Opera star Luciano Pavarotti dies at 71

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ROME - Luciano Pavarotti,
whose vibrant high C’s and ebullient showmanship made him one of the
world’s most beloved tenors, has died, his manager told The Associated
Press. He was 71.
His
manager, Terri Robson, told the AP in an e-mail statement that
Pavarotti died at his home in Modena, Italy, at 5 a.m. local time.
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
characterized 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.
Instantly
recognizable from his charcoal black beard and tuxedo-busting girth,
Pavarotti radiated an intangible magic that helped him win hearts in a
way Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras — his partners in the “Three
Tenors” concerts — never quite could.
The tenor, who seemed equally at ease singing with soprano Joan Sutherland as with the Spice Girls, scoffed at accusations that he was sacrificing his art in favor of commercialism.
“The
word commercial is exactly what we want,” he said, after appearing in
the widely publicized “Three Tenors” concerts. “We’ve reached 1.5
billion people with opera. If you want to use the word commercial, or
something more derogatory, we don’t care. Use whatever you want.”


‘King of the High C’s’

In
the annals of that rare and coddled breed, the operatic tenor, it may
well be said the 20th century began with Enrico Caruso and ended with
Pavarotti. Other tenors — Domingo included — may have drawn more praise
from critics for their artistic range and insights, but none could
equal the combination of natural talent and personal charm that so
endeared him to audiences.
“Pavarotti
is the biggest superstar of all,” the late New York Times music critic
Harold Schonberg once said. “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.n the 1990s, Pavarotti’s teaming with Domingo
and Carreras became a music business phenomenon and spawned copycats
such as the Three Irish Tenors.
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.
From
Beijing to Buenos Aires, people immediately recognized his incandescent
smile and lumbering bulk, clutching a white handkerchief as he sang
arias and Neapolitan folk songs, pop numbers and Christmas carols for
hundreds of thousands in outdoor concerts.


Faced criticism in later years

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, nearly a year old at the
time of the wedding, was the main reason he and Mantovani finally wed
after years together.
In
the latter part of his career, some music critics cited what they saw
as an increasing tendency toward the vulgar and the commercial.
He
came under fire for canceling performances or pandering to the lowest
common denominator in his choice of programs, or for the Three Tenors
tours and their millions of dollars in fees.
He
was criticized for lip-synching at a concert in Modena, Italy, his
hometown. An artist accused him of copying her works from a how-to-draw
book and selling the paintings.
The
son of a baker who was an amateur singer, Pavarotti was born Oct. 12,
1935, in Modena. He had a meager upbringing, though he said it was rich
with happiness.
“Our family had very little, but I couldn’t imagine one could have any more,” Pavarotti said.
As
a boy, Pavarotti showed more interest in soccer than his studies, but
he also was fond of listening to his father’s recordings of tenor
greats like Beniamino Gigli, Tito Schipa, Jussi Bjoerling and Giuseppe
Di Stefano, his favorite.
Among
his close childhood friends was Mirella Freni, who would eventually
become a soprano and an opera great herself. The two studied singing
together and years later ended up making records and concerts together,
according to Elvio Giudici, an Italian opera critic.
In
his teens, Pavarotti joined his father, also a tenor, in the church
choir and local opera chorus. He was influenced by the American movie
actor-singer Mario Lanza.
“In my teens I used to go to Mario Lanza movies and then come home and imitate him in the mirror,” Pavarotti said.

Insurance salesman by day, opera singer by night

Singing was still nothing more than a passion while Pavarotti trained to become a teacher and began working in a school.
But
at 20, he traveled with his chorus to an international music
competition in Wales. The Modena group won first place, and Pavarotti
began to dedicate himself to singing.
With
the encouragement of his then fiancee, Adua Veroni, he started lessons,
selling insurance to pay for them. He studied with Arrigo Pola and
later Ettore Campogalliani.
In 1961, Pavarotti won a local voice competition and with it a debut as Rodolfo in Puccini’s “La Boheme.”
He
followed with a series of successes in small opera houses throughout
Europe before his 1963 debut at Covent Garden in London, where he stood
in for Di Stefano as Rodolfo.Having impressed conductor Richard Bonynge,
Pavarotti was given a role opposite Bonynge’s wife, soprano Joan
Sutherland, in a Miami production of “Lucia di Lamermoor.” They
subsequently signed him for a 14-week tour of Australia.
It
was the recognition Pavarotti needed to launch his career. He also
credited Sutherland with teaching him how to breathe correctly.
In
the following years, Pavarotti made a series of major debuts, appearing
at La Scala in Milan in 1965, San Francisco in 1967 and New York’s
Metropolitan Opera House in 1968. Other early venues included Vienna,
Paris and Chicago.
Throughout
his career, Pavarotti struggled with a much-publicized weight problem.
His love of food caused him to balloon to a reported high of 396 pounds
in 1978.
“Maybe this time I’ll really do it and keep it up,” he said during one of his constant attempts at dieting.
Pavarotti,
who had been trained as a lyric tenor, began taking on heavier dramatic
tenor roles, such as Manrico in Verdi’s “Trovatore” and the title role
in “Otello.”
Pavarotti
often drew comparisons with Domingo, his most notable contemporary.
Aficionados judged Domingo the more complete and consistent musician,
but he never captured the public imagination like Pavarotti.
Though
there appeared to be professional jealousy between the great singers,
Pavarotti claimed he preferred to judge himself only against his
earlier performances.

