Ahh Turandot.
Puccini's opera of an evil Chinese Princess who beheads her prospective suitors who come from faraway if they cannot answer three of her riddles.
However, Calaf has correctly answered the trio of questions put to all of Turandot's would-be Princes. She, however, recoils at the thought of marriage. Calaf then offers her a challenge to guess his name before dawn. If she does, she can execute him. But if she does not, she must marry him. The icy-cold princess then decrees that none of her subjects are to sleep that night until his name is discovered. If they fail, they will all be killed.
The final act opens and it is night. Calaf is alone in the moonlit palace gardens. In the distance he hears Turandot's servants proclaiming her command. His aria begins with an echo of their cry and a reflection on the Princess...
Nessun dorma! Nessun dorma! Tu pure, o Principessa, nella tua fredda stanza, guardi le stelle che tremano d'amore, e di speranza!
(
None shall sleep! None shall sleep! Even you, o Princess, in your cold bedroom, watch the stars that tremble with love and with hope)
Ma il mio mistero è chiuso in me; il nome mio nessun saprà! No, No! Sulla tua bocca lo dirò quando la luce splenderà!
(
But my secret is hidden within me; none will know my name! No, no! On your mouth I will say it when the light shines!)
Ed il mio bacio scioglierà il silenzio che ti fa mia!
(
And my kiss will dissolve the silence that makes you mine!)
Il nome suo nessun saprà... E noi dovrem, ahimè, morir, morir!
(
No one will know his name... and we will have to, alas, die, die!)
Dilegua, o notte! Tramontate, stelle! Tramontate, stelle! All'alba vincerò! Vincerò! Vincerò!
(
Vanish, o night! Set, stars! Set, stars! At daybreak I shall win! I shall win! I shall win)
Labels: Theatre