Luciano Pavarotti

Luciano Pavarotti performing at the opening of the Constantine Palace in Strelna, 31 May 2003. The concert was part of the
celebrations for the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg.

Luciano Pavarotti, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI (12 October 1935 6 September
2007) was an Italian operatic tenor, who also crossed over into popular music,
eventually becoming one of the most commercially successful tenors of all time. He
made numerous recordings of complete operas and individual arias, and established
himself as one of the finest tenors of the 20th century.[1] He was one ofThe Three
Tenors and became well known for his televised concerts and media appearances.
Pavarotti was also noted for his charity work on behalf of refugees and the Red Cross,
amongst others.
Pavarotti began his professional career as a tenor in 1961 in Italy. That same year, he
made his first international appearance in La traviata in Belgrade,Yugoslavia.[2] He sang
in opera houses in addition to Italy, in the Netherlands, Vienna,
London, Ankara, Budapest and Barcelona. The young tenor earned valuable experience
and recognition while touring Australia at the invitation ofsoprano Joan Sutherland in
1965. He made his United States debut in Miami soon afterwards, also on Sutherland's
recommendation. His position as a leading lyric tenor was consolidated in the years
between 1966 and 1972, during which time he first appeared at Milan's La Scala and
other major European houses. In 1968, he debuted at New York City's Metropolitan
Operaas Rodolfo in Puccini's La bohme. At the Met in 1972, in the role of Tonio
inDonizetti's La fille du rgiment he earned the title "King of the high Cs" when he sang

the aria "Ah mes amis ... pour mon me". He gained worldwide fame for the brilliance
and beauty of his tone, especially into the upper register.[3] He was at his best in bel
canto operas, pre-Aida Verdi roles and Puccini works such as La
bohme, Tosca and Madama Butterfly. The late 1970s and 1980s saw Pavarotti
continue to make significant appearances in the world's foremostopera houses.
Celebrity beyond the world of opera came to Pavarotti at the 1990 World Cup in Italy
with performances of Puccini's "Nessun dorma", sample (helpinfo) fromTurandot, and
as one of The Three Tenors in their famed first concert held on the eve of the
tournament's final match. He sang on that occasion with fellow star tenors Plcido
Domingo and Jos Carreras, bringing opera highlights to a wider audience.
Appearances in advertisements and with pop icons in concerts furthered his
international celebrity.
His final performance in an opera was at the Metropolitan Opera in March 2004. Later
that year, the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) inducted him into its Italian
American Hall of Fame in recognition of his lifetime of work. During a ceremony held at
the Foundation's Anniversary Gala just four days after his 69th birthday, singer Faith
Hill presented Pavarotti with a birthday cake and sang "Happy Birthday" to the opera
legend.
The 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, saw Pavarotti on stage for the last time, where
he performed "Nessun dorma", with the crowd serving as the aria's chorus, and he
received a thunderous standing ovation. [4]
He died from pancreatic cancer on 6 September 2007.

Earlier life and musical training

Luciano Pavarotti was born in 1935 on the outskirts of Modena in Northern Italy, the son
of Fernando Pavarotti, a baker and amateur tenor, and Adele Venturi, a cigar factory
worker.[5] Although he spoke fondly of his childhood, the family had little money; its four
members were crowded into a two-room apartment. According to Pavarotti, his father
had a fine tenor voice but rejected the possibility of a singing career because of
nervousness. World War II forced the family out of the city in 1943. For the following
year they rented a single room from a farmer in the neighbouring countryside, where the
young Pavarotti developed an interest in farming.

