Pavarotti’s classical career, with his imposing presence, emotional depth and boyish, charming ease added to his technical prowess, was the stuff of opera legend. 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. 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 from the cathedral. “Modena is known for its cappelletti (a type of tortellini), balsamic vinegar, Ferrari and Pavarotti. The Foreign Ministry said similar books would be available for well-wishers at Italian embassies and consulates around the world. Modena city officials estimated that 100,000 people had viewed Pavarotti’s body in two days.Īdmirers signed books of condolence placed by vases of sunflowers outside the cathedral. “The maestro was and will always be a symbol for our city.” “The death of Luciano Pavarotti has made us feel more impoverished,” he said. The applause, he said, “was not joyous as in other occasions, but intense and sincere”.
The Rossini Chorus performed hymns throughout the service, which was celebrated by Modena Archbishop Benito Cocchi and 18 other priests.Ĭocchi 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”.īut 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. Tenor Andrea Bocelli sang Mozart’s Ave Verum Corpus. The Bulgarian-born soprano Raina Kabaivanska, a fellow Modena resident who had worked with Pavarotti, cried when she sang the Ave Maria from Verdi’s Otello as the ceremony began.įlutist Andrea Griminelli played the Dance of the Blessed Spirits from Gluck’s Orfeo e Euridice. He 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. The opera great died Thursday in his home on Modena’s outskirts after battling pancreatic cancer for more than a year. I will hold you dear to my child’s heart every tomorrow,” it said.
“Papa, you have loved me so much, I know you will always protect me. Also invited were Stephane Lissner, the 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.Ī message from Pavarotti’s four-year-old daughter, Alice, was read during the service as Mantovani sobbed. On hand were the Italian premier, Romano Prodi, U2 lead singer Bono, film director Franco Zeffirelli and former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Sitting nearby were Pavarotti’s three daughters from his first marriage. Pavarotti’s white maple casket, covered in sunflowers – his favourite – lay before the altar, with his wife, Nicoletta Mantovani, looking on. They watched as 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 colours of the Italian flag. Thousands of people 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. 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 condolence from Pope Benedict XVI, saying that Pavarotti had “honoured the divine gift of music through his extraordinary interpretative talent”.