Shed a tear for Luciano Pavarotti
Pavarotti died at 71 years of age today – how truly sad. I’m right in the middle of work and trying to hold Eli in abeyance and I flipped to Itunes and listened to Nessun Dorma to commemorate this great singer. Too many roads converged – the call to prayer reminding me of my father, who sang like Pavarotti, and Pavarotti who sang like god, and the coffee grounds that showed my heart as big as my dad’s, as Pavarotti’s, but with no road into it. Oh great malaise – oh passing of great tenor – oh long gone father – but notice in the end – VICTORY.
The libretto of Turandot doesn’t translate easily because it’s so heavily poetic.
The translation, finally:
The Prince
Nessun dorma, nessun dorma …
Tu pure, o Principessa,
Nella tua fredda stanza,
Guardi le stelle
Che tremano d’amore
E di speranza.
Ma il mio mistero è chiuso in me,
Il nome mio nessun saprà, no, no,
Sulla tua bocca lo dirò
Quando la luce splenderà,
Ed il mio bacio scioglierà il silenzio
Che ti fa mia.
Chorus
Il nome suo nessun saprà
E noi dovrem, ahimè, morir.
Dilegua, o notte!
Tramontate, stelle!
All’alba vincerò!
The Prince
No one sleeps, no one sleeps…
Even you, o Princess,
In your cold room,
Watch the stars,
That tremble with love
And with hope.
But my secret is hidden within me;
My name no one shall know, no, no,
On your mouth I will speak it*
When the light shines,
And my kiss will dissolve the silence
That makes you mine.
No one will know his name
And we must, alas, die.
Vanish, o night!
Set behind the mountain stars!
At daybreak, I shall conquer!