The Tempest

Issue date: 9/26/07 Section: Entertainment

Media Credit: AP/Alberto Palaschiar Luciano Pavarotti bows to the audience during the Pavarotti & Friends charity concert for Iraqi children at the Novi Sad Park in Modena, Italy on May 27, 2003

Media Credit: AP Photo/Chieregato Luciano Pavarotti with his bride, Nicoletta Mantovani, and their one-year-old daughter, Alice, after their wedding at Modena's Teatro Comunale, northern Italy on Dec. 13, 2003.

Media Credit: AP Photo/Grant Leversha Former South African president Nelson Mandela meets the Three Tenors following their performance at the Union Buildings in Pretoria on Sunday, April 18, 1999.

Media Credit: AP Photo/Alberto Pellaschiar Rock musician Bono, right, speaks with Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti during rehearsal for the 'Pavarotti and Friends 2003' annual charity concert at the Novi Sad Park in Modena, Italy on in this May 26, 2003.

Media Credit: AP Photo/Andrew Medichini Luciano Pavarotti, left, and American star Mariah Carey sing 'Hero' during the 'Pavarotti and Friends' concert in Modena's Novi Sad park on Tuesday, June 1, 1999.

"Penso che una vita per la musica sia una vita spesa bene ed è a questo che mi sono dedicato," Luciano Pavarotti, 1935-2007

English translation: "I think a life in music is a life beautifully spent and this is what I have devoted my life to." Pavarotti couldn't define himself any better.

The world lost the body of Luciano Pavarotti Sept. 6 to pancreatic cancer, but his voice will live forever.

For the music world, possibly the greatest musician of all-time has been lost. He defined the opera stage for over 40 years, lighting up audiences worldwide. The artist, renowned for his singing of the "high C" note, often mixed his performances with stars of other genres such as Barry White, the Spice Girls, Vanessa Williams, and U2, for benefit concerts worldwide.

For fans of the opera, no other singer will come close to the dominance of his voice. No one else chilled the air or made tears well up in the eyes of the audience, which demanded encores during every performance.

Any discontent with his greatness should be settled with a viewing of "Nessun dorma," sung in 1998 in Paris as shown on You Tube. Compare it to Paul Potts' version of the aria and then you'll see how good he was.

This can't be a bigger loss for Italy. Known for its fast cars, large cathedrals, great pasta, great national soccer team, beautiful women and fast slopes, Italy's favorite son's death has hit a nerve in every Italian around the world. Look at the 50,000 people that attended his funeral.

Away from the stage, I've never seen a funnier man struggle in his English to explain his most embarrassing and amusing moments on stage.

His most amusing moment came during a play in Paris in 1986. He dreamed for years of being in his dressing room with just his underwear on and the orchestra playing the piece of music just before his aria. It was only a dream, he said.

"Until last year," he told a Master class session. "I was sitting in my dressing room, just my underpants (on), and then I hear the orchestra playing ... and I'm thinking 'This idiot comes here with a three tenor tape trying to scare us.'... 3000 people work in this theater and none of them bother to tell me it starts at 7:30 instead of 8:00!"

His most embarrassing moment was during the play "Tosca," again in Paris. He saw a chair he was supposed to sit in during the act. He told the stage director that if he were to sit on that chair, he will break it, so they reinforced it with iron. During the play, a new actress debuted and when the time came for her to place one hand on his knee, she sat instead. "They are still looking for the chair," said Pavarotti.

His memory will last an eternity, especially the final words of "Nessun dorma" in his voice: "All'alba Vincero, Vincero, Vincero!" "At dawn I will win, I will win, I will win!"

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