Luciano Pavarotti was a one-off, argues robert fox, but his legacy survives on CDs and records |
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Barely was his death announced yesterday than the questions were being asked: just how great was Pavarotti, and will we see his like again?
The answer to the second is a resounding, booming, auditorium-ringing 'No.' His voice was unique as were those of the other great opera stars whose names endure well beyond the world of opera - Enrico Caruso, the first recording megastar, and Maria Callas, the 30th anniversary of whose death will be commemorated next weekend.
Their equal in passion and unpredictability, Pavarotti dumped his wife of 35 years for his PA, Nicoletta Mantovani, now his widow.
Though he had shot to fame as a last-minute understudy in London in 1963, he was a notorious crier-off and was known among opera managers as 'king of cancellations.'
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| Singing slightly high, with a peculiar placing at the back of the throat, Pavarotti always had a unique voice |
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And yet, and yet. Yesterday, Placido Domingo talked of the unique quality of that voice - large, accurate and yet at times gentle and tender; there was the hint of a sob, which is so peculiar to Italian tenors.
When I met Domingo on the stairs backstage at Covent Garden years ago, he gave me a perfect imitation of the Pavarotti vocals, slightly high and with a peculiar placing at the back of the throat. He said he couldn't manage it, really, himself, but then showed how Big Luciano would order a pizza.
That is the point: the voice is unique.
Other tenors are arriving - like Juan Diego Florez, who triumphed in The Daughter of the Regiment this year in London, as Luciano did 44 years ago. But he is a lighter tenore di grazia and the voice is very different.
One thing is for sure: like Caruso, like Callas (who still outsells all the sopranos on disc), Luciano Pavarotti will continue to be one of the most popular recording stars ever. Their names - and the affection they are held in - will not sleep with the fishes. 
FIRST POSTED SEPTEMBER 7, 2007
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Tributes to Luciano Pavarotti
