Friday, September 07, 2007
Pavarotti Dies
Luciano Pavarotti has died at the age of 71. BBC:
World renowned tenor Luciano Pavarotti has died at his home in the northern Italian city of Modena.
The singer, who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last year, was 71.
His charismatic performances - particularly alongside fellow tenors Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras - helped bring a new audience to opera.
Pavarotti had cancer surgery in July 2006 in New York, five months after his last performance. He had not made any public appearances since then.
He underwent five bouts of chemotherapy in the past year, and was admitted to hospital with a fever on 8 August. He was released two weeks later following diagnostic tests.
Fellow tenor Domingo said he had "always admired the God-given glory" of Pavarotti's voice, while Carreras called him "one of the most important tenors of all time".
And no one - no one - did more to bring classical and opera music to the masses, to people who would never have given a second thought to listening to "highbrow" music, than did Pavarotti. He made it look and sound so easy.
Two performances that I feel are worth noting:
The first is Ave Maria, which I can hardly listen to without getting teary-eyed. The guy had pipes and was a master of his specialty.
The second is a duet with the late, great James Brown - yep - the Godfather of Soul. And it's fantastic!
Rest in peace Luciano. We will not see the likes of him again for a long, long time.
Linking Here:
Leather Penguin
I knew he was sick but was still shocked when I heard the news. I was on my way home and cried the whole way... selfishly it was mostly because one of my life-long dreams was to see him live in concert. Unfortunately, once someone dies, that dreams pretty much dies with him.
So I cried... and will probably do it again.
I meant to make comments in my blog about this but was pretty upset and haven't done it yet... perhaps later. Actually, I've had a few things I've wanted to write about but just can't get to it.
Later... always later. But in the case of this dream to see Pavarotti... later is too late.
I had a similar experience with wanting to see Mel Torme. He had a concert planned in the Twin Cities, he got sick and died.
We can be thankful that whoever's music we like, that when they're gone their music lives on.
<< Home
Alabama Internet
accordance and compliance with Fair Use Section 107 U.S. Copyright Code.
All other images and content © 2005-2009 David Drake.
Not responsible for content contained at linked sites.
Policy on commenting:
- Anonymous comments have little chance of being published.
- Comments made on posts 60 days old or older have little chance of being published.
- Published comments do not necessarily reflect the views of this blog author.
- Discretion of publishing or rejecting submitted comments rests solely with the owner and creator of this blog.
- Comments that egregiously "plug" (i.e. advertise or promote) another site or blog will be rejected. This doesn't mean you cannot include a link to your story, blog or to another site, but don't go overboard.
- Profanity is not a disqualifying factor, but profane rants solely for purposes of profanity are unlikely to be published.
- The owner and creator of this blog is not liable or responsible for the opinions of those who comment.
