Pavarotti is dead.

September 5, 2007 10:13 PM

Turandot will never be the same. Washington Post is reporting that Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti has died at his home in Modena.
posted by Cranberry (86 comments total)

C#
posted by RavinDave at 10:14 PM on September 5, 2007 [1 favorite]

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posted by kbanas at 10:17 PM on September 5, 2007

♩
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 10:18 PM on September 5, 2007

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posted by monju_bosatsu at 10:18 PM on September 5, 2007

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posted by heeeraldo at 10:20 PM on September 5, 2007

Double, for posterity.
posted by cortex at 10:21 PM on September 5, 2007

A pity, but at least he will no longer suffer.
posted by Lynsey at 10:21 PM on September 5, 2007

NY Times obit, including inevitable comparison to Domingo (who was not a natural tenor as Pavarotti was).
posted by girlhacker at 10:21 PM on September 5, 2007

:o
posted by sourwookie at 10:25 PM on September 5, 2007

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(got first comment, now its gone.. dodgy! ) :)
posted by lundman at 10:25 PM on September 5, 2007

Awww, I loved Pavarotti. He was such an exuberant opera singer, full of joie de vivre and shared his singing gifts with others in marvelous and often unlikely duets.

His classic Nessun Dorma.

James Brown & Pavarotti

Queen & Luciano Pavarotti - Too Much Love Will Kill You

Pavarotti & Celine Dion - I Hate You, Then I Love You

Pavarotti & Barry White - My first, my last, my everything

Riposi In Pace.
posted by nickyskye at 10:33 PM on September 5, 2007 [5 favorites]

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posted by killy willy at 10:34 PM on September 5, 2007

About him on Wikipedia.
posted by nickyskye at 10:37 PM on September 5, 2007

When the news was updated earlier to say he'd fallen gravely ill, I suppose this wasn't a complete surprise, but it's still saddening.

He was my favorite Rodolfo.
RIP
posted by cmgonzalez at 10:39 PM on September 5, 2007

O
posted by Astro Zombie at 10:47 PM on September 5, 2007 [3 favorites]

Dorma bene.
posted by turbodog at 10:51 PM on September 5, 2007

It occurs to me that I've never seen a picture of the young Pavarotti.
posted by RavinDave at 10:53 PM on September 5, 2007

"It occurs to me that I've never seen a picture of the young Pavarotti."

Problem solved.

Oh, and .
posted by micketymoc at 11:00 PM on September 5, 2007

Saw him once, in the late 1980's, shopping at an upscale gourmet grocery store on NYC's Upper East Side (I used to work up in that part of town). He had that aura, for sure. Big man. You'd know he was somehow important even if you'd never seen or heard of him before. Like Orson Welles. And he was wearing some enormous, deep red scarf, the kind that you can wrap around about 4 or 5 times. Very striking.

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posted by flapjax at midnite at 11:02 PM on September 5, 2007 [2 favorites]

I was working at a pavarotti show in 93/94ish at the sundome in tampa, and I was backstage as he finished (I watched most of the show from the audience and all I can say is wow it blew me away, and i was a 18yo who was mainly listening to punk at the time), and came barreling off the stage, with two massive bodyguards. i was standing near the trunk of his limo without much room to move. And as the first bodyguard got to me, he sort of went around me, so as not to knock me into the wall, but pavarotti was not so nice. He put his shoulder right into my chest and knocked me into the wall. The bodyguard that was following him kinda gave me a quick look like, "sorry about that", and then all three got into the limo and they sped off.

Its funny, I always get a good laugh out of that story, whenever someone mentions pavarotti, and I say " man, I hate that guy, he assaulted me", and then act out what happens.

But, I don't think I'll tell it anymore.

RIP
posted by brent_h at 11:03 PM on September 5, 2007 [7 favorites]

He helped keep opera cool for those who might otherwise not have had any interest. Whatever he was like as a person, he gets a standing ovation from me for that alone.

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posted by katillathehun at 11:09 PM on September 5, 2007

See here.
posted by puke & cry at 11:10 PM on September 5, 2007

OK, I feel a little bad posting this in the man's obit thread and all, but I came across this rather bizarre piece of animation, and, well, since it's a curiously interesting cultural artifact relating to the man, I'll go ahead and call your attention to Luciano Pavarotti Animation 3D.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 11:12 PM on September 5, 2007

For 95% of Americans, he was the only tenor they could name.

