Nessun Dorma (just a little bit of opera...)

Placido Domingo, José Carreras, and Luciano Pavarotti
 

   I am not a huge opera fan. I can only actually name probably four or five of them. A few years ago, though, I accidentally ended up watching a PBS special in which "The Three Tenors" sang "Nessun Dorma", an aria from an opera called "Turandot", by Giacomo Puccini. The Three Tenors were comprised of Placido Domingo, José Carreras and Luciano Pavarotti. An aria is normally sung by one person but for this performance each of the tenors sang portions of it.

Giacomo Puccini

   By the time the song was over, I had chills running up and down my spine and you could tell that it had had the same effect on the audience. I missed the actual title of the aria and had to investigate further to find out what it was called. Since then I have heard many versions of Nessun Dorma by a wide variety of performers, both male and female. I have included the Three Tenors version here, not because its version is anymore superior to another but simply because, with one viewing, you will see three extraordinary musical talents.
   I have decided to include both the Italian words to the opera as well as their English translation below:

Nessun dorma! Nessun dorma!
Tu pure, o, Principessa,
nella tua fredda stanza.
guardi le stelle
che tremano d'amore
e di speranza.
Mal il mio mistero e chiuso in me,
il nome mio nessun sappra!
No, no, sulla tua bocca lo diro
quando la luce splendera!
Ed il mio bacio sciogliera il silenzio
che to ma fia!
(Il nome suo nessun sapra!...
e noi dovrem, ahime, morir!)
Dilegua, o notte!
Tramontate stelle!
Tramontate stelle!
All'aba vincero!
Vincero, vincero!

Nobody shall sleep!...
Nobody shall sleep!
Even you, o Princess,
In your cold room, watch the stars,
that tremble with love and with hope.
But my secret is hidden within me,
my name no one shall know...
No!...No!...
On your mouth I will tell it when the light shines.
And my kiss will dissolve the silence that makes you mine!...
(No one will know his name and we must, alas, die.)
Vanish, o night!
Set, stars! Set, stars!
At dawn, I will win! I will win! I will win!

   If there had been any hint that opera was something I might have had the slightest interest in probably it was when I was a kid and listened to Mario Lanza singing on the soundtrack album for the movie "The Student Prince". This was an album I would play over and over and much of it was simply due to Lanza's voice, it was like nothing I'd ever heard before. My favourite song on the album was "Drink, Drink, Drink", kind of a boisterous drinking/love song and his voice was magnificent, towering over the men's chorus.
   Until running into the Three Tenors on PBS, however, whatever interest I might have had in opera lay extremely dormant.
   The human vocal cords can be an utterly astonishing thing. Nowhere is this demonstrated as clearly as when you listen to the highly-trained operatic voice. Whether you are an opera fan or not, it is impossible to not be impressed. In researching this one aria alone I ran into the likes of José Cura, Jussi Bjorling and Giuseppe di Stefano, all who have rendered it amazingly. As a further example of the combined power of the voice and this one piece of music you need look no further than Paul Potts' performance of it on "Britain's Got Talent" a few years back. The reaction of both the judges and the audience is testament to the power of opera and this one aria in particular. I can only imagine that most of the people there that evening had barely a working knowledge of opera and yet all were moved.
   I would invite you to test the operatic waters, as it were, when you have the time. These days musical downloads and YouTube, it is possible to do this almost instantaneously. There is wonderfully moving music out there, just waiting for you to experience it.