Puccini – Nessun Dorma (1920-24)

Hey, football night. Unbelievable performance by Barcelona. The best performance by any club side since Manchester City beat Notts County 1-0 at home in December 1984 in the old second division.

For gentleman of a certain age, this piece of music will mean almost everything.

The 1990 World Cup was just one of the greatest of all time experiences.

I was in my mid 20s; Alice, my first daughter, was born 5 minutes before kick-off of the crucial game against Belgium and, for once, England played like worldbeaters.  Of course, it all ended in tears but, for a few weeks, this piece was the soundtrack to the summer – it was the theme tune to the BBC coverage. New Order’s “World in Motion” was a close second but this transcends time. 

Puccini started work on Turandot in 1920 but died in 1924. The opera received its premiere in 1926.

Even now, the moments from 1:57 onwards, where the three tenors debate who is going to sing what, sounds like the best music ever recorded.

“Nessun Dorma”, of course, translates as “one nil down at half time due to poor refereeing” or, altenratively “Clearly offside ref, why has the linesman not got his flag up?”. The song then a few football clips!