"Nessun Dorma" sung by Luciano Pavarotti

The song may be as much a cliche as the Maestro himself, but the song and the singer owe each other much of their current popularity. Its title Nessun Dorma translates as "let no one sleep", as though anyone could sleep while this thundering aria is being sung. It comes from the opera Turandot.

The song was used as the theme of the 1990 World Cup and had long been associated with Pavarotti before he made it even more famous.
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RIP Luciano Pavarotti

La Maestro, Luciano Pavarotti, has died at his home near Modena, Italy; the 71-year-old tenor had pancreatic cancer.

From his debut in 1961 at Reggio Emilia singing Rodolfo in La Boheme through to his recent high-profile performance of Nessun Dorma at the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics in Torino, Pavarotti was one of those responsible for bringing opera to a broader audience.

Though critics and purists alike may have sneered at the resulting "popera", Pavarotti was simply being true to his art; opera, like Shakespeare, was originally intended for a mass audience.
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