After abandoning the dream of becoming a football goalkeeper, Pavarotti spent seven
years in vocal training. Pavarotti's earliest musical influences were his father's
recordings, most of them featuring the popular tenors of the day Beniamino
Gigli, Giovanni Martinelli, Tito Schipa and Enrico Caruso. Pavarotti's favourite tenor and
idol was Giuseppe Di Stefano.[6] He was also deeply influenced by Mario Lanza,
saying, "In my teens I used to go to Mario Lanza movies and then come home and
imitate him in the mirror".[7] At around the age of nine he began singing with his father in
a small local church choir.
After what appears to have been a normal childhood with a typical interest in sports
in Pavarotti's case football above all, he graduated from the Scuola Magistrale and
faced the dilemma of a career choice. He was interested in pursuing a career as a
professional football goalkeeper, but his mother convinced him to train as a teacher. He
subsequently taught in an elementary school for two years but finally allowed his
interest in music to win out. Recognising the risk involved, his father gave his consent
only reluctantly.
Pavarotti began the serious study of music in 1954 at the age of 19 with Arrigo Pola, a
respected teacher and professional tenor in Modena who offered to teach him without
remuneration. Not until he began these studies was Pavarotti aware that he had perfect
pitch.[citation needed]
In 1955, he experienced his first singing success when he was a member of the Corale
Rossini, a male voice choir from Modena that also included his father, which won first
prize at the International Eisteddfod in Llangollen, Wales. He later said that this was the
most important experience of his life, and that it inspired him to become a professional
singer.[8] At about this time Pavarotti first met Adua Veroni. They married in 1961.
When his teacher Arrigo Pola moved to Japan, Pavarotti became a student ofEttore
Campogalliani, who at that time was also teaching Pavarotti's childhood friend, Mirella
Freni, whose mother worked with Luciano's mother in the cigar factory. Like Pavarotti,
Freni was destined to operatic greatness; they were to share the stage many times and
make memorable recordings together.
During his years of musical study, Pavarotti held part-time jobs in order to sustain
himself first as an elementary school teacher and then as an insurance salesman. The
first six years of study resulted in only a few recitals, all in small towns and without pay.
When a nodule developed on his vocal cords, causing a "disastrous" concert in Ferrara,
he decided to give up singing. Pavarotti attributed his immediate improvement to the

psychological release connected with this decision. Whatever the reason, the nodule
not only disappeared but, as he related in his autobiography, "Everything I had learned
came together with my natural voice to make the sound I had been struggling so hard to
achieve".

Career
1960s1970s
Pavarotti began his career as a tenor in smaller regional Italian opera houses, making
his debut as Rodolfo in La Bohme at the Teatro Municipale in Reggio Emilia in April
1961.

with Joan Sutherland in I Puritani (1976)

Very early in his career, on 23 February 1963, he debuted at theVienna State

Opera with the same role. In March and April 1963 Vienna saw Pavarotti again as
Rodolfo and as Duca di Mantova in Rigoletto. The same year saw his Royal Opera
House debut, where he replaced an indisposed Giuseppe di Stefano as Rodolfo.[9]
While generally successful, Pavarotti's early roles did not immediately propel him into
the stardom that he would later enjoy. An early coup involved his connection with Joan
Sutherland(and her conductor husband, Richard Bonynge), who in 1963 had sought a
young tenor taller than herself to take along on her tour to Australia. [10] With his

