Puccini: "Nessum Dorma" - Easy Piano Arrangement

Puccini: "Nessum Dorma" ("None shall sleep") from Turandot

PDF Sheet music, piano solo
Simple Solutions piano arrangement by Henrik Kilhamn

Approximate Grade: 4
Scale 1 - 8: Beginner - Advanced

Key: G major, same as original

Puccini wrote one of his top tenor hits in Turandot. In another type of world, the prince Calif presents an ultimatum to the cold princess Turandot – if she can guess his name by dawn she can execute him, but if not, she has to marry him. He sings this to himself in the evening while everyone is up trying to figure out his name, hence: “none shall sleep” (“nessum dorma”). This arrangement turned out surprisingly well. For the verse LH plays an ostinato that works fine as a simple setup, and for the chorus it provides a sparse but effective harmonic foundation. RH follows a straightforward line in the verse and then covers both the tenor and orchestra lines in the chorus, which actually fits nicely within the hand. Puccini makes ingenious use of the form in the transition after the chorus, the first time going back to the verse and the second time continuing to one of the most effective climaxes ever (at least when Pavarotti sings it).

This arrangement is included in Simple Solutions Volume 5 - A Burning Desire (Intermediate ~ Grade 3-5)

ABOUT SIMPLE SOLUTIONS

The Simple Solutions series came from the idea that even not-professionally trained pianists should be able to enjoy the feeling of playing great music from the piano repertoire with their own hands. This is possible with some clever rearranging of the musical material: reducing the range of independent voices and jumps while preserving core ideas of melody and rhythm. In this easier setting, you will instead have enough time on your hands (literally!) to bring the music to life and care about those aspect that often otherwise come second: phrasing, articulation, dynamics, and balance. This will help you develop your over-all musicality, which will be of great value in all other pieces as well.

In the end, if you feel ready for a challenge and want to go forward with proper piano studies that requires years of practice – you can always move on to more advanced arrangements or original piano compositions. They will always be there. In the meantime, these arrangements will bring you close to the same enjoyment as the full versions, because all musical ideas are carefully conserved.

They are just a little bit easier.