Obit: Luciano Pavarotti (1935-2007)

Subject: Obit: Luciano Pavarotti (5 September, 2007)
From: mrdux
Date: 06 Sep 07 - 01:15 AM

It was just announced that Luciano Pavarotti, one of the truly great voices of our time, has succumbed to cancer at the age of 71. AP obit

Subject: RE: Obit: Luciano Pavarotti (5 September, 2007)
From: Ebbie
Date: 06 Sep 07 - 01:20 AM

Ah, that makes me sad. I've loved his silvery voice for years.

Subject: RE: Obit: Luciano Pavarotti (5 September, 2007)
From: astro
Date: 06 Sep 07 - 01:42 AM

How sad! I have enjoyed his voice for so many years. The three tenors
were enjoyable to listen to, but his passion set him apart from other tenors...


Astro

Subject: RE: Obit: Luciano Pavarotti (5 September, 2007)
From: Metchosin
Date: 06 Sep 07 - 01:50 AM

Agreed there Astro. Such a loss.

Subject: RE: Obit: Luciano Pavarotti (5 September, 2007)
From: alanabit
Date: 06 Sep 07 - 02:20 AM

I am not really into opera. All the same, there is no denying that he was pretty good at his job. He always came over as a cheerful and big hearted guy. Many people are going to miss a fine singer and a good bloke.

Subject: RE: Obit: Luciano Pavarotti (5 September, 2007)
From: JennieG
Date: 06 Sep 07 - 03:31 AM

He was larger than life with a voice to match and will be very much missed.

Nessun dorma.....

Cheers
JennieG

Subject: RE: Obit: Luciano Pavarotti (5 September, 2007)
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 06 Sep 07 - 04:17 AM

The older I get the more operatic arias make me weep, it must be a geriatric thing. I listened to the magnificent Maria Callas the other day singing One Fine Day from Madame Butterfly and my eyes started leaking, same thing happened this morning when they played Big Lucy singing Nessun Dorma.
We have been privileged, those of us who have lived in an era in which both existed.
The heavenly choir just got a lot louder.
RIP Luciano
Giok

Subject: RE: Obit: Luciano Pavarotti (5 September, 2007)
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 06 Sep 07 - 05:28 AM

John, if it's only the eyes that leak, it's not geriatric.

I always enjoyed LP's singing but not on an emotional level - opera is too formal for me to be able to do that. But there's no escaping the fact that he was truly a giant of the genre; and unschooled in the art too - but his massive talent compensated for that several times over.

Subject: RE: Obit: Luciano Pavarotti (5 September, 2007)
From: kendall
Date: 06 Sep 07 - 06:47 AM

I never cared for opra, but I certainly did appreciate what he could do with his magnificent voice.The ranks just keep thinning and thinning....

Subject: RE: Obit: Luciano Pavarotti (5 September, 2007)
From: GUEST,Ard Mhacha
Date: 06 Sep 07 - 09:32 AM

Farewell to a great Tenor a gifted man, we are lucky to have the recorded voices of these gifted performers, from Caruso to Pavarotti they have given great pleasure to millions, a sad parting.

Subject: RE: Obit: Luciano Pavarotti (5 September, 2007)
From: SINSULL
Date: 06 Sep 07 - 10:00 AM

I saw Pavorotti perform several times including an amazing Opera In The Park where they stopped counting the crowd at 500,000. He was a performer and made opera accessible to the masses. Rock star celebrity status. For years he was criticized by purists for abusing his body and his talent. But his star status never faded.
RIP, Luciano.

Subject: RE: Obit: Luciano Pavarotti (5 September, 2007)
From: Alba
Date: 06 Sep 07 - 10:05 AM

Arrivederci Luciano.
Grazie.

Subject: RE: Obit: Luciano Pavarotti (5 September, 2007)
From: MBSLynne
Date: 06 Sep 07 - 10:29 AM

Not unexpected but very sad. I have been a big fan for years. I used to loath opera then heard a recording of Pavarotti and was converted. He wiped the floor with the other tenors, even ones like Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras. He also gave the impression of being a lovely man too. Gods but the celestial choir must be bloody good by now!