commanding physical presence, Pavarotti proved ideal. [11] The two sang some forty
performances over two months, and Pavarotti later credited Sutherland for the breathing
technique that would sustain him over his career.[12]
Pavarotti made his American dbut with the Greater Miami Opera in February 1965,
singing in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor opposite Joan Sutherland on the stage of
the Miami-Dade County Auditorium in Miami. The tenor scheduled to perform that night
became ill with no understudy. As Sutherland was traveling with him on tour, she
recommended the young Pavarotti as he was well acquainted with the role.
Shortly after, on 28 April, Pavarotti made his La Scala debut in the revival of the
famous Franco Zeffirelli production of La Bohme, with his childhood friendMirella
Freni singing Mimi and Herbert von Karajan conducting. Karajan had requested the
singer's engagement. After an extended Australian tour, he returned to La Scala, where
he added Tebaldo from I Capuleti e i Montecchi to his repertoire on 26 March 1966,
with Giacomo Aragall as Romeo. His first appearance as Tonio in Donizetti's La Fille du
Rgiment took place at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, on 2 June of that year.
It was his performances of this role that would earn him the title of "King of the High Cs".
He scored another major triumph in Rome on 20 November 1969 when he sang in I
Lombardi opposite Renata Scotto. This was recorded on a private label and widely
distributed, as were various recordings of his I Capuleti e i Montecchi,usually with
Aragall. Early commercial recordings included a recital of Donizetti (the aria from Don
Sebastiano were particularly highly regarded) and Verdiarias, as well as a
complete L'Elisir d'Amore with Sutherland.
His major breakthrough in the United States came on 17 February 1972, in a production
of La Fille du Rgiment at New York's Metropolitan Opera, in which he drove the crowd
into a frenzy with his nine effortless high Cs in the signaturearia. He achieved a record
seventeen curtain calls.
Pavarotti sang his international recital dbut at William Jewell College in Liberty,
Missouri, on 1 February 1973, as part of the college's Fine Arts Program, now known as
the Harriman-Jewell Series. Perspiring due to nerves and a lingering cold, the tenor
clutched a handkerchief throughout the dbut. The prop became a signature part of his
solo performances.
He began to give frequent television performances, starting with his performances as
Rodolfo (La Bohme) in the first Live from the Met telecast in March 1977, which
attracted one of the largest audiences ever for a televised opera. He won

many Grammy awards and platinum and gold discs for his performances. In addition to
the previously listed titles, his La Favorita withFiorenza Cossotto and his I
Puritani (1975) with Sutherland stand out.
In 1976, Pavarotti debuted at the Salzburg Festival, appearing in a solo recital on 31
July, accompanied by pianist Leone Magiera. Pavarotti returned to the festival in 1978
with a recital and as the Italian singer in Der Rosenkavalier in 1983 with Idomeneo, and
both in 1985 and 1988 with solo recitals.
In 1979, he was profiled in a cover story in the weekly magazine Time.[13] That same
year saw Pavarotti's return to the Vienna State Opera after an absence of fourteen
years. With Herbert von Karajan conducting, Pavarotti sang Manrico inIl Trovatore. In
1978, he appeared in a solo recital on Live from Lincoln Center.

1980s1990s
At the beginning of the 1980s, he set up The Pavarotti International Voice Competition
for young singers, performing with the winners in 1982 in excerpts of La
Bohme and L'Elisir d'Amore. The second competition, in 1986, staged excerpts of La
Bohme and Un Ballo in Maschera. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of his career, he
brought the winners of the competition to Italy for gala performances of La Bohme in
Modena and Genoa, and then to China where they staged performances of La
Bohme in Beijing (Peking). To conclude the visit, Pavarotti performed the first ever
concert in the Great Hall of the People before 10,000 people, receiving a standing
ovation for nine effortless high Cs. The third competition in 1989 again staged
performances of L'Elisir d'Amoreand Un ballo in Maschera. The winners of the fifth
competition accompanied Pavarotti in performances in Philadelphia in 1997.
In the mid-1980s, Pavarotti returned to two opera houses that had provided him with
important breakthroughs, the Vienna State Opera and La Scala. Vienna saw Pavarotti
as Rodolfo in La Bohme with Carlos Kleiber conducting and again Mirella Freni was
Mimi; as Nemorino in L'Elisir d'Amore; as Radames inAda conducted by Lorin Maazel;
as Rodolfo in Luisa Miller; and as Gustavo inUn Ballo in Maschera conducted by
Claudio Abbado. In 1996, Pavarotti appeared for the last time at the Staatsoper
in Andrea Chenier.
In 1985, Pavarotti sang Radames at La Scala opposite Maria Chiara in a Luca Ronconi
production conducted by Maazel, recorded on video. His performance of the

