The great tenor, Luciano Pavarotti, died September 6 at 5.00am at his home in Modena, the city of his birth.
At his side were his wife, Nicoletta; his daughters, Lorenza, Cristina, Giuliana and Alice; his sister, Gabriela; his nephews and close relatives and friends.
The Maestro fought a long, tough battle against the pancreatic cancer which eventually took his life. In fitting with the approach that characterised his life and work, he remained positive until finally succumbing to the last stages of his illness.
His last public performance, singing Nessun Dorma, was at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, in February 2006 and his last full-scale concert was in Taipei in December 2005. In the months preceding this, he had given Worldwide Farewell Concerts in Central and South America, the USA, Spain, France, Greece, Cyprus, Croatia, Japan, China, Russia, the Czech Republic, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
Two years ago, he launched a vocal academy for talented young singers in Modena where he taught a personally hand picked group of students. Up until a few weeks before his death, he committed several hours each day to teaching his pupils at his summer villa in Pesaro on Italy’s Adriatic Coast. He was also planning to complete a recording of sacred songs and unveil the next phase of the Pavarotti International Voice Competition.
Earlier this week, he was honoured by the Italian Government with the ‘Premio per l’Esccellenza nella Cultura Italiana’ (for outstanding contribution to Italian culture). La Scala Milan and Modena’s Teatro Communale also announced a joint Luciano Pavarotti Award. On learning of the tributes, he said, ‘the recognition gives me the opportunity to continue to celebrate the magic of a life dedicated to the arts and it fills me with pride and joy to have been able to promote my magnificent country abroad. I always strive to share with youth the passion of opera and applaud La Scala for setting up a scheme which presents young people with the opportunity to take their talents to that unparalleled opera stage’.
Throughout his illness, he was supported by the devotion and love of his wife, Nicoletta, and their four-year old daughter, Alice, alongside his three daughters from his first marriage, Lorenza, Cristina and Giuliana and a large number of relatives, loyal friends and colleagues. He remained optimistic and confident that he would overcome the disease and had been determined to return to the stage to complete his Worldwide Farewell Tour, which he was halfway through before being struck down by illness in New York in July 2006.
Universal Music Australia remembers Luciano Pavarotti for so greatly enriching the cultural life of this country through his numerous appearances in concert – in Opera with Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge from 1965 onwards, as part of the Three Tenors and in solo appearances. Sales of his recordings in Australia on Decca are well in excess of 3 million units and the final of these, ‘Pavarotti Forever’, on CD and DVD, is being released this month.
‘I think a life in music is a life beautifully spent and this is what I have devoted my life to.’ –Luciano Pavarotti (12 October 1935 – 6 September 2007)
