi was the courier of love letters between Puccini and Giulia Manfredi. In that respect, Doria is similar to the character Liu in Turandot who did not betray the name of Prince Salaf, thus preventing his death sentence at the hands of Princess Turandot. Since Doria did not betray the affair of Puccini and Giulia, she saved the composer's reputation. As Puccini's muse, Giulia had saved Puccini when in La Fanciula del West last scene, the character Minnie suddenly rescues her lover Dick Johnson from death by hanging. After the death of her cousin, Giulia could have revealed their affair but didn't and it continued for more than a decade until she bore him a son Alfredo fifteen months before Puccini's death. It is my conjecture that Prince Salaf and Princess Turandot are a dual metaphor for the composer's relationship with Giulia Manfredi.
What is not mentioned here is that Doria Manfredi was the courier of love letters between Puccini and Giulia Manfredi. In that respect, Doria is similar to the character Liu in Turandot who did not betray the name of Prince Salaf, thus preventing his death sentence at the hands of Princess Turandot. Since Doria did not betray the affair of Puccini and Giulia, she saved the composer's reputation. As Puccini's muse, Giulia had saved Puccini when in La Fanciula del West last scene, the character Minnie suddenly rescues her lover Dick Johnson from death by hanging. After the death of her cousin, Giulia could have revealed their affair but didn't and it continued for more than a decade until she bore him a son Alfredo fifteen months before Puccini's death. It is my conjecture that Prince Salaf and Princess Turandot are a dual metaphor for the composer's relationship with Giulia Manfredi.