aria "Celeste Ada" received a two-minute ovation on the opening night. He was
reunited with Mirella Freni for the San Francisco Opera production of La Bohme in
1988, also recorded on video. In 1992, La Scala saw Pavarotti in a new Zeffirelli
production of Don Carlo, conducted by Riccardo Muti. Pavarotti's performance was
heavily criticized by some observers and booed by parts of the audience.
Pavarotti became even better known throughout the world in 1990 when his rendition
of Giacomo Puccini's aria, "Nessun Dorma" from Turandot was taken as the theme song
of BBC's TV coverage of the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy. The aria achieved pop status
and remained his trademark song. This was followed by the hugely successful Three
Tenors concert, held on the eve of the World Cup final at the ancient Baths of
Caracalla in Rome with fellow tenorsPlcido Domingo and Jos Carreras and
conductor Zubin Mehta, which became the biggest selling classical record of all time. A
highlight of the concert, in which Pavarotti hammed up a famous portion of di Capua's
"O Sole Mio" and was mimicked by Domingo and Carreras to the delight of the
audience, became one of the most memorable moments in contemporary operatic
history. Throughout the 1990s, Pavarotti appeared in many well-attended outdoor
concerts, including his televised concert in London's Hyde Park, which drew a record
attendance of 150,000. In June 1993, more than 500,000 listeners gathered for his free
performance on the Great Lawn of New York's Central Park, while millions more around
the world watched on television. The following September, in the shadow of the Eiffel
Tower in Paris, he sang for an estimated crowd of 300,000. Following on from the
original 1990 concert, the Three Tenors concerts were held during the Football World
Cups: in Los Angeles in 1994, in Paris in 1998, and in Yokohama in 2002.
In 1995, Pavarotti's friends, the singer Lara Saint Paul (as Lara Cariaggi) and her
husband showman Pier Quinto Cariaggi, who had produced and organised Pavarotti's
1990 FIFA World Cup Celebration Concert at the PalaTrussardi in Milan,[14] produced
and wrote the television documentary The Best is Yet to Come, an extensive biography
about the life of Pavarotti.[15] Lara Saint Paul was the interviewer for the documentary
with Pavarotti, who spoke candidly about his life and career.[16]
Pavarotti's rise to stardom was not without occasional difficulties, however. He earned a
reputation as "The King of Cancellations" by frequently backing out of performances,
and his unreliable nature led to poor relationships with some opera houses. This was
brought into focus in 1989 when Ardis Krainik of theLyric Opera of Chicago severed the
house's 15-year relationship with the tenor.[17] Over an eight-year period, Pavarotti had
cancelled 26 out of 41 scheduled appearances at the Lyric, and the decisive move by

Krainik to ban him for life was well-noted throughout the opera world, after the performer
walked away from a season premiere less than two weeks before rehearsals began,
saying pain from a sciatic nerve required two months of treatment.
On 12 December 1998, he became the first (and, to date, only) opera singer to perform
on Saturday Night Live, singing alongside Vanessa L. Williams. He also sang with U2, in
the band's 1995 song "Miss Sarajevo", and with Mercedes Sosa in a big concert at
the Boca Juniors arena La Bombonera in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1999.
In 1998, Pavarotti was presented with the Grammy Legend Award. As of 2011, this
award has been given 15 times since its first presentation in 1990.

2000s

Luciano Pavarotti performing on 15 June 2002 at a concert in the Stade

Vlodrome in Marseille
In 2004, one of Pavarotti's former managers, Herbert Breslin, published a book, The
King & I.[17] Seen by many as bitter and sensationalistic, it is critical of the singer's acting
(in opera), his inability to read music well and learn parts, and of his personal conduct,
although acknowledging their mutual success. In an interview in 2005 with Jeremy
Paxman on the BBC, Pavarotti rejected the allegation that he could not read music,
although he acknowledged he did not read orchestral scores.
He received an enormous number of awards and honours, includingKennedy Center
Honors in 2001. He also holds two Guinness World Records: one for receiving the
most curtain calls (165)[18] and another for the best-selling classical album (In