Love Lynne

Subject: RE: Obit: Luciano Pavarotti (5 September, 2007)
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 06 Sep 07 - 10:37 AM

BBC Radio 4 played Nessun Dorma around 8:50am, just as the hordes of cars were congregating at the entrances to Milton Keynes. You could see which drivers were listening to Radio 4 - they were the ones with mouth open, head up, eyes popping... Yep, me too.

Subject: RE: Obit: Luciano Pavarotti (5 September, 2007)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 06 Sep 07 - 10:38 AM

I do appreciate opera and I did always enjoy Pavarotti. I was at that concert also, SINS.

This sad occasion provided an opportunity to talk to my budding musician son (aged 15) about musical literacy and musical humor. I described the encore in the first Three Tenors concert as an example, and went from there to describe other kinds. Luciano lived a full life, not as long as one would hope, and experienced the kind of death many fear.

With his passing I think the reputation for high maintenance (if a diva is a female goddess of the opera, does that make him a devo? a devus?) needs to diminish and let his voice tell the whole story.

SRS

Subject: RE: Obit: Luciano Pavarotti (5 September, 2007)
From: EBarnacle
Date: 06 Sep 07 - 10:54 AM

I had the opportunity to hear him at the Met several times, including Trouvatore and Lucia [both with Joan Sutherland] both were knockout performances. An excellent artist.

I shall miss being asked whether I am him and having to explain that I am a baritone, but thanks.

Subject: RE: Obit: Luciano Pavarotti (5 September, 2007)
From: GUEST,Bob Ryszkiewicz
Date: 06 Sep 07 - 11:23 AM

We are blessed to have had Luciano Pavarotti among us. He exemplified that rare combination of personality and awesome God-given talent that only a precious few have been able to demonstrate. I will remember him with a smile. Thank You Luciano...

Rest in Peace...
bob

Subject: RE: Obit: Luciano Pavarotti (5 September, 2007)
From: catspaw49
Date: 06 Sep 07 - 11:36 AM

His contribution to Opera was unmatched, or at least was in inthe very rare air. Talk about singing with the angels..........they're going to need to step up their performance!

Spaw

Subject: RE: Obit: Luciano Pavarotti (5 September, 2007)
From: CapriUni
Date: 06 Sep 07 - 11:50 AM

His death is sad. But he got a chance in life to develop his talent and share it. And he did both to the fullest.


So it's not too sad.

Though he will be missed.

Subject: RE: Obit: Luciano Pavarotti (5 September, 2007)
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 06 Sep 07 - 12:01 PM

Oh what sad news. I am a huge lover of opera and he was such a wonderful singer..a very sad day for music.

Subject: RE: Obit: Luciano Pavarotti (5 September, 2007)
From: Greg B
Date: 06 Sep 07 - 12:15 PM

There were some great quotes from him on NPR this morning; he
sort of stuck his thumb in the eyes of the stuffy, pretentious
types who believed that there was one kind of music: opera.

I'm sorry he never got to do an album of shanties and/or
pub songs. Perhaps someone will invite him to St. Peter's
pub for a pint and a sing-song. He'll fit right in.

Subject: RE: Obit: Luciano Pavarotti (5 September, 2007)
From: suzi
Date: 06 Sep 07 - 01:18 PM

As Astro said....RIP. x

Subject: RE: Obit: Luciano Pavarotti (5 September, 2007)
From: Travelling Audience
Date: 06 Sep 07 - 02:01 PM

Loved all his singing.....he had such a presence.
He will be remembered for Nessun dorma though.

Geoff & Mo.

Subject: RE: Obit: Luciano Pavarotti (5 September, 2007)
From: GUEST,Don Firth
Date: 06 Sep 07 - 02:32 PM

I've been an opera lover since I was a teen-ager (Okay, so I was a weird kid!). I even took a couple of years' lessons from a retired Metropolitan Opera soprano. I turned out to be a bass-baritone, but I went around for a couple of years blatting tenor arias—an octave down. It was in my second year at the university (1950-51) that I fell in with questionable companions and became actively interested in folk music.

My first acquaintance with Luciano Pavorotti was in the mid-1970s when I was working as an announcer at a classical music radio station in Seattle. One Sunday morning, the featured work was a Rossini's Stabat Mater, a religious oratorio written in the mid-1800s and based on a thirteenth century hymn, stabat mater dolorosa (" The mourning mother was standing "), describing the lamentations of the Virgin Mary as she stood beside the cross upon which her son was crucified.

