Luciano Pavarotti | The best tenor in history

During that tour, Luciano Pavarotti won his first million Italian lire, the equivalent of about 30,000 euros or today’s dollars. When he returned home, he went into his room with his wife and together they threw the bills into the air in excitement. They had never seen so much money together.

The collaboration with Joan Sutherland was key in his growth as a singer. Thanks to her, he significantly improved his breathing technique, learning to control his diaphragm before facing difficult notes.

Pavarotti felt that every time he sang, he captivated the audience with his lyric tenor voice, characterized by a pure, crisp and soulful sound. His distinguishing mark was his impressive “C”, technically known as “C-sharp” (C5), an extremely high note within the tenor tessitura, delivered in full voice and without falsetto.

In 1964, he made his first recording with the Decca label, where he would remain throughout his career. The record included, among other pieces, “E lucevan le stelle” (“And the stars were shining”) from the opera Tosca. Throughout the 60s and early 70s, he recorded 11 operas and Verdi’s Requiem, many of them with Joan Sutherland, consolidating an unforgettable artistic collaboration.

Her debut in the United States took place in 1965, at the Florida Grand Opera, performing Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, again with Sutherland.

Shortly after, he made his debut at La Scala in Milan with La bohème, accompanied by his childhood friend Mirella Freni, conducted by the legendary Herbert von Karajan. With Karajan he forged a solid and fruitful friendship. Her interpretation of “Che gelida manina” (“What a cold little hand”) became one of the most iconic in history.

After another extensive tour of Australia in 1966, he returned to La Scala to play Tebaldo in I Capuleti e i Montecchi (The Capulets and the Montagues).

His most notable performance of that era came in 1969, with I Lombardi (The Lombards) in Rome. The performance was recorded and widely distributed, as were other recordings of The Capulets and the Montagues, Donizetti, and arias by his favorite composer, Giuseppe Verdi. Among them was The Elixir of Love, again with Joan Sutherland. All these recordings were well received, consolidating her international reputation.

In 1972, at the age of 37, Luciano Pavarotti achieved international success with La fille du régiment (The regiment’s daughter). He performed it first at the Royal Opera House in London, then at La Scala in Milan, and finally at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

Audiences were astonished by the ease with which she reached the famous “high C” in the aria “Ah! mes amis” (“Ah! my friends”). Her performance at the MET was so impressive that she achieved a record seventeen curtain raisings, a recognition rarely seen.

Not since the days of Enrico Caruso – one of his greatest idols – had a tenor captured the public’s attention in such a way. Fame brought with it an avalanche of fan letters from all over the world. His wife, Adua, was in charge of answering them all. She also managed his relations with Italian theaters and coordinated with his new representative in the United States, Herbert Breslin, who would play a key role in the expansion of his international career.

Herbert Breslin was the one who had the idea that Luciano Pavarotti began to give recitals. The first one took place in 1973 in Missouri. Pavarotti found himself alone on stage, accompanied only by a piano, without makeup, without opera costumes and without the support of other singers. He was extremely nervous and did not know what to do with his hands. At that moment, his manager took the white handkerchief he was carrying in his pocket and suggested that he hold it tight throughout the performance. He did so, and from then on that white handkerchief became his lucky charm and an unmistakable symbol of his concerts. He held it tightly while singing and, incidentally, used it to wipe his sweat.

Pavarotti confessed to being very superstitious since the beginning of his career. To his white handkerchief he added a series of rituals: he avoided going under the stairs, he could not bear to see salt spilled on the table, he forbade the color purple during the performances and he always looked for a bent nail in the theater before each performance. He kept it with him during the performance, believing it would bring him luck. This superstition came from the Italian expression “toccare ferro” (touching iron), equivalent to “touching wood”. Moreover, he connected this belief with the rusty nail that, in his childhood, almost cost him his life but from which he managed to miraculously recover.

