Pavarotti dies at 71

[MDK]

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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".

The Vienna State Opera raised a black flag in mourning, while Modena said it would name its theatre after its famous son.

Manager Terri Robson said in a statement that the tenor died at 0500 local time (0400 BST) on Thursday.

"The Maestro fought a long, tough battle against the pancreatic cancer which eventually took his life," she said.

"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 funeral will be held at Modena Cathedral on Saturday, the city's mayor Giorgio Pighi told Sky TG24 television, according to the AFP news agency.

One of the tenor's doctors, Antonio Frassoldati, told Sky TG24 the singer had been "always totally conscious of the situation, he always sought to fight the disease... and he was very calm".

Pavarotti enjoyed 40 years on the world stage and became one of the world's biggest-selling artists.

His music reached far beyond the usual opera audience, particularly his signature tune Nessun Dorma, from Puccini's Turandot, which became associated with the 1990 football World Cup.

His performances with Domingo and Jose Carerras at this time - in the Three Tenors concerts - were seen around the world.

"We've reached 1.5 billion people with opera," Pavarotti told critics of the shows.

"If you want to use the word commercial, or something more derogatory, we don't care. Use whatever you want."

In a statement from Los Angeles, Domingo said he had fond memories of the Three Tenors shows.

"We had trouble remembering we were giving a concert before a paying audience, because we had so much fun between ourselves," he said.

Nessun Dorma was part of Pavarotti's final performance, at the opening of the Winter Olympics in Turin in February 2006.

Pavarotti was married to his first wife Adua, with whom he had three daughters, for 35 years until they split in 1996.

He then got together with his secretary Nicoletta Mantovani, who was 26 years old at the time. In 2003, they had been due to have twins, but only one survived, a daughter called Alice.

The couple married in a lavish, star-studded ceremony later that year.

Its a shame. Even tho I only liked Nessum Dorma I'm a bit shocked.

[Scott McFly]

Yeah, I was keeping an eye on the story last night, figured it wouldn't be too long before he passed. A real shame, he did a lot of fundraising work for charity and obviously his singing talent was incredible. Despite the somewhat questionable romance and child-bearing with a secretary late in his life, he'll go down in history as a legend.

RIP Pavarotti

[IAceI]

That's a shame, never particularly been a fan since his type of music doesn't appeal to me, but his talent was obvious.

RIP.

[Skummy]

I'm not going to pretend that he was anyone who ever had much of an impact on my life or anything just because he's died, but I have been getting into opera lately, and even though that never really had any link to him, obviously he was the one name synonymous with it to everyone, and it's always strange when a true household name passes away and, like Scott McFly said, on top of that he did a lot of charity work, and he is the closest thing to a "legend" I can think of in modern-day opera, so it's a tremendous shame, although he did pretty much all he could have possibly done for opera as far as pushing it outside of its niche audience, so we should be thankful for that.

Edited September 6, 2007 by Skummy Guðmundsdóttir

[The Sultan of Swank]

Tragic Clown.

[Liam]

Sad news. Really made Opera a lot bigger than it ever had been, and as mentioned, did a lot for charity. Was one that was seemingly obviously coming, but still sad.

RIP.

[Nerf]

Wow. I was in college today and I name dropped Pavarotti for reasons I cannot remember. My friend then informed me that he had died this morning. I'm not gonna pretend I'm an opera buff, but he is a name synonomous with the genre and is definitely a legend of his trade.

RIP

[Hobo]

RIP

[Johnny Latino Heat]

I'm not going to pretend that he was anyone who ever had much of an impact on my life or anything just because he's died, but I have been getting into opera lately, and even though that never really had any link to him, obviously he was the one name synonymous with it to everyone, and it's always strange when a true household name passes away and, like Scott McFly said, on top of that he did a lot of charity work, and he is the closest thing to a "legend" I can think of in modern-day opera, so it's a tremendous shame, although he did pretty much all he could have possibly done for opera as far as pushing it outside of its niche audience, so we should be thankful for that.

[METALMAN]

I first heard Nessun Dorma earlier this year because I was doing the song for my trombone exam. I downloaded the song to help me get used to it and didn't give much thought to it after the exam was over. When I heard Pavarotti died I played Nessun Dorma for the first time in several months. Listening to it, with the speaker volume turned to full made my hair stand on end. I realised that while it is hardly my usual type of music, it is still an amazing song. Truly awe-inspiring.

RIP.

[Smitherman]

Nessun Dorma is beautiful ,and it is sad news considering I have been listening to alot more opera recently.

RIP Pavarotti

[The Kraig]

My mum listens to The Three Tenors all the time, especially in the car, so I assume I've heard more than the average EWB member because of her. I heard he was really ill last night, so found some youtube videos of him. The sheer raw energy was immense, even on the shitty quality videos.

Heard he died this morning, put the videos on for my mum and I suddenly feel very sad. A legend no doubt.

Not to mention Italia '90 had his song for it! I mean...does it get any legendish than that? No. No it does not.

[The Quasi Juice]

Nessun Dorma live

I don't even know what he's saying and I still am moved everytime I hear the song. He made opera more "mainstream", because for a long time when I read the word 'opera' his name immediately popped into my head, now it's also Borcelli. RIP Pava.