s skippy the bush kangaroo: rip luciano pavarotti

skippy the bush kangaroo



Thursday, September 06, 2007

rip luciano pavarotti

the most famous operatic singer of our time, luciano pavarotti, has died at the age of 71. cnn:

famed opera tenor luciano pavarotti, who appeared on stage with singers as varied as opera star dame joan sutherland, u2's bono and liza minnelli, died thursday in italy after suffering from pancreatic cancer, manager terri robson said in a statement. he was 71.

"the great tenor, luciano pavarotti, died today at 5:00 a.m. at his home in modena, the city of his birth," according to robson.

"the maestro fought a long, tough battle against the pancreatic cancer which eventually took his life. in fitting with the approach that characterized his life and work, he remained positive until finally succumbing to the last stages of his illness."
the bbc tells us:

fellow tenor [placido] domingo said he had "always admired the god-given glory" of pavarotti's voice, while [jose] carreras called him "one of the most important tenors of all time".

the vienna state opera raised a black flag in mourning, while modena said it would name its theatre after its famous son…

music reached far beyond the usual opera audience, particularly his signature tune nessun dorma, from puccini's turandot, which became associated with the 1990 football world cup.

his performances with domingo and jose carerras at this time - in the three tenors concerts - were seen around the world.

"we've reached 1.5 billion people with opera," pavarotti told critics of the shows.

"if you want to use the word commercial, or something more derogatory, we don't care. use whatever you want."

in a statement from los angeles, domingo said he had fond memories of the three tenors shows.

"we had trouble remembering we were giving a concert before a paying audience, because we had so much fun between ourselves," he said.
tonite we'll bring you some interesting pavarotti duets for skippy's late nite music club, but in the meantime, here's the master doing probably the most famous male aria in all of opera, la dona e mobile from rigoletto:



addendum: christy muses on pavarotti's passing, and discusses the importance of the arts in a broad education, over at fdl.

double addendum: on the plane home from the jersey/cruise vacation, skippy also found the event of this miyoshi umeki's passing, notable for readers of a certain age:

miyoshi umeki, 78, a japanese-born singer and actress who became the first asian performer to win an academy award -- for "sayonara" (1957) -- and who played a housekeeper on the tv series "the courtship of eddie's father," died aug. 28 at the licking park manor nursing home in licking, mo. she had cancer…

for much of the 20th century, movies or plays featuring asian characters used actors without accounting for distinctions among ethnic groups. ms. umeki's desire to appear in good roles overrode concerns about playing the chinese mail-order "picture bride" mei li during the broadway run of "flower drum song" (1958).
both luciano and miyoshi will be missed.

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posted by skippy at 8:51 AM |

5 Comments:

Thanks, skippy. This piece gives me goosebumps, so clear and piercing the upper range of Pavarotti's delivery.
commented by Blogger Rayne Today, 9:23 AM PDT  
Sad indeed. Heard snippets on NPR this morning. What a character.

Apparently made his debut at the 1955 Eisteddfod with a Modena male-voice choir. Wanted to go back there more recently for one last victory-lap, but illness prevented it.
commented by Anonymous TheaLogie, 1:30 PM PDT  
that is truly sad...a great voice is silenced.


on the other hand, another voice was silenced this week, also. one less intelligent, more hateful, and more onerous than operatic:

Rev. D. James Kennedy, gay-basher extrordinaire and christian dominionist, died? maybe i missed it?

Although he may not have had as prominent a public profile as Pat Robertson, James C. Dobson or the late Jerry Falwell, Dr. Kennedy wielded considerable power among evangelicals. Two years ago, Rolling Stone magazine called him "the most influential evangelical you've never heard of."

Espousing deeply conservative social views, he often preached against abortion, homosexuality, liberal judges, stem-cell research, the teaching of evolution and secular values. In 2005, he was a leading voice in the effort to keep Terri Schiavo, the Florida woman who had been in a vegetative state for 15 years, on life support.

In 1962, Dr. Kennedy founded Evangelism Explosion International, an evangelistic training organization that helped spread the word about his growing church. He launched many other groups over the years, including the Center for Reclaiming America, designed to mobilize conservative Christians on what he called "the key fronts of the modern-day culture war."

One of those fronts was his never-ending battle against homosexuality and what he saw as a "gay agenda." His groups offered reeducation "cures" to troubled gays, whom Dr. Kennedy described as "little boys looking for a daddy to love them."
commented by Anonymous joe in oklahoma, 3:42 PM PDT  
"on a plane home..."

does that mean you guys are back in town for the big blogger party? that would be bitchin'!
commented by Blogger SteveAudio, 1:06 AM PDT  
MRS. LIVINGSTON! NO!
commented by Blogger Laura Linger, 9:15 AM PDT  

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