Three Tenors becomes an industry

In
the mid-1970s, Pavarotti became a true media star. He appeared in
television commercials and began appearing in hugely lucrative
mega-concerts outdoors and in stadiums around the world. Soon came
joint concerts with pop stars. A concert in New York’s Central Park in
1993 drew 500,000 fans.
Pavarotti’s recording of “Volare” went platinum in 1988.
In
1990, he appeared with Domingo and Carreras in a concert at the Baths
of Caracalla in Rome for the end of soccer’s World Cup. The concert was
a huge success, and the record known as “The Three Tenors” was a
best-seller and was nominated for two Grammy Awards The video sold over 750,000 copies.The three-tenor extravaganza became a
mini-industry. With a follow-up album recorded at Dodger Stadium in Los
Angeles in 1994, the three have outsold every other performer of
classical music. A 1996 tour earned each tenor an estimated $10 million.
Pavarotti
liked to mingle with pop stars in his series of charity concerts,
“Pavarotti & Friends,” held annually in Modena. He performed with
artists as varied as Ricky Martin, James Brown and the Spice Girls.
The performances raised some eyebrows but he always shrugged off the criticism.
Some
say the “word pop is a derogatory word to say ‘not important’ — I do
not accept that,” Pavarotti said in a 2004 interview with the AP. “If
the word classic is the word to say ‘boring,’ I do not accept. There is
good and bad music.”
It was not just his annual extravaganza that saw Pavarotti involved in humanitarian work.
During the 1992-95 Bosnia war, he collected humanitarian aid along with U2 lead singer Bono,
and after the war he financed and established the Pavarotti Music
Center in the southern city of Mostar to offer Bosnia’s artists the
opportunity to develop their skills.
He
performed at benefit concerts to raise money for victims of tragedies
such as an earthquake in December 1988 that killed 25,000 people in
northern Armenia.
Pavarotti
was also dogged by accusations of tax evasion, and in 2000 he agreed to
pay nearly roughly $12 million to the Italian state after he had
unsuccessfully claimed that the tax haven of Monte Carlo rather than
Italy was his official residence.
He had been accused in 1996 of filing false tax returns for 1989-91.
Pavarotti
always denied wrongdoing, saying he paid taxes wherever he performed.
But, upon agreeing to the settlement, he said: “I cannot live being
thought not a good person.”


‘I am paying a penalty for this fortune and happiness’

Pavarotti
was preparing to leave New York in July 2006 to resume a farewell tour
when doctors discovered a malignant pancreatic mass, his manager Terri
Robson said at the time. He underwent surgery in a New York hospital,
and all his remaining 2006 concerts were canceled.
Pancreatic
cancer is one of the most dangerous forms of the disease, though
doctors said the surgery offered improved hopes for survival.
“I
was a fortunate and happy man,” Pavarotti told Italian daily Corriere
della Sera in an interview published about a month after the surgery.
“After that, this blow arrived.”
“And now I am paying the penalty for this fortune and happiness,” he told the newspaper.
Fans
were still waiting for a public appearance a year after his surgery. In
the summer of 2007, Pavarotti taught a group of selected students and
worked on a recording of sacred songs, a work expected to be released
in early 2008, according to his manager. He mostly divided his time
between his home town, Modena, and his villa in the Adriatic seaside
resort of Pesaro.
Faced
with speculation that the tenor was near death, Mantovani, his second
wife, told Italian newspaper La Stampa in July 2007: “He’s fighting
like a lion and he has never lost his heart.”
Pavarotti had three daughters with his first wife, Lorenza, Cristina and Giuliana; and one, Alice, with his second wife.