Story of my life. Still, that’s not really the point of today’s Quote of the Day: Translated from the Italian, it’s Nessun Dorma. And it’s an aria from Puccini’s Turandot. (I’m not engaging in the proper pronunciations of the work. You can look here for more, or less, clarification, however it suits you.)
It’s a piece written for tenors, one in which the character Calaf expresses his intention to win the lovely but remote Princess Turandot, after (he’s sure) he’ll have correctly answered the three riddles she’s asking suitors who’d like to win her hand. Failure to answer correctly at any point will lead to Calaf’s beheading.
The vast phalanx of students of Medieval Western literature (in this particular case those of such stories as Gawain and the Green Knight, although there are others) might want to pay attention. Those who allege they’ve never heard such narratives in their own cultural story-telling tradition will–I guess–perpetually be surprised when such narratives appear, over and over again in their own cultural story-telling tradition.
The inability to make that connection is their loss. I can’t think of any other way to explain it. 🙄
Nevertheless, and no matter how many times those disobliging fools find themselves on “the wrong side of history,” this is a beautiful piece of Western music, one whose purpose, over the years has melded with popular culture in ways that Puccini couldn’t have imagined:
I guess it began with Luciano Pavarotti, who first popularized it to a global audience (one which–let’s be clear–didn’t give much of a hoot about Italian opera) in 1990, as the Italian World Cup Anthem:
What followed on was, perhaps inevitable, given the times. A mess of crossover versions, both vocal and instrumental. Amateur renditions, some of which–that of cellphone salesman Paul Potts (2007) in particular–went viral and won the hearts of a nation:
In between, and ever since, it’s become something of a party piece, for both men and women. For Aretha Franklin:
For Jennifer Hudson:
And for a very young Jackie Evancho:
And then there is Andrea Bocelli, perhaps–at least as Pavarotti might have wished–Pavarotti’s heir:
I’ll sleep pretty quietly tonight, even while I recognize that today, December 22, 2024 is the 166th anniversary of the birthday of Giovanni Puccini, the man who made all such things possible.
History is a continuum. It’s not–as the title of a recently much celebrated film might imply–Everything Everywhere All At Once. While some may find that thought–in this day and age–comforting, it’s wrong.
