Luciano Pavarotti | The Best Tenor In History

In 2001 a compilation of all his greatest romantic hits was released entitled “Amore: The Essential Romantic Collection”.

In 2003, surprisingly, his wife Nicoletta became pregnant with twins. During her pregnancy, a tumor was detected and doctors advised her to have an abortion. She decided to go ahead and had the twins, Alice and Ricardo, although the latter, Pavarotti’s only male child, died shortly after birth. This time she was present at the birth, even though her superstition made her believe that it would bring bad luck, something that, sadly, was confirmed.

A few months earlier, he had also become a grandfather, which helped him reconcile with his daughters and his ex-wife. He knew he had made serious mistakes, but, as Adua, his first wife, used to say, he was an excellent person at heart. Time healed his family relationship.

At the end of 2003 he released his final compilation and his first and only crossover album, “Ti Adoro”. The album was a wedding present for Nicoletta. That same year he was named Commander of the Order of Cultural Merit of Monaco.

After more than four decades on stage, he began his final farewell tour in 2004, at the age of 69, with more than 40 dates. In her last performance at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, she received a standing ovation when she sang Tosca. Throughout her career, she reached a staggering 378 performances at the Metropolitan Opera.

In 2004, his former American manager, Herbert Breslin, published a book called “The King & I”, in which he accused him of not being able to read music properly. The accusation was false, although he himself admitted that he was not able to read orchestral scores.

In March 2005, he underwent neck surgery to repair two vertebrae and, in early 2006, he returned to the operating room for a back problem.

His last large-scale performance was in December 2005, in Taiwan, as part of his farewell tour of Asia.

On February 10, 2006, she sang “Nessun Dorma” for the last time at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. She received a standing ovation, although the performance had been recorded weeks earlier. Due to her delicate health, she would not have been able to sing live in such a cold and open space.

Later, in 2006, while he was preparing at his New York home to resume his farewell world tour, a malignant tumor was discovered in his pancreas. All concerts were cancelled. He underwent surgery, but suffered pneumonia in the postoperative period. Although he partially recovered, in August 2007 he was hospitalized again for high fever and respiratory complications. He was released from the clinic a few days later, but on September 6, 2007, he died at home from pancreatic cancer. He was unable to fulfill some of his last wishes, such as retiring to teach young performers or to see his daughter Alice grow up. Still, until the end he did everything he could for his family, leaving his inheritance divided: half to his widow Nicoletta and the other half to be divided among his four daughters.

The funeral ceremony in his hometown was attended by great personalities of politics and music, among them Andrea Bocelli, who performed Mozart’s Ave verum corpus.

Luciano Pavarotti always believed in people. That’s why he had a smile on his face and the public returned it with love. His greatest wish was to transmit opera to the whole world, and he certainly achieved this through his hundreds of performances and his 100 million records sold, being one of the most successful singers of any musical genre and one of the most important Italians in history.

Thanks to his charitable foundation and his voice, Luciano Pavarotti will remain forever in people’s hearts.