MERGED--> RIP Pavarotti

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from our B-Man.... :bono:

06.09.2007
Luciano Pavarotti 1935 - 2007

“Some can sing opera, Luciano Pavarotti was an opera.

No one could inhabit those acrobatic melodies and words like him. He lived the songs, his opera was a great mash of joy and sadness; surreal and earthy at the same time; a great volcano of a man who sang fire but spilled over with a love of life in all its complexity, a great and generous friend.

Great, great fun, The Pavlova we used to call him. An emotional arm twister if he wanted you to do something for him he was impossible to turn down. A great flatterer.

When he wanted U2 to write him a song he rang our housekeeper, Theresa, continually so we talked about little else in our house.

When he wanted U2 to play his festival in Modena, he turned up in Dublin unannounced with a film crew, and door-stopped the band. His life and talent was large but his sense of service to the weak and vulnerable was larger.

We wrote Miss Sarajevo for him. He had worked on the humanitarian crisis that was the war in Bosnia. We travelled together on a UN air force flight to Mostar... all of us earnest in hard hats, just about strapped into this industrial aircraft with the big man handing out parmigiano from Reggio Emilia, “the best cheese in the world" he kept saying… deadpan… to make us laugh.

In Pesaro, in his summer house, he lived an almost bohemian life with a recording studio set up in an out house - but did all his vocals in his bedroom... there was a hammock hung between two marine pines for a siesta. He liked to eat, sleep and then warm up his vocals though I remember more eating than warming up. When we first recorded with him I left a stone heavier than I arrived.

Intellectually curious, couldn’t stick to his own generation - loved new ideas, new people, new song forms.

A sexy man whose life lit up again when he fell in love with Nicoletta and as he watched Alice play in the yard. He loved all his daughters so much.
The sadness of losing his only boy his only silence.

I spoke to him last week... the voice that was louder than any rock band was a whisper. Still he communicated his love. Full of love.

That's what people don't understand about Luciano Pavarotti. Even when the voice was dimmed in power, his interpretive skills left him a giant among a few tall men.”

Bono



so so well written... the man sure can write beautiful stuff..:love:
 
:sad: I intend on listening to Passengers tonight in his honor. He had an amazing voice.

R.I.P. Pavarotti :(
 
BONO TO ATTEND PAVAROTTI'S FUNERAL
September 07, 2007
posted by: Miranda

Bono will attend Pavarotti's funeral in Modena's cathedral this Saturday,
September 8, 2007.

Reuters says Bono will join former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and a
host of celebrity friends and fans at the funeral, which is scheduled to
begin at 3pm.

The tenor will be laid to rest at the Montale Rangone cemetery near his
villa outside Modena, where his parents are buried.
 
Thanks for the latest news. Good for Bono to pay tribute and respect to his friends, though it's such a sad occasion. I wonder who else is going to be there.
 
Originally posted by U2Fanatic4ever
BONO TO ATTEND PAVAROTTI'S FUNERAL
September 07, 2007
posted by: Miranda

Bono will attend Pavarotti's funeral in Modena's cathedral this Saturday,
September 8, 2007.

Reuters says Bono will join former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and a
host of celebrity friends and fans at the funeral, which is scheduled to
begin at 3pm.

The tenor will be laid to rest at the Montale Rangone cemetery near his
villa outside Modena, where his parents are buried.





World Bids Farewell to Luciano Pavarotti
By COLLEEN BARRY, Associated Press Writers
Sat Sep 8, 1:19 PM


MODENA, Italy - Luciano Pavarotti's voice rang out a final time Saturday inside Modena's cathedral, as a recording of the great tenor singing with his father highlighted a funeral attended by family, dignitaries and close friends.

Guests gave the tenor one last standing ovation when "Panis Angelicus," the 1978 duet Pavarotti sang with his father, Fernando, inside Modena's Duomo came to a close.

The duet was one of the most poignant moments of the funeral, which began with a moving rendition of Verdi's "Ave Maria" and a message of condolences from Pope Benedict XVI saying Pavarotti had "honored the divine gift of music through his extraordinary interpretative talent."

Thousands watched the invitation-only service from a huge television screen erected in Modena's main piazza, where a recording of the tenor's most famous works had boomed out during two days of public viewing.

Italy's air force precision flying team flew over the cathedral at the end of the service, releasing red, white and green smoke in the colors of the Italian flag.

Pavarotti's white maple casket, covered in sunflowers _ his favorite _ lay before the altar during the service, with his wife, Nicoletta Mantovani, looking on. Sitting nearby were Pavarotti's three daughters from his first marriage.

Also on hand were the Italian premier, Romano Prodi, U2 lead singer Bono, film director Franco Zeffirelli and former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Also invited were Stephane Lissner, general manager of Milan's La Scala Opera House, where Pavarotti appeared 140 times, once receiving boos; and the Metropolitan Opera's former general manager Joe Volpe.

A message from Pavarotti's 4-year-old daughter, Alice, was read out during the service as Mantovani sobbed.

"Papa, you have loved me so much, I know you will always protect me. I will hold you dear to my child's heart every tomorrow," it said.

Pavarotti died on Thursday in his home on Modena's outskirts after battling pancreatic cancer for more than a year. He was 71 and was beloved by generations of opera-goers and pop fans alike for his breathtaking high "Cs" and his hearty renditions of folk songs like "O Sole Mio," and popular tunes like "My Way."

