Pavarotti & Friends for Guatemala and Kosovo

Luciano Pavarotti (, , ; 12 October 19356 September 2007) was an Italian operatic tenor who during the late part of his career crossed over into popular music, eventually becoming one of the most acclaimed tenors of all time. He made numerous recordings of complete operas and individual arias, gaining worldwide fame for his tone, and gaining the nickname "King of the High Cs".

As one of the Three Tenors, who performed their first concert during the 1990 FIFA World Cup before a global audience, Pavarotti became well known for his televised concerts and media appearances. From the beginning of his professional career as a tenor in 1961 in Italy to his final performance of "Nessun dorma" at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Pavarotti was at his best in bel canto operas, pre-''Aida'' Verdi roles, and Puccini works such as ''La bohème'', ''Tosca'', ''Turandot'' and '' Madama Butterfly''. He sold over 100 million records, and the first Three Tenors recording became the best-selling classical album of all time. Pavarotti was also noted for his charity work on behalf of refugees and the Red Cross, amongst others. He died from pancreatic cancer on 6 September 2007.

Biography

Early life and musical training

Luciano Pavarotti was born in 1935 on the outskirts of Modena in Northern Italy, the son of Fernando Pavarotti, a baker and amateur tenor, and Adele Venturi, a cigar factory worker. Although he spoke fondly of his childhood, the family had little money; its four members were crowded into a two-room apartment. According to Pavarotti, his father had a fine tenor voice but rejected the possibility of a singing career because of nervousness. World War II forced the family out of the city in 1943. For the following year they rented a single room from a farmer in the neighbouring countryside, where the young Pavarotti developed an interest in farming.

After abandoning the dream of becoming a football goalkeeper, Pavarotti spent seven years in vocal training. Pavarotti's earliest musical influences were his father's records, most of them featuring the popular tenors of the day— Beniamino Gigli, Giovanni Martinelli, Tito Schipa, and Enrico Caruso. Pavarotti's favourite tenor and idol was Giuseppe Di Stefano and he was also deeply influenced by Mario Lanza, saying: "In my teens I used to go to Mario Lanza movies and then come home and imitate him in the mirror". At around the age of nine he began singing with his father in a small local church choir.

In addition to music, as a child Pavarotti enjoyed playing football. When he graduated from the Scuola Magistrale he was interested in pursuing a career as a professional football goalkeeper, but his mother convinced him to train as a teacher. He subsequently taught in an elementary school for two years but finally decided to pursue a music career. His father, recognising the risk involved, only reluctantly gave his consent. Pavarotti began the serious study of music in 1954 at the age of 19 with Arrigo Pola, a respected teacher and professional tenor in Modena who offered to teach him without remuneration. According to conductor Richard Bonynge, Pavarotti never learned to read music.

In 1955, he experienced his first singing success when he was a member of the Corale Rossini, a male voice choir from Modena that also included his father, which won first prize at the International Eisteddfod in Llangollen, Wales. He later said that this was the most important experience of his life, and that it inspired him to become a professional singer. At about this time Pavarotti first met Adua Veroni. They married in 1961. When his teacher Arrigo Pola moved to Japan, Pavarotti became a student of Ettore Campogalliani, who at that time was also teaching Pavarotti's childhood friend, Mirella Freni, whose mother worked with Luciano's mother in the cigar factory. Like Pavarotti, Freni went on to become a successful opera singer; they would go on to collaborate in various stage performances and recordings together.

During his years of musical study, Pavarotti held part-time jobs in order to sustain himself—first as an elementary school teacher and then as an insurance salesman. The first six years of study resulted in only a few recitals, all in small towns and without pay. When a nodule developed on his vocal cords, causing a ''"disastrous"'' concert in Ferrara, he decided to give up singing. Pavarotti attributed his immediate improvement to the psychological release connected with this decision. Whatever the reason, the nodule not only disappeared but, as he related in his autobiography: "Everything I had learned came together with my natural voice to make the sound I had been struggling so hard to achieve".

