Almost all of my opera knowledge comes from a Pavarotti album my parents owned when I was a kid — The World’s Favourite Tenor Arias (pictured at right).

We would listen to this album while shooting pool in the finished basement of our northern Virginia house. And while I expect most teenagers would cringe at the idea of having to both hang out with their parents AND listen to opera, I loved doing both.

I remember Puccini’s ‘Nessun Dorma’ (from Turandot) as the show-stopping finale of that album, but looking at the track list now I see that it was actually the penultimate track, with ‘Di quella pira’ finishing things off. At any rate, ‘Nessun Dorma’ is Pavarotti’s signature aria, the one they played over all of the “in memoriam” packages when he died in 2007.

I’m seeing the English translation of ‘Nessun Dorma’, and learning the story of Turnadot, for the first time. The singer is a prince who has won the princess Turandot’s hand in marriage by answering three riddles. She doesn’t want to go through with the wedding so the prince gives her a chance to break the vow: if she can guess his name by sunrise, he will be executed.

The princess orders everybody in the kingdom to stay awake until the prince’s name is revealed. If morning comes and the mystery remains unsolved, they will all be killed. Cue ‘Nessun Dorma.’ (If you want to know how things turn out, head to your local Muvico!)