No Sleep Until Dawn with Puccini's Nessun dorma
The Best Moments
Nessun dorma, from Turandot, SC 91
I'm Giacomo Puccini, and what follows are the best moments of my Nessun dorma. You'll hear how a quiet night in the palace gardens builds, over barely three or four minutes, into the closing cry of "Vincerò!", and why that short climb has moved listeners for so long. Here on this site my fellow composers and I also help you recognize our pieces the moment they begin, so give the Trainer a go and see how quickly it comes to you.
---
A Very Bad Night for Sleeping
I open Nessun dorma in the moonlit palace gardens, where the unknown prince Calaf has just heard that nobody in Peking may sleep until his name is found. The music begins with an echo of the heralds' proclamation, a bit like a town crier whose announcement is still ringing in your ears when you try to nod off.
The Calm Before the Big Note
In the middle I let the melody grow slowly while Calaf becomes more and more sure of himself, like a man who has peeked at the last page of the book. Just before the climax a women's chorus is heard in the distance, and I like to think the whole night holds its breath to listen.
The Note Everybody Waits For
I finish the aria on the word "Vincerò!", and I'll admit that in my score the high B is only a sixteenth note, followed by an A written as a whole note. The long, glorious holds are a performance tradition and not something I wrote down, so the tenors really owe me a thank-you note for all that applause.
---
I hope you enjoyed learning about the best moments of Nessun dorma, and that it left you curious to hear it again. For me, the aria has always been a short piece with a long reach. It lasts only about three or four minutes, and yet it carries a whole night of waiting, a prince's quiet confidence and that final, shining "Vincerò!". There's a nice detail in that last note, by the way. The long, held notes people wait for aren't actually written in my score, because the B is a short sixteenth note and the A a whole note, so the holds come from performance tradition. Singers and audiences have built that moment together over the years. There's still a lot more to discover about Nessun dorma. You could follow its path from the opera house to the football stadium, where Pavarotti's 1972 recording became the theme of the BBC's coverage of the 1990 World Cup. You could also find out how Franco Alfano finished Turandot after I died in 1924, and how his ending brings the melody back one last time. I left the opera unfinished, but that return of the tune still feels like a fitting way to close. If you'd like to keep exploring, please click on the links provided. I hope they lead you to a recording that makes you listen as if for the first time.