Rest in Peace, Pavarotti

[Bogey]

RIP Maestro Luciano, join the choir of angels. They're lucky to have you.

Well said.

[zamyrabyrd]

What a fitting tribute on Mezzo TV tonight (Sept 7th)--Rigoletto (1983) with Gruberova in probably one of her finest moments as well and the Requiem (1967) conducted by Karajan at la Scala.

That were a high D at the end of 'Possente Amor' soaring over the chorus, just amazing, and of course the magnificent, almost endless high B at the end of 'La Donna e Mobile'. After clicking on the link to Nemorino (Una Furtiva Lagrima) I started to appreciate how expressive his eyes and above it were. A little crinkle in the eyebrows showed everything he needed to express at that very moment. He also kept a stare without blinking for a really long time, which projected even more intensity.

As for "lucky", someone attached it to Luciano in the early part of his career but it was more of a liability since that was a nickname for a mobster, and it was quickly dropped. Is it possible only to fully appreciate something only when it's gone!?!?!

sad ZB

[yashin]

Yes, those eyes.  I recall his Canio in I Pagliacci from the Met when he sings Vesti La Giubba so beautifully and you can see the passion in his eyes.

Shame to see all the 'opera wanabees" like Russell Watson and Katherine Jenkins milking it for all the publicity they can get-when a great tenor like Pavarotti dies do we really need the view of these people?  Russell Watson was even on morning tv news talking about Pavarotti. Shameful.

[knight66]

Pavarotti latterly devoted himself to Showbusiness and I got to the point of tuning him out. I listened to the tributes on radio and I do think it is tailoring events to manage to praise a singer who performed when he was so infirm when singing in Tosca that he is carried on and off stage and everyone needs to move round him because he cannot move at all. His singing was said to be nevertheless affecting. My own opinion is that had he retired some years ago his reputation would be higher. Who places him on a level with Domingo as far as being serious about their art is concerned?

However, they did play some of his prime discs and because I had basically ignored him for years, I had forgotten how beautiful and exciting his voice had once been and it sent me back to his recordings in Turandot and the Verdi Requiem. It was such an outstanding voice and we will always have these and other great recordings to counter what I think of as the sell-out of the later years.

Mike

[zamyrabyrd]

Pavarotti latterly devoted himself to Showbusiness and I got to the point of tuning him out. I listened to the tributes on radio and I do think it is tailoring events to manage to praise a singer who performed when he was so infirm when singing in Tosca that he is carried on and off stage and everyone needs to move round him because he cannot move at all. His singing was said to be nevertheless affecting. My own opinion is that had he retired some years ago his reputation would be higher. Who places him on a level with Domingo as far as being serious about their art is concerned?

However, they did play some of his prime discs and because I had basically ignored him for years, I had forgotten how beautiful and exciting his voice had once been and it sent me back to his recordings in Turandot and the Verdi Requiem. It was such an outstanding voice and we will always have these and other great recordings to counter what I think of as the sell-out of the later years.

Your sentiment is similar to mine. I was repenting because of not paying enough attention to him in the recent past. Really, though, he did retire from the Met from 2004. It was all that crossover and showbiz stuff that turned me off as well. But when he was good, he was really monumental.
ZB

[Lilas Pastia]

He probably had the best-rounded voice since Björling. His diction was always a pleasure, too. But his interpretive abilities were probably as varied as Ronald Reagan's.

Today (first weekend since his death) is opera day on radio stations, and 2 I caught had Pav tributes. The other - NPR - was airing... Jussi Björling as Rodolfo . It may have been unintended, but I felt it was a slap in the face to choose Jussi in what was Luciano's most famous role. Ah, the opera world...

