Boston University musicologist Deborah Burton has published “The Finales of Turandot: Puccini’s Last Act,” a study examining the various completions of Puccini’s unfinished opera from 1925 to the present.

The 304-page book, out Sept. 21, 2026, from Routledge, explores the social and musical contexts behind each completion, including Franco Alfano’s 1925 version written under fascist Italy, Luciano Berio’s 2001 finale shaped by postmodern musical forces, Hao Weiya’s 2008 completion commissioned by the Chinese government, and Christopher Tin’s 2024 finale, which responded to criticism of negative female and racial stereotypes in earlier versions. It also includes incipits from Puccini’s sketches, Berio’s working materials, new English translations of relevant correspondence, and other historical source material.

This past summer a reconstructed epilogue by Burton had its world premiere at Teatro della Pergola in Florence.

“The authoritative survey of a century of attempts to pen an ending to Turandot,” said Christopher Tin, per an official press release. “Each composer reveals their challenges in completing the work, taking approaches that vary as greatly as the composers themselves. Yet despite all the different results, a common thread runs throughout: a love, and tremendous respect, for the grandeur, compositional prowess, and musical eloquence of Puccini’s final masterpiece.”

Burton is an associate professor of composition and music theory at Boston University, where her research focuses on opera analysis, counterpoint, and the history of music theory with an emphasis on Italian sources. Her previous monograph, “Recondite Harmony: Essays on Puccini’s Operas,” was published by Pendragon Press in 2012. She served as president of the New England Conference for Music Theory from 2006 to 2008.