LUCIANO PAVAROTTI - PAVAROTTI DEAD AT 71

PAVAROTTI DEAD AT 71

Luciano Pavarotti, the larger-than-life tenor who popularized opera and classical music at a time when they appeared threatened with virtual extinction, died of pancreatic cancer early today (Thursday) at his home in Modena, Italy at the age of 71. In its obituary, Daily Variety observed that he appeared not only on the world's concert stages, but also "at stadium concerts, on network and public television, on mass-market magazine covers and even in film, a feat that hearkened back to a golden age when opera greats lent class to movies." Responding to criticism that his performances with Placido Domingo and José Carerras (as "The Three Tenors") represented sell-outs to commercial interests, Pavarotti once remarked, "We've reached 1.5 billion people with opera. ... If you want to use the word commercial, or something more derogatory, we don't care. Use whatever you want." The Royal Opera House in London issued a statement noting that Pavarotti "introduced the extraordinary power of opera to people who perhaps would never have encountered opera and classical singing. In doing so he enriched their lives. That will be his legacy."

06/09/2007