THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

93-Luciano Pavarotti-Nessun dorma.

1990-Number 2 single.

Best Bit-At 2.45. ‘You’re not singing anymore,’ ‘Three Lions on a shirt,’ and ‘You only sing when your winning,’ are favourite chants among football fans, but this is the daddy of them all.

Luciano Pavarotti was born on October 12th, 1935, in Modena, Kingdom of Italy, he died of pancreatic cancer on September 5th, 2007, at the age of 71. Pavarotti made numerous recordings of complete operas, and individual arias, gaining worldwide fame for his tone, and achieving the honorific title ‘King of the High Cs’. In 2013 he posthumously received the ‘Italy-USA Foundation’s America Award,’ and then in 2014 the ‘Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music’, During the latter part of his career he embraced ‘Popular Music,’ and his recording of ‘Nessum dorma’ is the most successful ‘Opera’ song ever to chart in the UK, and with sales in excess of 100 million records he is one of the best selling artists of all time. ‘Nessun dorma’ isn’t the only hit single for Luciano Pavarotti in the UK top 40 singles chart, as in 1995 he sang on the ‘Passengers’ Number 6 hit single ‘Miss Sarajevo’. The ‘Passengers’ were in fact the Irish Rock band ‘U2’ (see also best songs 766-320-190 and 84) using a pseudonym, Bono, the lead vocalist of U2, has said that ‘Miss Sarajevo’ is his all time favourite U2 song.

‘Nessun dorma’ which in English means ‘none shall sleep’, is an ‘aria,’ (a self contained piece of music from a larger work) and is from the final act of the Italian composer Giacomo Puccini’s (1858-1924) opera ‘Turandot,’ which was written in 1924, but not first performed until after his death in 1926. Puccini never got to complete ‘Turandot’ as he died of throat cancer, and it was finally completed by the Italian composer Franco Alfano (1875-1954) in 1926. The opera’s libretto (the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work) was written by the Italians Guiseppe Adami, (1878-1946) and Renato Simoni (1875-1952.)

‘Opera’ originated in Italy at the end of the 16th Century, and soon spread through Europe, it is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component, and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Opera incorporates a number of the performing arts, such as acting, scenery, costume, and sometimes dance or ballet. The literal translation of the Italian word ‘opera’ in English, is ‘work.’

On July 7th, 1990, on the eve of the ‘FIFA World Cup Final’ in Rome, a charity concert took place, with the three performers being Luciano Pavarotti, Jose Carreras, and Placido Domingo, for the encore Pavarotti sang ‘Nessun dorma.’ The sight of the three ‘tenors’ in full costume dress singing in a ‘World Cup’ captivated a global audience. An Album of the concert called ‘The Three Tenors in Concert’ was issued, which has gone on to become the best selling operatic Album of all time. Such was the popularity of that concert that the three tenors were asked to perform the aria at three subsequent World Cup Finals, in 1994 in Los Angeles, 1998 in Paris, and 2002 in Yokohama.

‘Nessun dorma! Nessun dorma. Tu pure, o Principessa, nella tua fredda stanza, guardi le stelle che tremano d’amore, e di speranza!’