By ALESSANDRA RIZZO, Associated Press Writer
44 minutes ago
ROME - Luciano Pavarotti, whose vibrant high C's and ebullient
showmanship made him the most beloved and celebrated tenor since
Caruso and one of the few opera singers to win crossover fame as a
popular superstar, died Thursday. He was 71.
His manager, Terri Robson, told the AP in an e-mailed 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 characterised his life and work, he remained positive until
finally succumbing to the last stages of his illness," the
statement said.
Speaking from inside Pavarotti's home, which was guarded by police,
Pavarotti's assistant Edwin Tinoco told Sky TG 24 television that
Pavarotti's final days had been calm and spent at home.
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
at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, in
February 2006. His last full-scale concert was at Taipei in
December 2005, and his farewell to opera was in Puccini's "Tosca"
at New York's Metropolitan in March 2004.
It was the second monumental loss in the opera world in recent
months. American soprano Beverly Sills, whose widespread popularity
mirrored Pavarotti's, died July 2 at her home in New York. She was
78 and suffered from cancer.
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.
"I always admired the God-given glory of his voice that
unmistakable special timbre from the bottom up to the very top of
the tenor range," Domingo said in a statement from Los
Angeles.
"I also loved his wonderful sense of humor and on several occasions
of our concerts with Jose Carreras the so-called Three Tenors
concerts we had trouble remembering that we were giving a concert
before a paying audience, because we had so much fun between
ourselves," he said.
Pavarotti, 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.
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