Nessun Dorma (Let no one Sleep) from the final act of Puccini’s opera Turandot is one of Puccini’s most renowned arias. It 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. The previous entry here from Turandot was Signore, Ascolta! (My lord, listen!) performed by Maria Callas. Puccini left Turandot unfinished at the time of his death in 1924; but it premiered in 1926 after the music was posthumously completed by Franco Alfano.
The aria 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.
On the Eve of the 1990 World Cup final in Italy, a ‘supergroup’ of three of the most beloved tenors, consisting of Italian Luciano Pavarotti and Spaniards Plácido Domingo and José Carreras began a 13 year collaboration. They performed at the ancient Baths of Caracalla in Rome watched by a global television audience of around 800 million. I was in awe of this concert and rewatched it countless times. It also appears on the best-selling classical album lists of all time.
The performance below of Nessun Dorma is from celebrated Italian tenor Pavarotti (1935–2007) who sang the aria with The Three Tenors in Los Angeles in 1994 to celebrate the 1994 World Cup. Interestingly, Pavarotti rarely sang the role of Calaf on stage. The Three Tenors went on to perform at two further World Cup Finals – 1998 in Paris, and 2002 in Yokohama.
I saw Nessun dorma recently put to magnificent use in Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (with the scene set within a performance of Turandot itself).
(English translation)
[CALAF]
No one sleeps! No one sleeps!
Even you, oh princess
In your cold room
Look at the stars
That tremble with love and with hope
But my mystery is locked inside me
No one will know my name!
No, no! On your mouth
I will say it when the light shines
And my kiss will dissolve
The silence that makes you mine
[PEOPLE OF PEKING]
No one will know his name
And we, alas, will have to die, to die!
[CALAF]
Disappear, night!
Fade away, stars!
Fade away, stars!
At dawn, I will win!
I will win! I will win!
References:
1. Nessun dorma – Wikipedia
2. The Three Tenors – Wikipedia
“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand
Observation Blogger 
Bravo! Perfezione!!
That it indeed is.
One doesn’t need to know anything about opera, which kind of sums up my situation, to recognize a great vocal performance. When Pavarotti gets into it, it gives you chills!
‘Nessun Dorma’ was probably one of, if not the first aria which gobsmacked me for the reasons you mentioned. Yet over the decades, and without sounding condescending, I can name at least 20 more arias that I prefer to listen to more now than this one (many of which I have already posted here). It could be to do with ‘Nessun Dorma”s over saturation commercially. But it’s obviously a hummdinger at least as far as its impact on the wider musical-world community.