Career: 1960s–1970s

Pavarotti began his career as a tenor in smaller regional Italian opera houses, making his debut as Rodolfo in ''La bohème'' at the Teatro Municipale in Reggio Emilia in April 1961. His first known recording of "Che gelida manina" was recorded during this performance. Pavarotti's first of two marriages was to his first wife Adua Veroni which lasted from 1961 to 2000 and they had three daughters: Lorenza, Cristina, and Giuliana.

He made his first international appearance in '' La traviata'' in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. Very early in his career, on 23 February 1963, he debuted at the Vienna State Opera in the same role. In March and April 1963 Vienna saw Pavarotti again as Rodolfo and as Duca di Mantova in ''Rigoletto''. The same year saw his first concert outside Italy when he sang in Dundalk, Ireland for the St Cecilia's Gramophone Society, he was engaged by the Dublin Grand Opera Society to sing The Duke of Mantua in Verdi's Rigoletto in May and June, and his Royal Opera House debut, where he replaced an indisposed Giuseppe Di Stefano as Rodolfo.

There exist on archive.org three complete performances from Pavarotti's early career in 1964, when he was engaged by the Dublin Grand Opera Society to sing Rudolfo in Giacomo Puccini's ''La bohème'' (Audio recording of LA BOHEME Presented on May 19, 21, 27, Jun 1 1964 at the Gaiety Theatre Dublin as part of the Dublin Grand Opera Society’s Spring Season) and Alfredo in Giuseppe Verdi's '' La Traviata'' (Audio recording of LA TRAVIATA Presented on Jun 8 1964 at the Gaiety Theatre Dublin as part of the Dublin Grand Opera Society's Spring Season, Audio recording of LA TRAVIATA Presented on May 25, 1964 at the Gaiety Theatre Dublin as part of the Dublin Grand Opera Society's Spring Season). Also available are reviews of those performances in which the reviewers favorably comment on his singing (from the reviews for "La Boheme"): "sang sweetly and appealingly," "rich promise," "outstanding," "fit for the big heroic roles," and "robust;" his voice: "pure tone", "arresting quality," "unforced strength and range," "well sustained," and "lovely;" and his acting: "looked and moved well," "sang with musically-directed intelligence," "used the voice to reinforce his acting," and "chief delight of the evening."

While generally successful, Pavarotti's early roles did not immediately propel him into the stardom that he would later enjoy. An early coup involved his connection with Joan Sutherland (and her conductor husband, Richard Bonynge), who in 1963 was seeking a tenor taller than herself to take along on her 1965 tour to Australia. With his commanding physical presence, Pavarotti proved ideal. However, before the summer 1965 Australia tour Pavarotti sang with Joan Sutherland when he made his American début with the Greater Miami Opera in February 1965, singing in Donizetti's ''Lucia di Lammermoor'' on the stage of the Miami-Dade County Auditorium in Miami. The tenor scheduled to perform that night became ill with no understudy. As Sutherland had plans to travel with him on the Australia tour that summer, she recommended the young Pavarotti as he was acquainted with the role. Shortly after, on 28 April, Pavarotti made his La Scala debut in the revival of the Franco Zeffirelli production of ''La bohème,'' with his childhood friend Mirella Freni singing Mimi and Herbert von Karajan conducting. Karajan had requested the singer's engagement.

During the Australia tour in summer 1965 Sutherland and Pavarotti sang some forty performances over two months, and Pavarotti later credited Sutherland for the breathing technique that would sustain him over his career. After the extended Australian tour, he returned to La Scala, where he added Tebaldo from ''I Capuleti e i Montecchi'' to his repertoire on 26 March 1966, with Giacomo Aragall as Romeo. His first appearance as Tonio in Donizetti's ''La fille du régiment'' took place at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, on 2 June of that year. It was his performances of this role that would earn him the title of "King of the High Cs". He scored another major triumph in Rome on 20 November 1969 when he sang in ''I Lombardi'' opposite Renata Scotto. This was recorded on a private label and widely distributed, as were various recordings of his ''I Capuleti e i Montecchi,'' usually with Aragall. Early commercial recordings included a recital of Donizetti (the aria from ''Don Sebastiano'' were particularly highly regarded) and Verdi arias, as well as a complete '' L'elisir d'amore'' with Sutherland.

