Thursday, September 06, 2007

Luciano Pavarotti (12 October 1935 – 6 September 2007)


Luciano Pavarotti died today. For the beauty of his voice, for the perfection of his style and for the greatness of his soul he may have been the greatest Italian tenor of all time.

I agree with this item about 2 Pavarottis. It is Pavarotti #1 that I choose to honor.

I was staying with a friend on Saturday, and the friend reported hearing the following quote on the radio from Cecilia Bartoli: "When I first heard Pavarotti sing, I thought God was speaking to me." I have no idea if she actually said this.

3 comments:

Chris Baker said...

I've heard you talk about Pavarotti's technique at length and it was really interesting. You should write about it. It would be good to hear a really technical discussion of his singing.

Anonymous said...

She never said this. The original version in the Italian press agency ANSA says that she had thought "God exists" - which does not mean that she would equal with G.
But only God knows if she actually ever said this. In the Swiss press she didn't comment on P.'s death.

Dr.B said...

The broadcast was shortly after the death announcement, so I am guessing that this quote was from the npr archives. I know they have interviewed Cecilia at various times over the years.