I cued up the record, announced the morning's featured work, read a few notes about it, then flipped the switch starting the record. I turned the mic off, picked up my cup of coffee, and propped up my feet. I'd heard the work before and liked it, but this particular record was done by several singers I had never heard before.

When the tenor aria, cuius animam, started, I pricked up my ears. Here was a tenor voice with a power and clarity that, as well-acquainted with opera singers as I was, I had rarely heard before. "Who is that?" says I, and picked up the record jacket. A fairly young Luciano Pavarotti. New to me, and obviously very, very good!

At the end of the aria, Pavarotti took a high note—a very high note—that is in the music. But most tenors manage to avoid it by opting to sing a lower note. Pavarotti hit the note cleanly and held it for the full duration (and perhaps a bit more), and a few measures later, the aria ended. I sat there with my mouth open! Amazing! And within about thirty seconds, every button on the phone lit up. "Who is that!??" was the question everyone had.

So from that point on, I knew who Luciano Pavarotti was! I have a fair collection of his records; one, a full-length opera:   Lucia di Lammermoor. He is definitely one of the finest operatic tenors who ever graced a stage. There will never be another like him and he will be sorely missed.

But there are a number of other fine tenors extant. One in particular to keep an ear open for is Juan Diego Flórez. Born in Lima, Peru, young (34), and heart-throb handsome, he has sung at the Met a number of times so far, and at opera houses all over the world. He is gaining quite a bit of renown, and he has a few CDs out. He is a great admirer of Pavarotti. But his own voice is quite different:   perhaps not quite as powerful as Pavarotti's, his voice is lighter and has a silvery clarity—and it has an amazing flexibility that most tenors (including Pavarotti) simply can't match. Listen for this young man. He's phenomenal!

The king is dead. Long live the king!

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Obit: Luciano Pavarotti (5 September, 2007)
From: Linda Kelly
Date: 06 Sep 07 - 02:34 PM

He had the purest voice of all the three tenors amazing -he loved women food football but mostly the music. I never saw him live and he couldn't act the way Placido could, but it was a joy to listen to him.

Subject: RE: Obit: Luciano Pavarotti (5 September, 2007)
From: Big Phil
Date: 06 Sep 07 - 02:40 PM

Simply the Best

RIP

Phil*

Subject: RE: Obit: Luciano Pavarotti (5 September, 2007)
From: gnu
Date: 06 Sep 07 - 03:13 PM

True God given talent. So powerful and yet, reserved in just the right spots at the right times. A master. RIP.

Subject: RE: Obit: Luciano Pavarotti (5 September, 2007)
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 06 Sep 07 - 03:43 PM

I'm not an opera-buff, but I know true greatness when I hear it and this man had it in shedloads.
A fantastic character, an amazing singer. The world is a worse place without him.
Don Firth's last line had it about right.
RIP Luciano.
S:0)

Subject: RE: Obit: Luciano Pavarotti (5 September, 2007)
From: fat B****rd
Date: 06 Sep 07 - 03:54 PM

Loved the first Three Tenors show. RIP Mr. P.

Subject: RE: Obit: Luciano Pavarotti (5 September, 2007)
From: mrdux
Date: 06 Sep 07 - 04:06 PM

"I think a life in music is a life beautifully spent, and this is what I have devoted my life to."

                           -- Luciano Pavarotti

Subject: RE: Obit: Luciano Pavarotti (5 September, 2007)
From: GUEST,Mary Katherine
Date: 06 Sep 07 - 04:37 PM

Ahhh, Pavarotti is gone. I'm so glad I got to see the Three Tenors concert live when they toured it here to Dodger Stadium in L.A. The repertoire was pretty silly, but those voices - !
I always felt that Pavarotti had the same relationship to opera that Emeril Lagasse has to New Orleans - a cross between great artiste and clown; one hopping around the kitchen shouting "BAM!" into the TV cameras and opening a series of Louisiana-themed restaurants, the other waving his white hankie into the TV cameras and singing snipped-off gobbets of "Opera's Greatest Hits" in the company of various pop stars. But the results were the same: each opened up a greater awareness (of New Orleans food, culture and music, and of opera) to the widest possible audience. But oh dear, I can't forget that *awful* movie Pavarotti made, playing (of all things) a temperamental opera singer, and having a food fight, flinging spaghetti all over the room. What do you bet it comes out on DVD before he's in his grave?
Well, ciao bravo, Luciano, and I hope you and Beverly Sills are having some great duets in heaven.