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posted by dw at 11:33 PM on September 5, 2007

Must add Una furtiva lagrima (A secret tear) from Donizetti's "L'Elisir d'amore," which was just made for his range, timbre, and natural pathos.*
*Try to ignore the big grin as soon as he finishes the aria.
posted by rob511 at 11:36 PM on September 5, 2007

E noi dovrem, ahimè, morir.
posted by deCadmus at 11:38 PM on September 5, 2007

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No, needs some tremolo.

♫,~'`'~,.,~'`'~,.,~'`'~,.,~'`'~,.,~'''''''''''''''''''''''''`'~,........♪
posted by anthill at 11:42 PM on September 5, 2007 [1 favorite]

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posted by taff at 11:49 PM on September 5, 2007

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posted by tomcosgrave at 11:50 PM on September 5, 2007

Il nome suo nessun saprà...
E noi dovrem, ahimè, morir, morir!

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posted by trip and a half at 12:02 AM on September 6, 2007

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posted by BlackLeotardFront at 12:44 AM on September 6, 2007

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posted by caddis at 1:02 AM on September 6, 2007

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posted by brautigan at 1:53 AM on September 6, 2007

Any man who can turn a nation of football fans into opera afficionados deserves respect.

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posted by squealy at 1:55 AM on September 6, 2007

That voice... that voice...

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posted by Joey Michaels at 2:14 AM on September 6, 2007

The fat lady weeps.
posted by hal9k at 2:29 AM on September 6, 2007 [2 favorites]

Turan.
posted by Joeforking at 3:07 AM on September 6, 2007 [2 favorites]

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posted by catseatcheese at 3:12 AM on September 6, 2007

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posted by Kiell at 3:44 AM on September 6, 2007

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posted by cupcakeninja at 3:46 AM on September 6, 2007

A friend of a friend interviewed him once - throughout the interview Pavarotti spoke in falsetto to preserve his voice. Conducting an entire interview with an intimidatingly grand old Tenor in a sunny garden, but where he only speaks like he's doing an impression of an old Italian lady...thats some surreal memories.

But what a voice when it was in full flight.
posted by 6am at 4:11 AM on September 6, 2007

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posted by EarBucket at 4:20 AM on September 6, 2007

o solo mio.
posted by Dave Faris at 4:25 AM on September 6, 2007

Just one Cornetto.

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posted by fire&wings at 4:40 AM on September 6, 2007

I had the chance to perform with him (I was in the chorus, mind you) at Lincoln Center in the early 80's with Zubin Mehta conducting. A couple of days rehearsing together and then a couple of performances. His presence was palpable.

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posted by michswiss at 4:47 AM on September 6, 2007

Pavarotti and his Dad (video)
posted by markdj at 4:50 AM on September 6, 2007

Who will be the next King of the High C's?

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posted by jonp72 at 4:50 AM on September 6, 2007

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posted by SeanMac at 4:52 AM on September 6, 2007

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posted by Dr-Baa at 5:15 AM on September 6, 2007

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posted by oddman at 5:53 AM on September 6, 2007

Saw him at a Three Tenors show at the Xcel Arena in St Paul, which is a HUGE hockey arena, but great acoustics for concerts. His stage presence could even be felt in the cheap seats. What I most enjoyed from that show was the honest sense that the three of them were having fun - that it was just not a cash cow (although it was) but they enjoyed being on stage together.

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posted by Ber at 5:56 AM on September 6, 2007

Never saw him in concert, but pure talent like that just sends chills up my spine.
posted by desjardins at 6:00 AM on September 6, 2007

The world mourns.

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posted by bwg at 6:05 AM on September 6, 2007

My dad and I would listen to opera every night while I did my homework and he would play solitaire on the computer. I wish I had the chance to see Pavarotti live.

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posted by spec80 at 6:40 AM on September 6, 2007

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posted by exlotuseater at 6:53 AM on September 6, 2007

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posted by Stynxno at 7:00 AM on September 6, 2007

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posted by jquinby at 7:06 AM on September 6, 2007

Cancer sucks.
posted by cookie-k at 7:08 AM on September 6, 2007 [1 favorite]

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posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 7:37 AM on September 6, 2007

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posted by mike3k at 8:00 AM on September 6, 2007

oh, he was exquisite.

