Luciano Pavarotti bows to the audience during the Pavarotti & Friends charity concert for Iraqi children at the Novi Sad Park in Modena, Italy, on May 27, 2003. Pavarotti, whose vibrant high C's and ebullient showmanship made him one the most beloved tenors, has died, his manager told The Associated Press Thursday Sept. 6, 2007. He was 71. (Alberto Pellaschiar/File / AP)
Pavarotti given standing ovation at tearful farewell BY COLLEEN BARRY The Associated Press
MODENA, Italy — Luciano Pavarotti received a final, tearful standing ovation at his somber funeral Saturday after a recording of the Italian tenor and his father singing “Panis Angelicus” filled his hometown cathedral. Many of the mourners cried as Pavarotti’s unmistakable voice filled the cathedral, a poignant reminder of the talent lost with his death Thursday at age 71 after a yearlong battle with cancer. Pavarotti and his father had sung the duet in 1978 in the same cathedral — an event Archbishop Benito Cocchi said was described by someone who attended it as “a weaving of two tenors.” In a series of eulogies, Pavarotti was remembered as one of the world’s greatest singers, a symbol of Italy, a humanitarian and — in a message from his 4-year-old daughter Alice — a father. “Papa, you have loved me so much. I know you will always protect me,” his daughter said in a message read during the service, while her mother, Nicoletta Mantovani, sobbed in the front row. Among the 700 guests were Italian Premier Romano Prodi, U2 lead singer Bono, U2 guitarist The Edge, movie director Franco Zeffirelli and former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Also sitting in the front row were Pavarotti’s first wife, Adua, his three grown daughters and his sister. The 90-minute service was filled with music, from Bulgarianborn soprano Raina Kabaivanska, who cried as she sang the opening hymn, Verdi’s “Ave Maria,” to tenor Andrea Bocelli’s “Ave Verum” during the communion. Flutist Andrea Griminelli played a solo. Thousands of admirers fi lled the piazza outside the cathedral watching the service on a big screen. The crowd erupted in applause when the white, maple casket covered with flowers — including Pavarotti’s favorite, sunflowers — was carried outside by 11 pallbearers. At the same instant, the Italian air force’s precision fl ying team roared overhead, trailing vapors of green, red and white — the colors of the Italian flag. Modena’s streets were filled with admirers who applauded as a black hearse bearing Pavarotti’s body went by. The tenor was buried at Montale Rangone cemetery, where members of his family, including his parents and stillborn son Riccardo, are also interred. In his homily, Cocchi said the presence of so many dignitaries was a sign “of the esteem, the affection and the gratitude that universally surrounds the great artist.” But he said it was also significant how Modena residents paid tribute to their native son, breaking their silent vigil outside the cathedral when Pavarotti’s body arrived Thursday night with applause “not joyous, as in other occasions, but intense and sincere.” “The death of Luciano Pavarotti has made us feel more impoverished,” the archbishop said. “The maestro was and will always be a symbol for our city.” Pope Benedict XVI sent a telegram, saying Pavarotti had “honored the divine gift of music through his extraordinary interpretative talent.” Prodi praised Pavarotti for his humanitarian work and peace efforts and also expressed the gratitude of all Italians for the image of the nation he carried to all corners of the globe. “Italy is sad today but it is also proud of him,” Prodi said during the service. “Here, in the cathedral of his hometown, Italy expresses its gratitude to him.” Pavarotti was beloved by generations of opera-goers and pop fans alike for his breathtaking high Cs, hearty renditions of popular folk songs like “O Sole Mio” and collaborations with singers such as Bono, with whom he recorded “Miss Sarajevo” in 1995 to raise money to help rebuild Bosnia. Pavarotti was the world’s bestselling classical artist, with more than 100 million records sold since the 1960s, and he had the first classical album to reach No. 1 on the pop charts. ALESSNDRA TARANTINO/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The coffin of Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti leaves the cathedral in Modena, Italy, followed by his wife, Nicoletta Mantovani, at left, after his funeral service on Saturday.
If toward the end he became lmost a caricature of himself — expanding in girth, canceling performances, indulging his appetites, leaving his wife for a young secretary, earning barbs from critics for sometimes sloppy performances — there were solid reasons Luciano Pavarotti, who died last Thursday at the much-too-young age of 71 in his hometown of Modena, Italy, was the most celebrated opera singer since Caruso. He had charisma and personality, of course, but most of all it was that magnificent voice and the artistry with which he employed it. It can sometimes be difficult to tell one good tenor from another. But within two or three notes, anybody who paid attention could tell that this was Pavarotti and nobody else. With his peerless technique and impeccable diction, in his prime he was one of the finest interpreters of Italian opera ever to captivate an audience. Arrivederci, Luciano. --The Gazette, Colorado Springs,
If toward the end he became lmost a caricature of himself — expanding in girth, canceling performances, indulging his appetites, leaving his wife for a young secretary, earning barbs from critics for sometimes sloppy performances
Don't ya just like the liberal media...Ya know, the way they degrade someone before they actually 'attempt' to compliment them? There really was no reason for this disrespectful, degrading reporting on someone who just died, for God's sake!!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
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