Luciano Pavarotti: 1935-2007

Luciano Pavarotti died yesterday of pancreatic cancer. He was 71. He leaves behind him an image almost larger than life, as one of the best-known icons of modern opera. Born in Modena, Italy, Pavarotti had enormous natural range that set him apart early as one of the great singers of his generation. But he is best known for his raw charisma and personality that transformed him into an international pop icon.

Pavarotti was never a world-class musician -- he just had a world-class voice. He was infamously stubborn about learning new music and never displayed the musicality of other performers, such as his fellow tenor Plácido Domingo. But Pavarotti's charm and wit superseded his musical imperfections, drawing huge crowds and earning lucrative performance contracts. His amazing range and natural command of the Italian language made his performances wonderful to listen to. He also performed with a startling array of pop music performers, from James Brown to Bono to the Spice Girls. Pavarotti is also famous for his Three Tenors project with Domingo and José Carreras. Many opera buffs saw these and other pop performances as musically sub-standard, but they introduced new audiences to the world of opera.

I have a special place in my heart for Luciano Pavarotti. He isn't my favorite performer, and he doesn't even have the best voice. But it was a Pavarotti performance that first got me interested in Italian opera. My dad frequently listened to classical music when I was young, and since he played the trombone, he listened to a lot of German opera. It wasn't until college, during a introductory humanities class, that I heard much Italian opera. The professor showed a video of Pavarotti performing "Nessun Dorma" from Puccini's magnificent Turandot during a live Three Tenors concert at the Roman Baths. By the time of that performance in 1990, Pavarotti had lost some of his range and had gained a lot of weight. However, his pure passion and emotion and energy got me interested in opera, and to this day, Puccini is my favorite composer. Even if that concert wasn't the best musical performance, it still played a part in my discovery of some fantastic music.

No description of Pavarotti would be complete without the sound of his voice, so here's a recording of Pavarotti's solo at that 1990 Three Tenors concert. You can also find the video on YouTube.