11. Famous arias
Up to now we discussed the work as a whole, focusing mainly the analysis of Puccini's characters and gimmicks to create the overall atmosphere. But the moments that remain etched in memory are generally those of the great arias sung by the main protagonists.
As we have said we do not find in the so-called cavatinas Puccini, moments in which a character, isolated from the general context was performing in your piece, very melodic moments, but these are embedded in an organic way in the general context of the work. The main
arias, the most famous precisely, are generally interpreted by the protagonists of the story (in fact many of these are for tenor and soprano) and sometimes can be significant to an analysis of this data to make proper account of particular importance given by the composer role. Without even a mention
soffermaci Puccini, you can mention many famous arias of the most significant characters in "Di quella pira (Il Trovatore, Verdi)," Casta diva (Norma, Bellini), "La donna e mobile" (Rigoletto, Verdi), "Una furtiva lagrima (L'Elisir d'Amore, Donizetti). Even in
Turandot arias are of the highest level (and no doubt the "no sleep" is the most famous aria in the world) and to emphasize the discussion so far carried out is interesting to note that the characters involved are always the same: Liu , Calaf, Turandot. The first major air
we find that it is for the voice of small Liù, this is highlighted once again the major role played by the young slave. Calaf has decided to tackle the puzzle of the princess. No one can dissuade it. There is still a test with a moving prayer flies Liù:
Lord, hear! Ah, sir, listen!
Liu does not hold anymore, it breaks my heart!
Alas, how much progress with your name in,
with your name on the lips!
But if your fate will be decided tomorrow,
we die on the path of exile. He will lose
his son, I am the shadow of a smile.
Liu does not hold anymore! Ah!
A prayer sweet and low, still remember that smile of his master, long time ago. But Calaf has now decided to try and alleviate the pain of the young, asking her to stay with his father, who after his death shall have no one in the world:
Do not cry, Liu!
If a distant day I smiled at you,
for that smile, my sweet child, hear me
your lord will be tomorrow, perhaps alone in the world ...
do not leave, take it away with you!
[...]
exile easier for him!
This, my poor Liu,
your little heart that does not fall,
asks him who smiles no more!
And the first act ends with a tangle of emotions sung by many voices from all the characters entered the scene. A final grand and memorable as the famous aria, with the audience breathless and overwhelmed by the emotional power of music.
The second act opens, as previously mentioned, with the trio of three ministers, but the crucial moment begins when he enters the emperor, with the splendid chorus of jubilation for an assistant and then when it takes the word Turandot. With the way that characterizes it, the princess begins with a cold tone, but little by little the beautiful melodies of his song hypnotize and icy cold immobility of the spectator wins:
In this palace, I'll be a thousand years and much,
a desperate cry rang out.
And that cry, across race and race
took refuge here in my soul!
Princess Lou-Ling, ava sweet and serene
gloomy silence that reigns in your
in pure joy, and inflexible and safe sfidasti
the harsh rule, now relive in me!
[...]
Pure remember that each time,
was shock and roar of terror and weapons.
Reign won! E-Ling Lou,
my ancestress, driven by a man like you,
foreigner like you, there in the cruel night
where he died on her young voice!
[...]
or principle, which in long caravans
from all over the world come here
to try your luck,
I take revenge on you, on you that purity,
that cry and that death!
never possess me no!
the horror of the killing live in my heart!
No, no! No one will ever possess me!
Ah, is reborn in me the pride of such purity!
Stranger! Do not try your luck!
The riddles are three, death is one!
In an endless crescendo the princess arrives at the end of the story and its voice is joined by the exuberant warmth of Calaf:
The riddles are three, one is the life!
The two join voices and wonder when you reach the set repeat the last verse, the one emphasizing the aspect macabre, the more optimism. The riddle of princess
close part of the second act. Turandot is defeated by the unknown stranger, but not resigned. Puccini anticipated at this point, the most famous air and it does so by Calaf:
Three puzzles hast proposed, and three of them broke up.
only one to do you propose: The
not know my name. Tell me my name.
Tell me my name before dawn, and dawn will die
triumphantly reach the third act of the opera. The moment of transformation of the Princess is near, but for the moment is still willing to throw against the unknown prince's wrath. He wants to know the stranger's name and ordered that "no one sleeps in Beijing." Everyone must try to discover the name. Calaf observes everything to do with aloof, sure of his victory:
Nessun dorma! Nessun dorma!
You too, Princess,
in your cold room, watch the stars
that tremble with love and hope ...
But my secret is hidden within me,
my name no one will know!
No, no, I'll say it on your lips,
when the light shines ... And my
kiss will dissolve the silence that makes you mine.
[...]
this night! Set, stars!
I will win! I win!
And so we proceed towards the end. There is still time for beautiful moments of high tension drama. The viewer will suffer the death of the little Liu ("You who gel six belt, won by so much the flame, the love of it!") And will suffer in the final moments looking down the beautiful princess, in a series of duets and recurrent leitmotiv until the final joyful, yet this abnormal and a source of much discussion.
