Nessum dorma-Turandot by Carreras, Domingo, Pavarotti

It is time for our second trilogy of songs, this time, instead of setting the stage, we are getting right into songs of love. In the last twenty years no operatic aria has received as much attention as “Nessum Dorma” (“None shall sleep”). Composed for the opera Turandot by Giacomo Puccini and performed for the first time in 1926, the aria obtained greater fame than anyone ever expected in 1990. Ah, but now for the back story.

In 1987 a brilliant lyric tenor, named Jose Carreras, was filming La Boheme in Paris, when it was discovered that he was suffering from acute lymphoblastic leukemia and given only a 10% chance of survival, according to Wikipedia. He underwent a grueling course of treatment (chemotherapy, radiation therapy and autologous bone marrow transplantation) and recovered to the astonishment of just about everyone. He gradually returned to the opera stage and started the Jose Carreras International Leukemia Foundation. To raise money for his Foundation and to honor his recovery from almost certain death, two of his friends and fellow tenors (Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti) agreed to appear in a concert with him in Rome, to be conducted by Zubin Mehta. The concert took place in Rome on July 7, 1990 and became one of the greatest concerts of all time, recorded and rebroadcast on television and sold in stores.

At the end of the concert, the three tenors sang “Nessum Dorma,” and if you watch carefully you will see Pavrotti give Carreras a loving pat on the head during the applause! This is a love song that has tremendous meaning far beyond the lyrics of the song.