Nessun Dorma - A Puccini Aria Interpreted

Ryan Workman is a Pennsylvania professional who provides sales and marketing leadership at Susquehanna Computer Innovations. Active with the National Federation of Music Clubs, Ryan Workman has also taught choral performance and serves as director of music for Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church. In his own progression as a singer, he has followed Luciano Pavarotti’s dictum "To be a singer is to be an eternal student."

One of Pavarotti’s noteworthy aria recordings is of Nessun Dorma from Turandot, a 1920s Puccini opera that combined a fairytale premise with horror. The song title is often translated as “none shall sleep” and reflects the wish of Princess Turandot that none of her subjects shall sleep, on pain of death, until they discover the identity of the man who dares love her. At that time, she plans to also have him put to death.

Rather than let this dissuade him, Calaf, the man at whom this directive is aimed, muses on it in an aria, coming to the conclusion that the princess’ fixation on him means that he has a chance of winning her hand. Indeed, the following morning, the man, whose real name is Love, does manage to marry his destructive paramour, and they live happy ever after.

With the protracted conflict of World War I not far behind, Puccini’s message seems to be one of hope, voiced by Calaf, that love will prevail despite that senseless tragedy of the world. Pavarotti conveyed these deeply felt qualities in an iconic 1972 recording that featured the tenor’s extended top B. It was used by the BBC nearly two decades later in promoting its 1990 World Cup coverage. That year, Pavarotti also resurrected the song as a solo encore, standing beside Carreras and Domingo at the Grammy-winning Three Tenors concert in Rome.