[Iago]

Obviously, Pavarotti had a gorgeous voice, beloved by one and all.
But since he appeared on TV as often as he did, I Think he had a responsibility (to good taste, if nothing else), to appear to be aging gracefully.
For that, he should have taken a page out of the books of Alfredo Kraus and Lauritz Melchior. They were not afraid to have gray hair, and wrinkles. In his later years Pavarotti looked like a cartoon character to me. Or at least he seemed made up to constantly look like Canio or Tonio (from Pagliacci) at every appearance.
A mop of JET BLACK hair atop a face featuring thick JET BLACK eyebrows + beard and moustache, and a thick application of mascara around the eyes.   He never sounded like a fool, but he sure looked like one.

[knight66]

Further to the above, I saw a documentary on him this week. He was relaxing with his childhood friends watching football. The friends looked like ordinary men in their 60s and 70s and he looked extraordinary, grotesque, with the thick black bushy eyebrows and a died mop of hair. A man apart in many ways. Seeing him with his contemporaries pointed up the peculiar way he was presenting himself.

Mike

[jochanaan]

...But his interpretive abilities were probably as varied as Ronald Reagan's.

LOL Thanks for the great line!

I hasten to add, though, that whatever we may think of his stage presence, his dyed hair or his acting ability, he was unsurpassed as a pure singer.  May his memory never fade.

[JoshLilly]

Hmmm, about the hair, my great-grandmother died in her 70s with nary a grey hair to be seen, it was jet black without one touch in her life of any kind of colouring or dye. Her daughter, my grandmother, is currently experiencing the same thing. My grandfather (on this same side) who passed away a few years ago also had zero grey hairs, it was jet black without any grey whatsoever; again, no dyes, no colours, no nothing. Weird. Maybe it's a Cherokee thing? I don't know. If it's hereditary, maybe I'm in luck! But the point is, not everyone dyes their hair when it's not grey; maybe Pavarotti was one of those? Probably not, but has anyone seen for sure?

[knight66]

It seems he did dye his hair. Seemingly he used burned wine corks to achieve the severely black look. It was up to him, but I guess it ties in with a lot of other things I have been reading about him recently.

Mike

[BachQ]

I wish someone would change the subject heading for this thread ........ 

[Mark]

It seems he did dye his hair. Seemingly he used burned wine corks to achieve the severely black look. It was up to him, but I guess it ties in with a lot of other things I have been reading about him recently.

Mike

Such as?

[knight66]

Mark, I am not going to go there, it will look like I am digging the dirt on him.

When the lying in state was taking place, AOL had its usual news searches listed. Unfortulately the one for Pavarotti read....

" Search Luciano Pavarotti's Body"

I decided not to.

Mike

[Mark]

Mark, I am not going to go there, it will look like I am digging the dirt on him.

When the lying in state was taking place, AOL had its usual news searches listed. Unfortulately the one for Pavarotti read....

" Search Luciano Pavarotti's Body"

I decided not to.

Mike

Wow! Pav had dirt? Who knew?

[knight66]

I think lots of people knew. After all the evasion of taxes was well documented, such a very rich man, but he would not pay his taxes. But in Italy that merely makes you more admired, despite the fact that the suckers doing the admiring are having to fill the bucket Pavarotti declined to contribute to.

There you go, I have scratched the surface a little, but no deeper.

Mike

[Mark]

I think lots of people knew. After all the evasion of taxes was well documented, such a very rich man, but he would not pay his taxes. But in Italy that merely makes you more admired, despite the fact that the suckers doing the admiring are having to fill the bucket Pavarotti declined to contribute to.

There you go, I have scratched the surface a little, but no deeper.

Mike

Naughty boy. Must annoy you as a tax professional, Mike.

[Anne]

May he rest in peace.

[Larry Rinkel]

I wish someone would change the subject heading for this thread ........ 

Strictly speaking, it's true ....

[head-case]

I hasten to add, though, that whatever we may think of his stage presence, his dyed hair or his acting ability, he was unsurpassed as a pure singer.  May his memory never fade.

Well, he had the voice of an angel, and a brain that would fit in a thimble.