Ndlovu Youth Choir 🇿🇦 Nessun Dorma 🎼

Ndlovu Youth Choir 

🇿🇦  Nessun Dorma 🎼

An Italian operatic masterpiece re-imagined as a dream-like African fantasy.

Puccini’s ‘Nessun Dorma’ blends timeless elegance with the vocal a cappella traditions of South Africa. Performed in isiZulu. This re-imagination of a timeless classic blends the spirit of Africa with the gravitas of grand opera.

Ndlovu Youth Choir

Nessun Dorma

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👉Although a cappella is technically defined as singing without instrumental accompaniment, some groups use their voices to emulate instruments; others are more traditional and focus on harmonizing. A cappella styles range from gospel music to contemporary to barbershop quartets and choruses. 

Luciano Pavarotti 🎼 Nessun dorma

Italian and English Subtitles

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Although "Nessun dorma" had long been a staple of operatic recitals, Luciano Pavarotti popularised the piece beyond the opera world in the 1990s following his performance of it for the 1990 FIFA World Cup, which captivated a global audience. Both Pavarotti and Plácido Domingo released singles of the aria, with Pavarotti's reaching number 2 in the UK, and it appeared on the best-selling classical album of all time, The Three Tenors in Concert. The Three Tenors, which includes José Carreras, performed the aria at three subsequent FIFA World Cup Finals, in 1994 in Los Angeles, 1998 in Paris, and 2002 in Yokohama. Since 1990, many crossover artists have performed and recorded it. The aria has been sung often in films and on television.

Nessun Dorma	English
Nessun dorma! Nessun dorma!	None shall sleep! None shall sleep!
Tu pure, o Principessa,	Not even you, oh Princess,
nella tua fredda stanza,	in your cold bedroom,
guardi le stelle	watching the stars
che tremano d'amore, e di speranza!	that tremble with love, and with hope!
Ma il mio mistero è chiuso in me;	But my secret is hidden within me;
il nome mio nessun saprà!	no one will know my name!
No, No! Sulla tua bocca,	No, no! On your mouth,
lo dirò quando la luce splenderà!	I will say it when the light shines!
Ed il mio bacio scioglierà	And my kiss will dissolve
il silenzio che ti fa mia!	the silence that makes you mine!
Just before the climactic end of the aria, a chorus of women is heard singing in the distance:
Il nome suo nessun saprà,	No one will know his name,
E noi dovrem, ahimè, morir, morir!	and we will have to, alas, die, die!
Calaf, now certain of victory, sings:
Dilegua, o notte!	Vanish, o night!
Tramontate, stelle!	Fade, you stars!
Tramontate, stelle!	Fade, you stars!
All'alba, vincerò!	At dawn, I will win!
Vincerò! Vincerò!	I will win! I will win!

In typical performance style, the final "Vincerò!" features a sustained B₄, followed by the final note, an A₄ sustained even longer - although Puccini's score did not explicitly specify that either note be sustained. In the original score, the B is written as a sixteenth note while the A is written as a whole note. Both are high notes in the tenor range.

                            

Luciano Pavarotti

Nessun Dorma! 

(Lyric Video)

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"Nessun dorma" achieved pop status after Luciano Pavarotti's 1972 recording of it was used as the theme song of BBC television's coverage of the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy. It subsequently reached no. 2 on the UK Singles Chart.  Although Pavarotti rarely sang the role of Calaf on stage, "Nessun dorma" became his signature aria and a sporting anthem in its own right, especially for football. Pavarotti notably sang the aria during the first Three Tenors concert on the eve of the 1990 FIFA World Cup Final in Rome. For an encore, he performed the aria again, taking turns with José Carreras and Plácido Domingo. The image of three tenors in full formal dress singing in a World Cup concert captivated the global audience. The album of the concert achieved triple platinum record status in the United States alone and went on to outsell all other classical recordings worldwide. The number became a regular feature of subsequent Three Tenors concerts, and they performed it at three subsequent FIFA World Cup Finals, in 1994 in Los Angeles, 1998 in Paris, and 2002 in Yokohama.

Pavarotti gave a rendition of "Nessun dorma" at his final performance, the finale of the 2006 Winter Olympics opening ceremony, although it was later revealed that he had lip-synched the specially pre-recorded performance as it was too cold for him to sing live. His Decca recording of the aria was played at his funeral during the flypast by the Italian Air Force. In 2013, the track was certified gold by the Federation of the Italian Music Industry. The track was remixed in 2024 by Timmy Trumpet and Steve Aoki.

Puccini  🎼 Nessun Dorma

'Turandot'  *Jonas Kaufmann * BBC Proms
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https://youtu.be/suj-2sbSFKs?si=qUUn5U940ZiySf3A  

In Giacomo Puccini's opera Princess Turandot poses three riddles to any prince who seeks to marry her. 
These riddles are: 
🤔 "What is born each night and dies each dawn?"
🤔 "What flares warm like a flame, yet is not a flame?"
🤔 "What is like ice that burns?"

                                                   🙋🏻‍♂️ Answers below...

Jonas Kaufmann

👇 Turandot, Atto III 🎼 Nessun Dorma 👇
https://youtu.be/xN-JCdM4or0?si=piDSjPyrldE0Eid6

"Nessun dorma" ('Let no one sleep' or "None shall Sleep")  is a famous aria from the final act of Italian composer Giacomo Puccini's opera Turandot (text by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni) and one of the best-known tenor arias in all opera. 

It is sung by Calaf, il principe ignoto (the unknown prince), who falls in love at first sight with the beautiful but cold Princess Turandot. Any man who wishes to wed Turandot must first answer her three riddles; if he fails, he will be beheaded. In the aria, Calaf expresses his triumphant assurance that he will win the princess.

Nessun Dorma

Lyrics in English and Italian

Turandot Giacomo Puccini
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https://youtu.be/shoiWkbj83U?si=1-9VENaYp3PK_3kv

The three riddles of Turandot?
Turandot asks the Prince of Tartary,

1 - 'What is born each night and dies each dawn?"
       to which he answers, "Hope." 
2 - 'What flares warm like a flame, yet it is no flame?" 
        to which he responds, "Blood."
3 - 'The ice that gives you fire, what can it be?" 
       He correctly responds that the answer is Turandot herself.

Luciano Pavarotti 

Nessun Dorma
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