The World Says Rest in Peace to Luciano Pavarotti

Modena is finalizing preparations for saying "fair well" to the world's most famous tenor, Luciano Pavarotti, who passed away Thursday early morning, on September the 6th, 2007, from pancreatic cancer on his 72nd year of life.

Courtesy of EPA

Thousands of people gathered on the central alley of Pavarotti's home town, where the ceremony started. Maestro was lying in a white coffin, dressed in a black tuxedo, having a white bow tie around his neck; in his hands he had a string of beads and a white napkin, the same as he used to have, when singing on the most famous stages of the world. The public was applauding the maestro, as his coffin was carried further to the cathedral, where the main ceremony of the funeral will take place. Pavarotti's wife Nicoletta and his three daughters from the first marriage were walking next to the coffin.

Many of Pavarotti's friends arrived in Modena soon after the news of his death came. Among the first to visit the villa of the family was mayor of Modena, who declared that the town theatre would be named after the "golden voice".

During his over 40-years' career Luciano Pavarotti showed the whole world the true value of classic music, of great performance and of a tremendous voice. His voice, his liveliness and, of course, his size were features tightly bonded to the Pavarotti's character. In the time of diets and the world's concern about obesity, Luciano Pavarotti used to say he loved tasty food and good wine. He considered his size as a part of his identity and one of the reasons o his success.

Luciano Pavarotti was born in 1935 in Modena in the family of a baker. The legend has it that his first performance took place, when he was only 5, when he went out of the house and sang an aria from Verdi's "Rigoletto". From that moment on Italian music followed his life. His most famous arias were those of Verdi, Donizetti, Bellini, Rossini and, of course, Neapolitan songs, which were as though composed specially for his unique voice.

After his first performance, which was the Rudolfo part in the "La bohéme" of Giacomo Puccini his talent was noticed and his popularity began to grow. The Guinness Book of Records contains several records featuring Luciano Pavarotti and some of the records gathering huge number of fans on his concerts: 500 thousands in Central Park in New-York, 300 thousands near the Eiffel tower in Paris, nearly 150 thousand in Hyde Park in London. During his career over 100 million disks with Pavarotti's golden voice were sold all over the world.

Luciano Pavarotti took part in several daring, yet successful projects, such as the famous "Three tenors" project, which bonded Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras in one trio. In the middle of the 90's Luciano Pavarotti went further on: he joined forces with several rock and pop stars, such as Sting, Joe Cocker and Eric Clapton. He was not once criticized for these alliances of classic and pop cultures, but the Maestro said he would do anything to bring classic music to a wider public.

Today we say "Rest in peace, the Golden Voice of the 20th century"...

The Secretary General of UN Ban Ki-Mun has also reminded everyone that Luciano Pavarotti was ambassador of peace of the UN, thus leaving a bright trail not only in music and world culture, but also in building world peace. Luciano Pavarotti organized charitable concerts, which subsequently financed projects of Administration in Kosovo, Pakistan, Zambia and Iran.

People will have a chance to say good bye to Luciano Pavarotti until Saturday, when the final ceremony of his funeral will take place in his home town, Modena.

Luciano Pavarotti's death has become a big loss for the world's music and culture heritage, but he will be remembered through his exceptional talent, charm, performance, smile and size...

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