Whilst Puccini’s productions were, on the whole, hugely successful both critically and with audiences, that doesn’t mean it was smooth sailing throughout his career – often, surprisingly, his most famous operas suffered struggles in their early days.

Learn more about Nessun Dorma in our Tenor Roles article Despite this, the aria Nessun Dorma is considered one of the most famous arias in the repertoire, being performed by opera singers around the world, including famously performed by the renowned Three Tenors (Luciano Pavarotti, José Carreras and Plácido Domingo), a recording that outsold all other classical recordings worldwide.

Puccini continued composing until his death, leaving his final work, Turandot, unfinished. This relationship led to Puccini’s greatest successes, with the following three operas usually considered the most famous: La bohème, Tosca and Madama Butterfly. Whilst his first few operas were well received, he first received critical success with Manon Lescaut in 1893, working with librettists Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. The Prince sings this aria in order to state how certain he is that nobody will be able to find out his name before dawn, and that therefore he will win the game.Described as ‘the greatest composer of Italian opera after Verdi’, Puccini is one of the most famous opera composers, having works cited regularly among the best operas of all time.īorn in 1858 into a musical dynasty, Giacomo Antonio Domenioco Michele Secondo Maria Puccini had a formal eduction in music from a young age, and had composed his first opera at the age of 25, Le Villi. She announces Nessun dorma! She orders everyone to seek information about the mysterious prince's name.

So, the princess Turandot declares that nobody should go to sleep that night. Prince Calaf gives the princess an opportunity not to marry him! If she discovers his name before dawn then he will agree to let her go free. She does not want to marry anyone! She doesn't even know the Prince's name! He has passed the test of solving three riddles in order to win the right to marry the princess. The aria is sung by the character Prince Calaf. The opera Turandot was first performed at Il Teatro alla Scala a Milano in 1926. The great tenor, Luciano Pavarotti, was the singer. The aria was used as the theme music for the 1990 FIFA World Cup, hosted in Italy.

This is an aria from the opera Turandot, composed by Giacomo Puccini.

Puccini opera with nessun dorma