Subject: RE: Obit: Luciano Pavarotti (5 September, 2007)
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 06 Sep 07 - 04:43 PM

Too sad, too young. I was never a fan of opera, but he went beyond the genre. They had an exerpt of him singing on the View today and he was just uplifting and amazing.

One of the greats!

Subject: RE: Obit: Luciano Pavarotti (5 September, 2007)
From: GUEST,Peter Gelb
Date: 06 Sep 07 - 06:20 PM

I had a wager on that he would live until he was ninety. Sadly today it looks like I have lost a tenor.

The world will be a much quieter place without him !

Subject: RE: Obit: Luciano Pavarotti (5 September, 2007)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 06 Sep 07 - 08:22 PM

I think it was actually September 6 in Italy when he died, so if you're going to include the date in the thread title it might as well be the correct one. A clone might want to fix that.

SRS

Subject: RE: Obit: Luciano Pavarotti (5 September, 2007)
From: Sorcha
Date: 06 Sep 07 - 08:28 PM

Aw, darn. No, not unexpected, but still. Do you suppose that ColK can convert him to folk? LOL

Subject: RE: Obit: Luciano Pavarotti (5 September, 2007)
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 06 Sep 07 - 08:33 PM

Check on YouTube and alongside Nessum Dorm aand so forth there are clips of him singing with James Brown, with Queen, Bono(U2), Lou Reed, and Meatloaf. (Not at the same time!) He'd turn his voice to anything. Great man, and enormous fun.

Subject: RE: Obit: Luciano Pavarotti (5 September, 2007)
From: EBarnacle
Date: 06 Sep 07 - 08:35 PM

One of the purists' complaints was that he did Italian folk and pop music.

Subject: RE: Obit: Luciano Pavarotti (5 September, 2007)
From: Ron Davies
Date: 06 Sep 07 - 10:17 PM

My favorite Pavarotti story was told by our landlord at a great B & B just outside London in 2002. He was not a opera buff.

Our host was at a pub in the Covent Garden area, quite a while ago.    Couldn't get served. Bloke down at the end of the bar got the barmaid's attention and got our host- (wish I could remember his name)- served.

In gratitude he asked what his benefactor would like.

Pavarotti: I'll just have a glass of water, thank you.
Host:       No, let me buy you a pint.
Pavarotti: No thank you, a glass of water would be fine.
Host:       Please, let me buy you a drink.
Pavarotti: Thanks, I'm looking after my throat. Water is fine.
Host:       Sing a bit, do you? Chirp a bit? Sing in the choir?
Pavarotti   Yes, I sing a bit.

So Pavarotti got his water and they chatted a bit more.

Then our host got up and walked out on the street--past a big poster--and realized who he'd been chatting with.

A big man in appearance and talent--but still a man of the people--of the folk. RIP.

Subject: RE: Obit: Luciano Pavarotti (5 September, 2007)
From: Alice
Date: 06 Sep 07 - 11:00 PM

What a wonderful talent.
Sad for his voice to go silent.

Subject: RE: Obit: Luciano Pavarotti (5 September, 2007)
From: GUEST,Edthefolkie
Date: 07 Sep 07 - 06:28 AM

The last line of Nessun Dorma is "Vincer! Vincer!" - translateable as "I shall conquer", "I will have the victory".

He has conquered.

Mille grazie, Maestro

Subject: RE: Obit: Luciano Pavarotti (5 September, 2007)
From: Wolfgang
Date: 07 Sep 07 - 12:50 PM

When I found this thread in Mudcat yesterday it was placed appropriately directly above another thread:

Obit: Luciano Pavarotti (5 September, 2007)
Where are today's killer singers?

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: Obit: Luciano Pavarotti (5 September, 2007)
From: autolycus
Date: 07 Sep 07 - 12:57 PM

Well, we do have the records and he had a ball.


   I'm so struck by those with no love of opera who still rate him, and by people hating opera then being converted by someone like him. That's what I call a real service to musc and to the people who get converted.

