½ûÂþÌìÌÃ

I am so saddened by this news what a loss to the world

An ½ûÂþÌìÌà Icon - what can one say. I admire his wife and how she stuck by him

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uYrmYXsujI]YouTube - Luciano Pavarotti - Ave Maria - Schubert[/ame]

A very sad loss indeed. His voice was unique and a real gift from God. May he rest in peace.

I have been watching the ½ûÂþÌìÌà News broadcasts this morning, as I'm sure many others here on IM have been doing, and I'm (generally) not affected by the news when a personality dies.

But this morning - for only about the third time in my life - I cried. Pavarotti has always been my favourite tenor - better even than Gigli IMHO - and when I was able to just sit quietly and listen to him, he could transport me almost to heaven with his wonderful, rich and emotional voice. I can only thank modern technology for the fact that I will never be denied the possibility of continuing to hear him sing.

Luciano Pavarotti - may you rest in peace.

Luciano was an International Icon. A true human being who brought joy to humanity in all corners of our planet.

And, yes of course, his wife should be applauded too.

A very sad numerouno:sad:

Like others I was saddened to hear of Pavarotti's death this morning. When his glorious, rich, colourful voice filled the kitchen I am not ashamed to say that I was reduced to tears. I was lucky enough to see him twice and his personality and talent outshone all others. 'Pav', as he is affectionally known in this household, was simply the best.

Annie.

Was anyone else here at the Pav in the park in Hyde Park in London in the most torrential rain a few years back?
Despite the crowds being totally sodden the atmosphere was fantastic.
RIP Luciano. He made a lot of people cry in a very good way.

M

In the early nineties when I was in a very very sad place (marriage etc) and before divorce, freedom, new partner + happiness I used to listen to his voice and it would drive out the pain I was feeling. I went through my second adolescent phase and played it very very loudly too.

Luciano - Grazie mille

Aretina

[quote=Marinaw;71685]Was anyone else here at the Pav in the park in Hyde Park in London in the most torrential rain a few years back?
Despite the crowds being totally sodden the atmosphere was fantastic.
RIP Luciano. He made a lot of people cry in a very good way.

M[/quote]

Yes, we were there and it was simply great, innit?

Do you remember Luciano addressing Princess Diana as Lady Diana, then realising he'd made a booboo, he cleverly disguised it with his trade-mark 'wide-eyed-smile' .

Its silly little innocent things which he did that make him a true superstar.

#1

PS: there was this guy who was selling bin liners for £1.00 each which many of us used as 'raincoats' because there was just no room for umbrellas.

Yes, a sad morning for me here too.
I also was lucky enough to see him twice too.

Once was in 1988 (I think) when he did a concert at La Rocca in Ravenna.
I was a poor new Thomson rep and couldn't afford a ticket for the good seats.
By the time I got round to booking all the seats had gone.
The local travel agents in Cattolica had a bus going and so they let me have a seat on the coach and I set off all ready to watch the concert on the screens in the piazza.
On the coach the guide had a ticket as she was taking the group.
Turned out she wanted to go and have a pizza with the coach driver.
So I ended up taking the group and her ticket in the second row and she seemed happy enough to get her pizza and her driver!!

It was wonderful to hear the special feeling he put into singing in Emilia Romagna and yes Romagna Mia was sung too.

Later that same year, I was posted to Florida again with Thomson and on New Years Eve Big Luciano was doing a concert.
I got a ticket and went along.

At around 6 p.m. which was midnight in Italy he invited all ½ûÂþÌìÌÃs to join him on stage.
There were about 25 of us (I faked being ½ûÂþÌìÌÃ) and we did the count down dieci-nove-otto etc and then all wished each other Buon Anno.

Great memories of a great voice.

This morning what set my tears running was hearing his dad sing Ave Maria followed by Pavarotti Junior!!!

Grazie Luciano Grazie per La Musica. Sei unico.

I have just watched a performance on Youtube which he gave at the Torino 06 Winter Olympics, surely one of his last. He seems to be giving absolutely everything . And he wasn't so precious as to shun cross over with pop music. This morning I listened to Miss Sarajevo and Your Blue Room, and the long notes he hits made my hairs stand on end. A sad loss. An incredible life. A wonderful gift to humanity.

I was moved when I first saw him in 1995. I was sneaking a crafty look in the back of the pavillion at the international eisteddfod in Llangollen. He was to give a concert to mark the fortieth anniversary since he came there with the male voice choir from Modena. He was standing on stage with his father, he said he would never forget Llangollen as it was here back in 1955 that after winning the prize for best male voice choir (unheard of by anyone other than a welsh choir) that he chose to follow a career in music. I was moved then as I am today, for different reasons,The people of Llangollen will feel today that they have lost 'their ' ½ûÂþÌìÌà tennor

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDtcidMR_6I]YouTube - The3tenors-Carreras-Domingo-Pavarotti--Nessun Dorma[/ame]

seeing as ronald gave us this option today i thought a good way to contribute would be one of my favorites...hope it works and i know its a sort of classic and some say he was not the best... actually i prefer him when he sings with others a favorite being beautiful day with lou reed... the two voices...you can almost see him cringing but he seemed to be up for anything... but i didnt want to disrespect the true opera fans

if this one works maybe i will post it later

thanks again ronald

It works . I must admit Domingo gets my vote on this one.
Poor Luciano was already starting to sound a bit nasal even then.
However, still a great performance.
I just love tenors.
They get right under my skin.

There was a warm tribute to him on PM this evening by Bono.
[url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/pm/]BBC - Radio 4 - PM[/url]

A very sad day. I can honestly say I was sobbing this morning listening to him singing, he really seemed to touch emotions deep within all of us.
RIP Pavorotti - thanks for all your wonderful music.

May he rest in peace, like opera or not this man stood between the lines of music and tried to please all . He is a true legend, will be sadly missed and the beauty of him was not just his voice but his personality that spoke not only of music but family and the love of his home land and this to me is why he is one of Italy's stars a true ½ûÂþÌìÌà a true star, God bless.:smile:

I liked a story I read (which I hope hasn't been too distorted by my none too reliable memory) of Pavarotti going on tour to Australia for the first time. He, and probably others in the team, were convinced that they couldn't possibly eat well so far from Italy so they shipped vast quantities of food with them - only to find that one could in fact eat very well in Australia. His wife remembered having to sleep in a hotel room redolent with the overpowering scent of many very ripe melons . . .

....but I find humour helpful at times like this

[CENTER][img]http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/graphics/2007/09/07/matt.gif[/img][/CENTER]

On a light vein too!!!
His wife phoned a Glasgow undertaker and asked if they could do a funeral for a "tenner"!!!
Can't print their answer here!!!

Funeral will be held in the Duomo in Modena tomorrow at 15.00.
Bocelli has been asked to do the honours and will sing Mozart's Ave Verum.
They also hope to show a recording of Big Luciano and his "babbo" Fernando singing Panis Angelicus.
Two sublime pieces for a great man.

Agree with the music but not sure about the singer.
Bocelli is good but not in the same class as Domingo and Carreras.

One year since he was gone and his marvellous voice is still in our hearts. May he rest in peace.

The ½ûÂþÌìÌà Cultural Institute, London marked the first anniversary of his death last Wednesday with a "soiree". I was unable to go but perhaps others here might have???

More details of events here - [url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/09/06/DD6P12ORRM.DTL&feed=rss.entertainment]Events to mark anniversary of Pavarotti's death[/url]

Details of the event in Rome - [url]http://www.lucianopavarotti.com/comunicati/comunicato_mostra.pdf[/url]