Among his most notable performances in the early 1970s were The Favourite, alongside Fiorenza Cossotto, and I puritani (The Puritans), with Joan Sutherland. In the middle of the decade, he took on even more demanding roles, such as Manrico in Il trovatore (The Troubadour) and Radamès in Aida, showing greater depth and maturity in his voice.

By then, he had already earned a fortune. He bought a large villa in Modena for his and his wife’s family, and also fulfilled one of his dreams: to have a house overlooking the beach at Villa Giulia. Despite these accomplishments, he spent very little time at home, except during the summer.

Several of his performances began to be broadcast on television. The first was La bohème in 1977, from the Met in New York. Before going on stage, she used to nervously pace behind the curtain repeating, “We’re going to die, I’m going to die.” The nerves, though uncomfortable, were for him a sign that what he was doing really mattered to him. His strategy to overcome them was to maintain an optimistic attitude. That television broadcast reached one of the largest audiences for an opera at the time.

In those years, he began to receive several Grammy awards, as well as gold and platinum records for his recordings.

Her debut at the prestigious Salzburg Festival came in 1976. He returned to the festival in 1978 and later in 1983 with Der Rosenkavalier (The Knight of the Rose), in addition to giving recitals in 1985 and 1988.

Pavarotti’s definitive consecration came in 1979 with his interpretation of Tonio in Gaetano Donizetti’s opera La fille du régiment (The Daughter of the Regiment). He managed to execute nine consecutive C notes, which led him to be on the cover of The New York Times, where he was proclaimed “The King of the C in the chest”.

However, fame and constant travel often made him feel a deep loneliness. To combat this, he used to invite everyone to dinner after the shows. In addition, he would carry a suitcase full of Italian food – pasta, mozzarella, prosciutto… – and he would look for hotels that had a small kitchen in the room so he could cook for himself. Food was one of his great passions. Even when his doctor forbade him to eat more than one meringue a day -one of his favorite sweets-, Pavarotti asked a pastry chef to prepare him a giant meringue of half a kilo, so he could comply with the medical recommendation by eating “just one”.

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Throughout the 1990s, Luciano Pavarotti starred in numerous massive outdoor concerts, including a televised one in London’s Hyde Park, with a record attendance of 150,000 people, including the royal family. It was pouring rain that day in London, but no one moved, not even Lady Di, who would later become a great friend. Together they would organize a benefit concert for the Red Cross.

From that moment on, Pavarotti began to feel more and more committed to helping others. Between 1992 and 2003, he organized annually in his hometown, Modena, the famous event “Luciano Pavarotti & Friends”. World-class pop and rock stars such as Bryan Adams, Bon Jovi, Queen, U2, Dolores O’Riordan, Deep Purple, Laura Pausini, Stevie Wonder, Eros Ramazzotti, Spice Girls, Zucchero, Andrea Bocelli, Céline Dion and Tracy Chapman, among many others, performed on these stages. The concerts achieved enormous popularity, fusing opera with contemporary music.

In 1991, Pavarotti temporarily stepped away from his classic lyric roles to perform Otello in four performances in the United States. This is considered one of the most challenging tenor roles in the entire operatic repertoire, becoming one of his most talked about and debated projects.

That same year, he brought his passion for horses to the stage by organizing the “Pavarotti Horse Show”, his first equestrian show. Pavarotti loved horses deeply; he had a stable at his home and spent as much time as possible with them. His affection was such that, if one of them got sick, he would spend the whole night at their side in the stable.

In 1993, more than 500,000 people gathered to attend Luciano Pavarotti’s free performance in New York’s Central Park, making it the largest concert in the park’s history. This was in addition to the millions of viewers who followed the television broadcast around the world. A month later, he repeated the feat by singing in front of 300,000 people at the foot of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

At the time, Pavarotti broke the record cache for a musician, charging $1 million per performance, plus almost another million extra from merchandising. However, despite the fame and money, he confessed to feeling lonely in his Central Park apartment. Whenever he could, he would invite friends over for dinner and singing. Among them was “Team Briscola,” a group of lifelong friends who often accompanied him on tour. Music, food and friends were always what brought him the most happiness. In moments of solitude, he used to paint colorful pictures of his beloved Italy.

