“Nessun dorma” from Turandot (1926)

Ever since the BBC used it as the theme for its World Cup coverage in Italy in 1990 “Nessun dorma” has been associated with football – which brought it to a far wider audience than it would have encountered otherwise, it is true, but at the expense of its true meaning. “Vincerò” (I will win) sings Prince Calaf at the end not because he is going to score the decider in a penatly shoot-out but because he is going to win the love and the hand of the beautiful but ruthless Princess Turandot. He has already solved the three riddles she asks of every suitor – all his royal predecessors have paid for their failure by losing their heads – and now he heroically gives her another chance to preserve her virginity: if she can discover his name before dawn he will consent to be beheaded like the others. “Nessun dorma” (Let no one sleep) she commands her subjects as they get to work on finding his name. “Nessun dorma” Calaf repeats at the beginning of the aria in which he expresses his confidence in his ultimate victory.