Tenor Andrea Bocelli sang Mozart's "Ave Verum Corpus" while the Rossini Chorus performed hymns throughout the service, which was celebrated by Modena Archbishop Benito Cocchi and 18 other priests.

Bulgarian-born soprano Raina Kabaivanska, a fellow Modena resident who had worked with Pavarotti, cried as she sang the "Ave Maria" from Verdi's "Otello" as the ceremony began. Flautist Andrea Griminelli played the "Dance of the Blessed Spirits" from Gluck's "Orfeo e Euridice."

Cocchi said the presence of so many dignitaries at the funeral was a sign "of the esteem, of the affection and of the gratitude that universally surrounds the great artist."

But he said it was also significant how local Modenese had rendered homage to their native son, applauding out of respect when Pavarotti's casket was brought to the cathedral on Thursday for public viewing.

The applause, he said, "was not joyous as in other occasions, but intense and sincere."

"The death of Luciano Pavarotti has made us feel more impoverished," he said. "The maestro was and will always be a symbol for our city."

Modena city officials estimated that roughly 100,000 people viewed Pavarotti's body over two days.

"Modena is known for its cappelletti (a type of tortellini), balsamic vinegar, Ferrari and Pavarotti. It's a collection of important things that Modena has given to the world," said Susy Cavallini, a 43-year-old Modena resident as she emerged Saturday from the cathedral.

The tenor was to be buried in Montale Rangone cemetery, near Modena, where members of his family, including his parents and stillborn son Riccardo, are buried.

Pavarotti's classical career, with his imposing presence, emotional depth and boyish, charming ease all adding to his technical prowess, was the stuff of opera legend. But his legacy reached beyond the opera houses to reach the masses, working with fellow opera stars and pop icons alike.

These far-from-the-opera house performances, including memorable nights under the stars at Rome's ancient Baths of Caracalla with Jose Carreras and Placido Domingo, in the "Three Tenors" concert, rescued musical art from highbrow obscurity.

Pavarotti was the best-selling classical artist, with more than 100 million records sold since the 1960s, and he had the first classical album to reach No. 1 on the pop charts.

That Pavarotti _ a divorced man who had a child out of wedlock _ was given public viewing and a funeral in the cathedral spurred some debate here. A Modena parish priest, the Rev. Giorgio Bellei, told Corriere della Sera that the move amounted to "profanation of the temple." Other critics noted that last year the church refused to grant a religious funeral to a paralyzed man who had a doctor disconnect his respirator.

Funeral director Gianni Gibellini said Bellei should have "kept his mouth sewn shut" and Archbishop Cocchi appeared to address the issue, saying "Pavarotti, with a faith that he never repudiated or hid and which he expressed consistently with his singing, is no stranger in this cathedral."
 
Here's the latest news ...


Luciano Pavarotti Divides His Estate
By MARTA FALCONI, Associated Press Writer
4 hours ago


ROME - Luciano Pavarotti left half his estate to his second wife and half to his four daughters, including three from his first marriage, an attorney said Tuesday.

In the final months of his yearlong battle with pancreatic cancer, Pavarotti made two wills, said attorney Giorgio Bernini, who represents the singer's second wife. One dated June 13 divides up his assets according to Italian law, with half going to his wife, Nicoletta Mantovani, and half to his children.

The second, dated July 29, elaborates on the first and concerns the tenor's U.S. holdings, which he entrusted to Mantovani, Bernini said.

Interest in Pavarotti's will has mounted in the days since his Sept. 6 death at age 71 amid reports that his three adult daughters from his first marriage were squabbling with Mantovani, and that there had been a "crisis" in their marriage.

The reports prompted Pavarotti's three adult daughters to write a letter, which one of them read on television last week, denouncing speculation about "purported bickering, phantasmagoric wealth, last wills and testaments that we don't know anything about."

"Luciano Pavarotti now has his chance to speak out and, contrary to media reports and rumors, he did not change his will to the detriment of his second wife," Pavarotti's manager, Terri Robson, said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

She called the reports, which quoted friends of the late tenor, "a very personal and ugly campaign against his wife."

The wills were made public this week after Mantovani's lawyers formally requested that they be opened. The Associated Press confirmed the contents of the documents in interviews with Mantovani's lawyer.

Bernini said that according to the June 13 will, half of Pavarotti's estate will go to Mantovani, and half will go to the daughters, each of whom get an equal, one-quarter share.

"The Maestro's concern has always been not to treat his daughters differently," Bernini said.

Two of Pavarotti's friends will get $693,350 each "for their affection and loyal assistance," Bernini said in a telephone interview, quoting from the will. Italian news reports have identified the two as Pavarotti's assistant, Edwin Tinoco and his companion Veronica Zeggio.

The lawyer declined to give details on the overall value of Pavarotti's estate. It also wasn't clear how Pavarotti's commercial interests, including royalties from sales of his music, have been handled.

Italian media reports have valued the estate at some $275 million; Bernini said such figures were exaggerated and that the tenor had no hidden "treasure" as some reports have also suggested.

Bernini said the second testament was essentially an addendum to the first, entrusting to Mantovani the management of three apartments in New York City's Hampshire House on Central Park South. The properties, which are included in her basic 50 percent share of the estate, are to be put into a trust managed by Mantovani.

Mantovani is currently staying in one of the apartments with their 4-year-old daughter, Alice, Robson said.
 
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