Support the Blog — Buy This Book!
For Kindle and with free ePub version. Only $9.49 Great reading.
Here is what Gary Shapiro CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) said: Dvorak's writing sings with insight and clarity. Whether or not you agree with John's views, he will get you thinking and is never boring. These essays are worth the read!
Put this ad on your blog!
Syndicate
Subscribe to Main Blog feed here:
Subscribe to Comments too (below):
Junk Email Filter
Sorry… I had to stop watching… Does he fall off the stage or something? There didn’t seem to be a joke coming so I’m not sure why an opera clip would be posted here.
(Sorry for being a Philistine) 🙂
The rest of the world knows he died, last night.
Thank You for posting the link. This loss is deeply moving. The Maestro was an extraordinary presence with a superb instrument.
After I heard of his passing, I was still up, I played “Nessun Dorma.”
Thats all.
Gratze Luciano.
RIP mr. Pavarotti.
Rest in peace Maestro !
You’ll be in our hearts for ever !
Excuse me, it’s “Addio” with two D’s. Yeah I know, who cares. Just file it with the ubiquitous “viola” (instead of “voilĂ ”). You know, for a nation of grammar nazis (who often scream “SPEAK ENGLISH!!!!!!!!!”), you sure don’t care much about language unless it’s General American.
#2 – Oh… Well… I am sorry to have made that comment. I guess there is a downside to not having a TV… That is news I completely missed.
I know he was one of the best in Opera and was beloved by millions. Very sorry about the tactless faux pas on my part.
Grazie, Marco. No one from the Italian half of the family within 2000 miles of where I live – to give me a little slap. 🙂
John Rhys-Davies’ agent is all a-quiver about the biographical screenplay that being penned at this very moment. I’m sure Keanu Reeves will be gunning for the lead part as well.
#7
I’m glad you shared your ADD with us, Marco.
Les
I was up late as well and and read the news as it broke on the net. I also played Nessun Dorma and I’m not ashamed to say… with tears in my eyes. As the rest of the CD continued, I was overwhelmed once again with the man’s magnificence.
4 – The first time I saw Pavarotti was on PBS’s “Live from the Lincoln Center” in 1978. I have never seen anything like it before or since: it was unbelievable. I’ve tried over the years to find a recording of that show, but have been unsuccessful. For two hours he sang one great aria after another, each bigger and better. At the end, the audience kept bringing him out for encores. The PBS sites lists just three encores – I remember more. In fact, Pavarotti ran out of songs, and he finally ended it with Nessun Dorma. I believe there after it became his trademark song. I believe that it was the last song he sang in public, the Olympics.
I wish I could find a recording of that 1978 performance.
Great Performers at Lincoln Center
Luciano Pavarotti, Tenor
John Wustman, Pianist
(12) February 12, 1978
“Luciano Pavarotti in Recital at the Metropolitan Opera House”
(no host)
Donizetti, “Una furtiva Lagrima”
Gluck, “Che farò senza Euridice”
Rossini, “La danza”
Beethoven, “In questa tomba oscura”
Bellini, “Vanne, o rosa fortunata”/”Vaga luna che inargenti”
Donizetti, “Me voglio fa ‘na casa”
Verdi, “Quando le sere al placido” & “L’ara o l’avello”
INTERMISSION
Liszt, “Two Sonnets of Petrarch” (No. 47/No. 104)
Donizetti, “Fra poco a me ricovero”
Tosti, Four Songs
ENCORES:
Puccini, “E lucevan le stelle”
Leoncavallo, “Mattinata”
Puccini, “Nessun dorma”
Pretaped intermission interview with Pavarotti by Terry McEwen, Executive Vice-President of London Records.
Program Length: 1:58:48
I’m glad you shared your serendipitous acronymic fun with us myself, Jägermeister.
Certainly he was a good man and did not deserve to meet his end. People around the world will mourn him and celebrate his music for a long to to come.
As for me, that shit drives me crazy. Opera music has always been like fingernails on a chalkboard to me. Now it’s all over the news, radio and Internet.
RIP Pavarotti.
That being said, I can’t STAND opera.
Am I the only one not ashamed to admit this? Opera strikes me as both pretentious and silly at the same time. I’ve tried it, I really have, but I just can’t stand it. Blech.
#16 – Greg Allen
I’m not an Opera fan either, but Pavarotti was good at what he was doing, so he got my respect.
Greg Allen
Opera was an acquired taste. If it’s any consolation, I was in my 50s before I could “hear” it — even though I grew up in a home where it was much loved.
I have an eclectic selection of music (over 2100 CDs) so I was always open to “music” in its varied textures and tones. Nevertheless, the vocal operatic style was not to my liking. That said, I was impressed with some of the orchestrations.
The operas that opened my ears (quite by chance) were Riggoletto and Pagliacci. Not long after, I discovered Luciano Pavarotti’s voice. He was my touchstone into a really astonishing world.
BTW, the “arena rock’ of the 80s (Journey, Styx, REO Speedwagon, etc) has more than a little in common with opera. 🙂 I leave that for those with curiosity to ponder with just the hint that broad strokes play well to big crowds.
Wow. Lovely video. I’m also not a huge fan of opera but that’s a lovely piece and beautifully & movingly sung. Great voice.
We get older. Names we know drop off. Farewell that chap.
There’s one less ham sandwich in… well, wherever.
He was a truly fantastic man. He will be missed…….