Concert by The Three Tenors). (The latter record is thus shared by fellow tenors Plcido
Domingo and Jos Carreras.)
In late 2003, he released his final compilation and his first and only "crossover"
album, Ti Adoro. Most of the 13 songs were written and produced by the Michele
Centonze who had already helped produce the "Pavarotti & Friends" concerts between
1998 and 2000.[19] The tenor described the album as a wedding gift to Nicoletta
Mantovani. That same year he was made a Commander of Monaco's Order of Cultural
Merit.[20]
Pavarotti began his farewell tour in 2004, at the age of 69, performing one last time in
old and new locations, after more than four decades on the stage. Pavarotti gave his
last performance in an opera at the New York Metropolitan Opera on 13 March 2004, for
which he received a long standing ovation for his role as the painter Mario Cavaradossi
in Giacomo Puccini's Tosca. On 1 December 2004, he announced a 40-city farewell
tour. Pavarotti and his manager, Terri Robson, commissioned impresario Harvey
Goldsmith to produce the Worldwide Farewell Tour. His last full-scale performance was
at the end of a two-month Australasian tour in Taiwan, in December 2005.
In March 2005, Pavarotti underwent neck surgery to repair two vertebrae. In early 2006,
he underwent further back surgery and contracted an infection while in the hospital in
New York, forcing cancellation of concerts in the U.S., Canada and the UK. [21]
On 10 February 2006, Pavarotti sang "Nessun Dorma" at the 2006 Winter Olympics
opening ceremony in Turin, Italy, at his final performance. In the last act of the opening
ceremony, his performance received the longest and loudest ovation of the night from
the international crowd. Leone Magiera, who directed the performance, revealed in his
2008 memoirs, Pavarotti Visto da Vicino, that the performance was prerecorded weeks
earlier.[22] "The orchestra pretended to play for the audience, I pretended to conduct and
Luciano pretended to sing. The effect was wonderful," he wrote. Pavarotti's manager,
Terri Robson, said that the tenor had turned the Winter Olympic Committee's invitation
down several times because it would have been impossible to sing late at night in the
sub-zero conditions of Turin in February. The committee eventually persuaded him to
take part by pre-recording the song.

Other work

Film and television

Pavarotti's one venture into film, a romantic comedy called Yes, Giorgio (1982), was
roundly panned by the critics. He can be seen to better advantage in Jean-Pierre
Ponnelle's adaptation of Rigoletto for television, released that same year, or in his more
than 20 live opera performances taped for television between 1978 and 1994, most of
them with the Metropolitan Opera, and most available on DVD.

Humanitarianism
Pavarotti annually hosted the "Pavarotti and Friends" charity concerts in his home town
of Modena in Italy, joining with singers from all parts of the music industry,
including Andrea Bocelli, Jon Bon Jovi, Bryan Adams, Bono, James Brown, Mariah
Carey, Eric Clapton, Sheryl Crow, Cline Dion, Anastacia, Elton John, Deep
Purple, Meat Loaf, Queen, George Michael, Sting and the Spice Girls, to raise money
for several UN causes. Concerts were held for War Child, and victims of war and civil
unrest in Bosnia, Guatemala, Kosovo and Iraq. Afterthe war in Bosnia, he financed and
established the Pavarotti Music Centre in the southern city of Mostar to offer Bosnia's
artists the opportunity to develop their skills. For these contributions, the city
of Sarajevo named him an honorary citizen in 2006. [23]
He performed at benefit concerts to raise money for victims of tragedies such as
the Spitak earthquake that killed 25,000 people in northern Armenia in December 1988,
[24]
and sang Gounod's Ave Maria with legendary French pop music star and
ethnic Armenian Charles Aznavour.
He was a close friend of Diana, Princess of Wales. They raised money for the
elimination of land mines worldwide. He was invited to sing at her funeral service, but
declined to sing, as he felt he could not sing well "with his grief in his throat".
Nonetheless, he attended the service.
In 1998, he was appointed the United Nations Messenger of Peace, using his fame to
raise awareness of UN issues, including the Millennium Development
Goals, HIV/AIDS, child rights, urban slums and poverty.[25]
In 1999, Pavarotti performed a charity benefit concert in Beirut, to mark Lebanon's
reemergence on the world stage after a brutal 15 year civil war. The largest concert held
in Beirut since the end of the war, it was attended by 20,000 people who travelled from
countries as distant as Saudi Arabia and Bulgaria. [26]

