One of the most well-known tenor arias, Nessun Dorma, comes from the opera Turandot’s grand finale. It is performed by Calaf, the unidentified prince who is in love with the stunning yet aloof Princess Turandot (Gutmann, n.d.). The culmination of the development of Calaf’s image is Nessun Dorma, in which he expresses confidence in an imminent victory since no one except himself knows his name. Calaf’s aria is one of the most poetic and lyrical scenes of this opera. Below, the impressions after watching the mentioned aria performed by Luciano Pavarotti will be presented.
I literally felt that Pavarotti’s voice intertwines the features of Italian romance and strong-willed march. The melody is bright and unusual in character; it completely lacks oriental intonations, which sharply distinguishes the aria from the other ones. The orchestral introduction and end, built on the main theme of the hero, introduce listeners into the lyrical world of love images. Here, it can be noted that this performance is the only structurally complete one in the entire opera.
The approach of contrasting juxtaposition in the score of exotic statuary plastics of coloristic properties with the dynamism of the development of a number of musical images seems to give additional volume to the epic. All these characteristics testify to the epic vector of the score and the aesthetic expediency of the apotheosis finale (Warner Classics, 1994). The arioso depicts the experiences of the character interspersed with grandiose mass scenes with powerful-sounding choirs and colorful orchestral episodes. The musical language of this opera is complex, it uses many achievements of modern harmony, and the vocal parts of this masterpiece are designed for outstanding voices. Pavarotti – no doubts here – is among the greatest representatives of the latter. Thus, the aria has provided me with bright impressions and feelings of glory and trembling caused by its idea, composition, and background.
References
Gutmann, P. (n.d.). Puccini: Turandot. Classical Notes. Web.
Warner Classics. (1994). Luciano Pavarotti sings “Nessun dorma” from Turandot (The Three Tenors in Concert 1994) [Video]. YouTube. Web.