His major breakthrough in the United States came on 17 February 1972, in a production of ''La fille du régiment'' at New York's Metropolitan Opera, in which he drove the crowd into a frenzy with his nine effortless high Cs in the signature aria. He achieved a record seventeen curtain calls. Pavarotti sang his international recital début at William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri, on 1 February 1973, as part of the college's Fine Arts Program, now known as th
Harriman–Jewell Series
Perspiring due to nerves and a lingering cold, the tenor clutched a handkerchief throughout the début. The prop became a signature part of his solo performances. He began to give frequent television performances, starting with his performances as Rodolfo (''La bohème'') in the first Live from the Met telecast in March 1977, which attracted one of the largest audiences ever for a televised opera. He won many Grammy awards and platinum and gold discs for his performances. In addition to the previously listed titles, his ''La favorite'' with Fiorenza Cossotto and his ''I puritani'' (1975) with Sutherland stand out.

In 1976, Pavarotti debuted at the Salzburg Festival, appearing in a solo recital on 31 July, accompanied by pianist Leone Magiera. Pavarotti returned to the festival in 1978 with a recital and as the Italian singer in ''Der Rosenkavalier'' in 1983 with ''Idomeneo,'' and both in 1985 and 1988 with solo recitals. In 1979, he was profiled in a cover story in the weekly magazine ''Time''. That same year saw Pavarotti's return to the Vienna State Opera after an absence of fourteen years. With Herbert von Karajan conducting, Pavarotti sang Manrico in ''Il trovatore.'' In 1978, he appeared in a solo recital on ''Live from Lincoln Center.''

Career: 1980s–1990s

At the beginning of the 1980s, he set up The Pavarotti International Voice Competition for young singers, performing with the winners in 1982 in excerpts of ''La bohème'' and ''L'elisir d'amore''. The second competition, in 1986, staged excerpts of ''La bohème'' and ''Un ballo in maschera''. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of his career, he brought the winners of the competition to Italy for gala performances of ''La bohème'' in Modena and Genoa, and then to China where they staged performances of ''La bohème'' in Beijing (Peking). To conclude the visit, Pavarotti performed the inaugural concert in the Great Hall of the People before 10,000 people, receiving a standing ovation for nine effortless high Cs. The third competition in 1989 again staged performances of ''L'elisir d'amore'' and ''Un ballo in maschera''. The winners of the fifth competition accompanied Pavarotti in performances in Philadelphia in 1997.

In the mid-1980s, Pavarotti returned to two opera houses that had provided him with important breakthroughs, the Vienna State Opera and La Scala. Vienna saw Pavarotti as Rodolfo in ''La bohème'' with Carlos Kleiber conducting and again Mirella Freni was Mimi; as Nemorino in ''L'elisir d'amore''; as Radames in ''Aida'' conducted by Lorin Maazel; as Rodolfo in ''Luisa Miller''; and as Gustavo in ''Un ballo in maschera'' conducted by Claudio Abbado. In 1996, Pavarotti appeared for the last time at the Staatsoper in ''Andrea Chénier''. Throughout the 1980s and 90s, promoters Tibor Rudas and Harvey Goldsmith booked Pavarotti into increasingly larger venues.

In 1985, Pavarotti sang Radames at La Scala opposite Maria Chiara in a Luca Ronconi production conducted by Maazel, recorded on video. His performance of the aria "Celeste Aida" received a two-minute ovation on the opening night. He was reunited with Mirella Freni for the San Francisco Opera production of ''La bohème'' in 1988, also recorded on video. In 1992, La Scala saw Pavarotti in a new Zeffirelli production of ''Don Carlos'', conducted by Riccardo Muti. Pavarotti's performance was heavily criticised by some observers and booed by parts of the audience.

Pavarotti became even better known throughout the world in 1990 when his rendition of the aria "Nessun dorma" from Giacomo Puccini's ''Turandot'' was taken as the theme song of BBC
...