In 2001, Pavarotti received the Nansen Medal from the UN High Commission for
Refugees for his efforts raising money on behalf of refugees worldwide. Through benefit
concerts and volunteer work, he has raised more than any other individual. [27]
Other honours he received include the "Freedom of London Award" and The Red
Cross "Award for Services to Humanity", for his work in raising money for that
organization, and the 1998 "MusiCares Person of the Year", given to humanitarian
heroes by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.[28][29]
He was a National Patron of Delta Omicron, an international professional music
fraternity.[30]

Death

While undertaking an international "farewell tour," Pavarotti was diagnosed

with pancreatic cancer in July 2006. The tenor fought back against the implications of
this diagnosis, undergoing major abdominal surgery and making plans for the
resumption and conclusion of his singing commitments. [31] He died at his home in
Modena on 6 September 2007. Within hours of his death, his manager, Terri Robson,
noted in an e-mail statement, "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".[32][33][34]
Pavarotti's funeral was held in Modena Cathedral. Romano Prodi and Kofi
Annanattended.[35] The Frecce Tricolori, the aerobatic demonstration team of theItalian
Air Force, flew overhead, leaving green-white-red smoke trails. After a funeral
procession through the centre of Modena, Pavarotti's coffin was taken the final ten
kilometres to Montale Rangone, a village part of Castelnuovo Rangone, and was buried
near his parents' grave. The funeral, in its entirety, was also telecast live on CNN.
The Vienna State Opera and the Salzburg Festival Hall flew black flags in mourning.
[36]
Tributes were published by many opera houses, such as London's Royal Opera
House.[37] The Italian footballgiant Juventus F.C., of which Pavarotti was a lifelong fan,
was represented at the funeral and posted a farewell message on its website which
said: "Ciao Luciano, black-and-white heart" referring to the team's famous stripes when
they play on their home ground.

Personal life
On 13 December 2003, he married his former personal assistant, Nicoletta
Mantovani (born 1969), with whom he already had a daughter, Alice. A second child,
Riccardo, did not survive, because of complications at the time of birth in January 2003.
Pavarotti is also survived by three other daughters by his first wife Adua, to whom he
was married for 34 years: Lorenza, Cristina, and Giuliana. At the time of his death, he
had one granddaughter.

Settlement of estate
His first will was opened the day after his death and a second will, within the same
month of September.[38] He left an estate outside his native Modena, a villa in Pesaro, a
flat in Monte Carlo, and three flats in New York City.[39]
Pavarotti's widow's lawyers Giorgio Bernini, Anna Maria Bernini, and manager Terri
Robson announced on 30 June 2008 that his family amicably settled his estate 300
million euros ($ 474.2 million, including $15 million in U.S. assets). Pavarotti drafted two
wills before his death: one divided his assets by Italian law, giving half to his second
wife, Nicoletta Mantovani, and half to his four daughters; the second gave his U.S.
holdings to Mantovani. The judge confirmed the compromise by the end of July 2008.
However, a Pesaro public prosecutor, Massimo di Patria, investigated allegations that
Pavarotti was not ofsound mind when he signed the will.[40][41][42] Pavarotti's estate has
been settled "fairly", a lawyer for Pavarotti's widow, Nicoletta Mantovani, said in
statements after reports of a dispute between Ms. Mantovani and his three daughters
from his first marriage.[43]