The opera world has lost another legend - Luciano Pavarotti "King of the High C's" and fellow Modenese homeboy passed away today.
I never saw him perform live - but he was my very first tenor, and probably my earliest exposure to the world of opera came through listening to him. As I said above, he's from Modena, where my family comes from in Italy. My grandmother, la mia nonna is a fan, and I heard his powerful and soaring tenor voice when visiting her home.
And - I can't believe I am admitting this on the internet, where it is likely to be read by at least 5 people - I remember in the Olympics in 1988, watching Brian Boitano skate a routine to one of Pavarotti's songs. That song "Parla mi d'amore, Mariu" is one of my favorites. It's on one of Luciano's cd's - just go and get it. It's so beautiful, I always just close my eyes and pretend he's just singing it to me. My mom is also a fan of Luciano's. When I was in school, she was my "alarm clock" - and would wake me up by playing music. A lot of the time, it was recordings of Pavarotti. Opera was never "scary" to me as a child - I always thought of it as beautiful music in the language of my Italian ancestors.
My mom also has recently rented many of the 3 Tenors videos (her interest ignited by our trip to hear Mr. Domingo at Ravinia) so Luciano has been on top of my mind lately. I was sad to hear of his passing.
So I wanted to pay a small blog tribute to him.
Mille Grazie, Luciano, for the role you played in my own musical development.
Riposarsi nella pace - lei sarà mancato
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