Before this work was written the composer's teacher at the Milan conservatory, Antonio Bazzini, wrote an opera based on the same play.  In Act 2, the 
Before this work was written the composer's teacher at the Milan conservatory, Antonio Bazzini, wrote an opera based on the same play.  In Act 2, the title character sings the aria "Within This Palace," in which she tells about one of her ancestors who thousands of years earlier was betrayed by a man who conquered her city.  In order to avenge that betrayal, she invents a test which involves questions about a phantom, a fever, and an ice that sets you on fire.  In the third and final act, the blind king of Tartary Timur refuses to reveal a secret, after which his slave girl Liu is tortured and stabs herself to death.  In that act, the aria "Nessun dorma" is sung by Calaf, who wins the titular princess of China.  FTP, name this 1926 opera, which was left unfinished at his death by Giacomo Puccini.
Before this work was written the composer's teacher at the Milan conservatory, Antonio Bazzini, wrote an opera based on the same play.  
Turandot