   
   RIP Signor






       Ivor

Subject: RE: Obit: Luciano Pavarotti (5 September, 2007)
From: Roberto
Date: 07 Sep 07 - 01:47 PM

Edhtefolkie, the last line of Nessun Dorma is "Vincerò! Vincerò!". Your translation is correct: I shall win. R

Subject: RE: Obit: Luciano Pavarotti (5 September, 2007)
From: mrdux
Date: 07 Sep 07 - 03:01 PM

SRS --

re: the date: good point. (one of those Phileas Fogg moments). So, does one need to do something in particular to attract the attention of a helpful clone to change the date to 6 September?

thanks.

michael

Subject: RE: Obit: Luciano Pavarotti (5 September, 2007)
From: MystMoonstruck
Date: 07 Sep 07 - 07:49 PM

I've come from a Phantom of the Opera fansite where there is a similar outpouring of praise and sharing of the loss of this wonderful person. It seems that everyone knew him and had a favorable response to him, whether they like opera or not.

Although it isn't a particularly good film, some might like watching "Yes, Giorgio", in which he had the romantic lead opposite Kathryn Harrold. While it wasn't a success with critics and audiences, those speaking about it mentioned Pavarotti's aura of geniality, sweetness and good humor--and his glorious voice of course.

How sad to lose him at a relatively young age. Upon hearing his age, my mother noted that, as you get "up there", being seventysomething doesn't sound at all old. She's nearly 80 and hopes to be around much longer. My bet would be that she'll outlive me.

Subject: RE: Obit: Luciano Pavarotti (5 September, 2007)
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 07 Sep 07 - 08:29 PM

"Manager Terri Robson said in a statement that the tenor died at 0500 local time (0400 BST) on Thursday"- 6th September that was.   But of course in the States it was still 5th, which is how the confusion presumably arose.

Subject: RE: Obit: Luciano Pavarotti (5 September, 2007)
From: Muttley
Date: 07 Sep 07 - 09:13 PM

"I've loved his silvery voice for years."

Silvery??? Ebbie, you HAVE to be kidding. ONLY SILVER ???
The man's voice was pure, unadulterated platinum - with gold filigree.

Any human who can hit 9 high c's one after the other flawlessly has transcended humanity.

Heaven finally has a choral leader better than the angels themselves.

You may find these sentiments 'gushy and girly' but considering they're coming from someone who loves classical music, barely tolerates opera and hates ballet with a passion - then you'll see the true awe I am trying to express. Even the great Enrico Caruso was barely a 'chorus leader' compared to Pavarotti. And as George Papavgeris said - totally unschooled: his was a raw talent which makes him so much better.

Giok has the right of it - my eyes 'leaked' a lot when he sang - hell, he could sing the bloody 'Brylcreem' commercial and make it sound like Funicuki Funicula, I think.

Before we went overseas in '05, I wanted to hear bagpipes in the highlands and my wife Trish wanted to hear a Gondolier Tenor in Venice. I got my wish just before our holiday finished on a wind and drizzle swept, heather-crowned hillside above Loch Tulla and Trish got hers as well. As evening descended, we were making our way from our hotel to the Plaze di San Marco across a little bridge just up from the Ponte di Respire. As we crossed over the canal we stopped to watch three or four gondola's moving through the shadows between the buildings when suddenly we saw the outline of a figure stand up and a clear tenor voice suddenly launch into 'Nessun Dorma'. He wasn't Pavarotti, by any stretch of the imagination but he WAS very good. We simply froze listening to the song and the brilliant acoustics created by the walls of the Dogues Palace, the old Prison and the water of the canal. Magical.

Even at 71, he was taken too soon. Another angel has been called home.

God Bless, God Rest.

Muttley

Subject: RE: Obit: Luciano Pavarotti (5 September, 2007)
From: BK Lick
Date: 21 Jul 08 - 04:14 AM

McGrath of Harlow refers upthread to a YouTube clip of Pavarotti singing with James brown (this one displays the lyrics if you click "More info").
This lovely blog posting reviews that performance (recorded at the 2002 Pavarotti and Friends concert in Modena, Italy)
and gives a translation of the words Pavarotti sang. Truly an awesome performance.

—BK