In 1995, on Pavarotti’s 60th birthday, he met Nicoletta Mantovani, a 23-year-old who was studying natural sciences and working in horse shows to pay for her university studies. They met during a horse show he was watching, and they connected immediately, despite the 34 years that separated them. Pavarotti was honest with her from the beginning, explaining that his marriage was broken, and they began a loving relationship. In the public eye, they introduced Nicoletta as his secretary. Shortly after the relationship began, Nicoletta was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and Pavarotti threw himself completely into caring for her until she recovered.

That same year, 1995, he performed ‘Ave Maria’ with Dolores O’Riordan. Princess Diana of Wales, who attended the performance, commented to O’Riordan that the piece brought tears to her eyes. Also in 1995, a television documentary entitled ‘The Best Is Yet to Come’ was broadcast, in which Pavarotti reviewed his life and career with great candor. Many years later, in 2019, American filmmaker Ron Howard directed a feature-length documentary recounting the tenor’s entire life.

In 2001 a compilation of all his greatest romantic hits was released entitled “Amore: The Essential Romantic Collection”.

In 2003, surprisingly, his wife Nicoletta became pregnant with twins. During her pregnancy, a tumor was detected and doctors advised her to have an abortion. She decided to go ahead and had the twins, Alice and Ricardo, although the latter, Pavarotti’s only male child, died shortly after birth. This time she was present at the birth, even though her superstition made her believe that it would bring bad luck, something that, sadly, was confirmed.

A few months earlier, he had also become a grandfather, which helped him reconcile with his daughters and his ex-wife. He knew he had made serious mistakes, but, as Adua, his first wife, used to say, he was an excellent person at heart. Time healed his family relationship.

At the end of 2003 he released his final compilation and his first and only crossover album, “Ti Adoro”. The album was a wedding present for Nicoletta. That same year he was named Commander of the Order of Cultural Merit of Monaco.

After more than four decades on stage, he began his final farewell tour in 2004, at the age of 69, with more than 40 dates. In her last performance at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, she received a standing ovation when she sang Tosca. Throughout her career, she reached a staggering 378 performances at the Metropolitan Opera.

In 2004, his former American manager, Herbert Breslin, published a book called “The King & I”, in which he accused him of not being able to read music properly. The accusation was false, although he himself admitted that he was not able to read orchestral scores.

In March 2005, he underwent neck surgery to repair two vertebrae and, in early 2006, he returned to the operating room for a back problem.

His last large-scale performance was in December 2005, in Taiwan, as part of his farewell tour of Asia.

On February 10, 2006, she sang “Nessun Dorma” for the last time at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. She received a standing ovation, although the performance had been recorded weeks earlier. Due to her delicate health, she would not have been able to sing live in such a cold and open space.

Later, in 2006, while he was preparing at his New York home to resume his farewell world tour, a malignant tumor was discovered in his pancreas. All concerts were cancelled. He underwent surgery, but suffered pneumonia in the postoperative period. Although he partially recovered, in August 2007 he was hospitalized again for high fever and respiratory complications. He was released from the clinic a few days later, but on September 6, 2007, he died at home from pancreatic cancer. He was unable to fulfill some of his last wishes, such as retiring to teach young performers or to see his daughter Alice grow up. Still, until the end he did everything he could for his family, leaving his inheritance divided: half to his widow Nicoletta and the other half to be divided among his four daughters.

The funeral ceremony in his hometown was attended by great personalities of politics and music, among them Andrea Bocelli, who performed Mozart’s Ave verum corpus.

Luciano Pavarotti always believed in people. That’s why he had a smile on his face and the public returned it with love. His greatest wish was to transmit opera to the whole world, and he certainly achieved this through his hundreds of performances and his 100 million records sold, being one of the most successful singers of any musical genre and one of the most important Italians in history.

Thanks to his charitable foundation and his voice, Luciano Pavarotti will remain forever in people’s hearts.