Pavarotti, Silenced
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Loading ...It’s after midnight, and I was doing a slow shutdown of things at my desk when the news bulletin was found in my inbox: Luciano Pavarotti, unarguably one of the greatest voices of the 20th century, has passed away, having lost his battle to pancreatic cancer. Many famous, even history-making musicians have died in the last few years, but Pavarotti wasn’t just a luminary in the opera world. I don’t know if I can fill up counting on one hand the number of classical musicians alive today that have so successfully had such appeal to “the masses” that they are a household name even for people who don’t own a classical album. Seriously–Yo-Yo Ma is about the only other person at that level that I can compare the broad appeal with–so this is a huge, worldwide loss. The fact that Pavarotti was an opera singer, perhaps the most “uncool” of any classical genre, shows his universal appeal.
Unlike the sold-out stadiums and the “Three Tenors” era where Pavarotti would use a microphone, “real” concerts at the Met, Carnegie Hall, etc. of course had no such devices for projecting his voice. Like all opera singers, he alone is the instrument, and projecting a voice to fill a concert hall is a given. However, even when backed by an orchestra, in full costume on stage during an opera performance, that voice still needs to have the power and resonance to reach the 3rd balcony seats in a hall with a vaulted ceiling. This is what people need to appreciate when considering the fact that besides the power and volume, was also the incredible simultaneous sweetness of his voice.
Personally, I’m not a big opera buff. It’s just not my thing–I’m just hardwired I guess to be a in instrumentalist. But Pavarotti was one of perhaps 2 or 3 singers that would draw me into that world regardless, and obviously, I am simply one of so many thousands.
I uploaded his signature aria, “Nessun Dorma” (“None shall sleep”) from Puccini’s Turandot to my YouTube channel just a few weeks ago. I did so because I recently found this clip among my collection (which is from 1980, well before age started to catch up with him), but also because most of the other versions on YT were from the last 10 years or so with microphones or the like, and I wanted to share a “pure” performance. I’m not going to go into Turandot’s story or translate this aria (that’s an exercise for the reader 
), but the last word sung is “Vincerò!” which means, “I shall be victorious!” Even though he lost the battle with cancer, he has unquestionably conquered the musical world. His career will live forever, the lives and hearts he touched carry with them that magic, and now, like those in the opera from which he’s singing, Luciano can finally sleep.
Requiem aeternam dona eo, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eo.
September 6, 2007 1:27 am 
By Sid Schwab, September 7, 2007 @ 3:33 pm
His voice, coupled with his persona, especially in earlier times, always gave me goosebumps and frequently brought tears. To be an instrument like that… I can’t imagine a greater gift.