Luciano Pavarotti, whose vibrant high C’s and ebullient showmanship made him one of the world’s most beloved tenors, has died. He was 71.
His manager, Terri Robson, said in an e-mail statement that Pavarotti died at his home in Modena, Italy, at 8:30 am on Thursday. Pavarotti had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last year and underwent further treatment in August.
“The Maestro fought a long, tough battle against the pancreatic cancer which eventually took his life. In fitting with the approach that characterised his life and work, he remained positive until finally succumbing to the last stages of his illness,” the statement said.
For serious fans, the unforced beauty and thrilling urgency of Pavarotti’s voice made him the ideal interpreter of the Italian lyric repertory, especially in the 1960s and ‘70s when he first achieved stardom. For millions more, his charismatic performances of standards like Nessun dorma from Puccini’s Turandot came to represent what opera is all about.
In fact, Nessun Dorma was Pavarotti’s last performance, sung at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, in February 2006. His last full-scale concert was in Taipei in December 2005.
“He’s correspondingly more spoiled than anybody else. They think they can get away with anything. Thanks to the glory of his voice, he probably can.”
In his heyday, he was known as the “King of the High C’s” for the ease with which he tossed off difficult top notes. In fact it was his ability to hit nine glorious high C’s in quick succession that first turned him into an international superstar singing Tonio’s aria Ah! Mes amis, in Donizetti’s La Fille du Regiment at New York’s Metropolitan Opera in 1972.
A SLICE OF HIS LIFE
The son of a music-loving baker, Luciano Pavarotti’s pristine tenor voice took opera to the masses, while his international superstar status put him regularly in the gossip column spotlight, reports AFP from Rome.
Born on October 12, 1935 in the northern Italian city of Modena, Pavarotti was the only son of a baker. This baker’s love of opera and his modest singing were an important factor in determining his son’s future career.
Mr Pavarotti sang before a televised audience of more than 1.5 billion for the 1990 World Cup finals. He was the first opera star to fill Madison Square Garden. He also thought nothing of appearing with pop stars such as the Spice Girls. Alongside countless acts of kindness, Pavarotti was also famed for his off-stage tantrums and romantic dalliances. His name seemed to show up as much in gossip columns as serious music reviews, particularly after he split with Adua Veroni, his wife of 35 years and mother of their three daughters, and then took up with his 26-year-old secretary in 1996. In late 2003, he married Nicoletta Mantovani in a lavish, star-studded ceremony. Pavarotti said their daughter Alice was the main reason he and Mantovani finally wed after years together.
Pavarotti starred in a film called Yes, Giorgio (though its failure scuttled his hopes for a Hollywood career) and appeared in a filmed version of Rigoletto. He wrote an autobiography, “I, Luciano Pavarotti,” and made more than 90 recordings.
