A larger-than-life man with an outsized voice that he always said was “a gift from above,” Luciano Pavarotti is passed away after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. I think many were surprised he lived so long, given that malady. A very great artist is gone.
There will a thousand blogs posting versions of Nessun Dorma and Ave Maria, and they’re great and it will a joy to see them, but my favorite aria of his was Vesti La Giubba from I Pagliacci - I’m a sucker for it:
Although classicists and purists criticized him for performing with more “commercial” (and popular) artists, I kind of liked how Pavarotti mixed it up with contemporary musicians. Opera gains new fans when singers dare to move outside of their repertoire, and that’s not a bad thing. Here he is with U2, enhancing an otherwise musically rather redundant song, Miss Sarajevo. As soon as Luciano comes in, the entire piece is elevated into something almost transcendent - well done, all parties, but Pavarotti makes it. His top note on “l’amore” brings chills:
Fausta has more, including a nice clip of a young and beardless Luciano with the ever-great Dame Joan Sutherland. The sound quality is not great but it is enough. And there is a collection of commentary from other musicians - opera and rock - here.
Oh Anchoress, this first clip here “Vesti La Giubba” brought me to tears. What an artist he was and this is truly our loss.
Thanks for posting this today. Marvelous, truly marvelous!
The classicists and purists, as you so kindly call them, had neither the ability or the magnetism to connect with the people the way Luciano did. He will be missed ~ his voice was unmistakable and always gave me chills to listen to him sing. I always got the impression that he’d be delighted to join you in your kitchen as long as you had some great wine and good Italian food, to sit and converse about life and whatever else was of interest to him that day, and then perhaps head into the living room to sing a wonderful Neapolitan love song or two (with me at the piano, of course!) RIP, Luciano!
I Pagliacci was my favorite as well (in fact, that was the exact clip I was going to use in my post later today). I remember hearing it as a child and wondering WHO IS THAT? And how do you SING THAT WAY?
[...] more often than not, it is a source of solace. The Anchoress understands this. She also beat me to the best link of Pavarotti this morning, so just go over to her place and enjoy it. Like her, my favorite by him wasn’t [...]
Luciano Pavarotti passed away yesterday, after a battle with pancreatic cancer. I was privileged to see Pavarotti perform many times at the San Francisco Opera, both before, during and after my tenure as opera reviewer for my college newspaper. The…
[...] He broke the barriers between classical and popular music and won himself a new audience. The Anchoress has a great clip of Pavarotti singing with James Brown. I like this one of Pavarotti doing the [...]
September 6th, 2007 at 7:34 am
I remember reading somewhere that Bono wrote “Miss Serejevo” with Pavarotti in mind.
I too was sad to see him go. . . such a voice!
September 6th, 2007 at 8:55 am
Oh Anchoress, this first clip here “Vesti La Giubba” brought me to tears. What an artist he was and this is truly our loss.
Thanks for posting this today. Marvelous, truly marvelous!
September 6th, 2007 at 9:51 am
The classicists and purists, as you so kindly call them, had neither the ability or the magnetism to connect with the people the way Luciano did. He will be missed ~ his voice was unmistakable and always gave me chills to listen to him sing. I always got the impression that he’d be delighted to join you in your kitchen as long as you had some great wine and good Italian food, to sit and converse about life and whatever else was of interest to him that day, and then perhaps head into the living room to sing a wonderful Neapolitan love song or two (with me at the piano, of course!) RIP, Luciano!
September 6th, 2007 at 10:58 am
I Pagliacci was my favorite as well (in fact, that was the exact clip I was going to use in my post later today). I remember hearing it as a child and wondering WHO IS THAT? And how do you SING THAT WAY?
Ciao, mia cara.
September 6th, 2007 at 7:12 pm
[...] more often than not, it is a source of solace. The Anchoress understands this. She also beat me to the best link of Pavarotti this morning, so just go over to her place and enjoy it. Like her, my favorite by him wasn’t [...]
September 6th, 2007 at 7:22 pm
An incredible life…
An incredible voice…
We see such amazing brilliance from humanity in so many ways.
Such grace in the expression of the music of this Man.
Some can only see the human existence in the most negative light, they miss so much.
September 7th, 2007 at 7:37 pm
Addio Luciano…
Luciano Pavarotti passed away yesterday, after a battle with pancreatic cancer. I was privileged to see Pavarotti perform many times at the San Francisco Opera, both before, during and after my tenure as opera reviewer for my college newspaper. The…
October 13th, 2007 at 12:32 pm
[...] He broke the barriers between classical and popular music and won himself a new audience. The Anchoress has a great clip of Pavarotti singing with James Brown. I like this one of Pavarotti doing the [...]