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posted by kalimac at 8:05 AM on September 6, 2007

Happened across him while he was filming a movie in Boston. Very approachable, but seemed perplexed when I asked him for an autograph. Not his problem really, since the only paper I had was a blank check. He looked at it and said I can't sign that I'd get in trouble.

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posted by Gungho at 8:31 AM on September 6, 2007

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posted by StrikeTheViol at 8:36 AM on September 6, 2007

Is the musical singing youtube dot par for the course now?
posted by tehloki at 9:02 AM on September 6, 2007

...

(well he was a big lad)
posted by Webbster at 9:08 AM on September 6, 2007

In musica requiescat
posted by zarah at 9:14 AM on September 6, 2007

I'd do this in Unicode if I could find the things (and if I had a font that actually supported them so I could see what they did), but...

*whole rest with fermata above*
posted by wanderingmind at 10:01 AM on September 6, 2007

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posted by redbeard at 11:02 AM on September 6, 2007

O
posted by Gervais Brooke-Hamster at 11:24 AM on September 6, 2007

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posted by The Great Big Mulp at 11:34 AM on September 6, 2007

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posted by Tehanu at 11:49 AM on September 6, 2007

He brought opera into our home. My father became a big fan after seeing him on a PBS Christmas special.
posted by evilcolonel at 12:04 PM on September 6, 2007

Ciao bello, eri grande di cuore, grande di panza e forse eri anche un grande stronzo ! Ma va bene cosi' , la tua voce ha suggerito ad alcuni bellezza e la pace, che è meglio cantare che sparare, che è meglio divertirsi insieme che stare da soli. Non è da tutti toccare i cuori, salutami John Lennon.
posted by elpapacito at 12:44 PM on September 6, 2007

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posted by deeparch at 12:47 PM on September 6, 2007

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posted by effwerd at 2:00 PM on September 6, 2007

Wow, I just caught this story. That James Brown / Pavarotti combo just blew me away.
posted by phaedon at 2:15 PM on September 6, 2007

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posted by gummi at 2:31 PM on September 6, 2007

Luciano had (once) that special timbre that made even the lousiest old time speaker transmit the dynamics of his craft. I have only really heard that from him and Jussi.

Rest in peace, big man. May a million waterboys forever keep your cords moist.
posted by mr.marx at 2:58 PM on September 6, 2007

I remember being about 5 or 6, in a caravan on holiday with my folks. They were listening to a tape of opera, and played a track with grabbed me immediately. I insisted they play it again right away.

Turns out it was Nessun Dorma, sung by Pavarotti. First piece of classical music that I really paid attention to.

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posted by tomble at 6:06 PM on September 6, 2007

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posted by MythMaker at 6:07 PM on September 6, 2007

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posted by brandz at 7:35 PM on September 6, 2007

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(Having one of those "Oh man I should have spent more time listening to the man while he was alive because now I'm going to be looking like some lame dead-celebrity bandwagon jumper as I spend the next week getting my hands on as many recordings of Pavarotti as possible" moments. But it's just the songs they keep playing behind the news reports of his death on the radio. Chills up and down the spine.)
posted by Jimbob at 8:29 PM on September 6, 2007

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posted by evadery at 8:45 PM on September 6, 2007

My favorite bit of Pavarotti on the web:

Pavarotti Loves Elephants!
posted by tzikeh at 9:15 PM on September 6, 2007 [1 favorite]

A Modena parish priest, the Rev. Giorgio Bellei, told Corriere della Sera that the move amounted to "profanation of the temple." Other critics noted that last year the church refused to grant a religious funeral to a paralyzed man who had a doctor disconnect his respirator.

Pretty much so, poor Piergiorgio Welby. Deliberate disobedience to "divine law", by deciding to end your life of misery, is punished by not allowing your relatives, who maybe were a lot more religious then you, to at least find some temporary comfort in a mass.

Whereas an excellent singer, a fine human being, but also a tax evasor , a person who broke the sacred bond of marriage...oh his body is to be used to make a fine mediatic show, he surely will find god and probably will be buried in sacred cemetary land.

I am so infinitely glad I don't buy into this bullshit anymore, as I did in my less fortunate years as kid. No hate for you, no contempt, just determination to teach others how to escape your hijacking of emotions and human values.
posted by elpapacito at 9:02 AM on September 8, 2007

Pavarotti sparkling as he sings with The Spice Girls.
posted by nickyskye at 10:54 PM on September 9, 2007