Pavarotti + Chinese = Nessun Dorma ?!

An Italian author, a Chinese story.

Luciano Pavarotti, the most successful operatic tenor of all time.

Nessun Dorma, the most famous tenor arias in all opera.

When Luciano Pavarotti sang Nessun Dorma, it might be a day the earth goes silence.

Surprisingly, only a handful of people know the story behind Nessun Dorma, or precisely, Turandot.

When I was traveling in Yogjakarta, I met Lorenza, an Italian tour guide, Puccini’s Turandot was a name born with her. However, when I asked: “ Do you know this renowned Italian song is actually backdropped by a fiction Chinese story?”

She startled and blurted: “Really!?” “No way!”

Perhaps it is precisely the word pop up in your mind right now.

“Yes, it is a story happened in Peking, which is modern Beijing.”

With my friends’ astonished faces, and probably yours in front of this article, my story began:

“ Once upon a time, the Ming Dynasty in China(roughly equivalent to the Late Middle Ages in European History), there was a gorgeous princess named Turandot. She will only marry to the suitor who can correctly decode her three deathly riddles, while those who fail will be killed.

Despite witnessing the decapitation of Prince Persia and the overwhelming oppositions, the young Prince of Tartary resolved to win Turandot’s heart.

Confront the princess in the Forbidden City, three riddles laid before the prince:

Straniero, Ascolta (What born each night and dies each dawn?)

Guizza al pari di fiamma (What flares warm like a flame, yet it is no flame?)

Gelo che ti da foco (What is the ice that burns?)

Surprisingly, Tatary Prince solved her three notorious riddles(Puccini wanted him to). Turandot regretted hysterically, intended to go back on her word, recoiled the promise she had made.

Longing to win her love, the Tatary Prince posed Turandot a riddle: His name. Tatary prince would surrender his life if Turandot figured out his name before the dawn on the morrow. (Presumably, Turandot had to marry him if she failed.)

Therefore, Turandot decreed that whole Peking shall not sleep that night until the prince’s name is discovered.

Full with confidence, anticipating his victory, the Tatary Prince sang Nessun Dorma in the garden.”

Nessun Dorma means, “Let no one sleep”.

Thanks for reading! If you are curious about the prince's name, the answers of the riddles or the detail of the synopsis, Wikipedia and Google will tell you everything!

I hope this article opens your horizon and triggers a lot of reading!