Chinese School - Pavarotti given final ovation at tearful funeral

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WORLD / Europe

Pavarotti given final ovation at tearful funeral

(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-09-09 08:33

MODENA - About 50,000 mourners paid tribute to Luciano Pavarotti at his
funeral in his hometown on Saturday, an event Prime Minister Romano Prodi
said made Italy "sad but proud" to salute one of opera's greatest tenors.

The coffin of Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti is seen during the funeral
at the cathedral of Modena, September 8, 2007.[Reuters]?

Rock stars, political leaders and loved ones wept and applauded after
seeing a film of Pavarotti and his father Fernando performing the hymn
Panis Angelicus, giving the singer a standing ovation that lasted several
minutes.

"The death of Pavarotti has made us feel poorer," said Archbishop Benito
Cocchi, leading the service at the cathedral in Modena -- the town where
Pavarotti was born the son of a baker and died a superstar.

Fourteen pallbearers carried the coffin out of the cathedral to applause
and cheers of "bravo" from the crowd as a recording of his most famous
aria -- "Nessun Dorma" from Puccini's "Turandot" -- played over
loudspeakers.

As Pavarotti sang the song's famous line "All'alba vincero'" -- "At dawn
I will be victorious" -- the air force's aerobatics team soared above the
church, marking the blue sky with the green, white and red smoke in the
colours of the Italian flag.

U2 frontman Bono sat next to film director Franco Zeffirelli at the
service, near Pavarotti's widow Nicoletta Mantovani, and ex-wife Adua who
sat an opposite ends of the same pew.

Fans crowding the sunlit square outside the 12th century cathedral
watched the service on giant screens. The images were broadcast live on
state television and the Internet.

Bulgarian soprano Raina Kabaivanska opened the service, amid the
cathedral's gilded frescos, with Ave Maria from Verdi's Otello. Another
of Pavarotti's friends, blind Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, sang Mozart's
Ave Verum Corpus.

The choir -- Corale Rossini -- was the same one in which both Pavarotti
and his father once sang.

EXCEPTIONAL GIFT

Archbishop Cocchi remembered Pavarotti's life. "The story of a boy who
had the natural gift of an exceptional voice which he cultivated with
tenacity and thus became the leading figure among all the tenors of his
time."

"Nessun Dorma", which has become a soccer anthem, rang out at London's
Wembley Stadium on Saturday ahead of a match between England and Israel
and was due to be played in Milan at a match between France and Italy as
a tribute to Pavarotti.

Prodi recalled the singer's role as a cultural ambassador as well as his
recordings and performances to promote peace.

"He made music an instrument for life and against war. It's true that
Luciano Pavarotti wanted to be remembered above all as a great opera
singer, but we want to pay homage also to his great humanity," Prodi told
mourners.

Born to a local baker father and a cigar factory worker mother, Pavarotti
trained as a teacher, dreamt of being a soccer star, but pursued a career
in singing -- a passion instilled in him by his father, a keen amateur.

Pavarotti shot to fame as an understudy in a performance of "La Boheme"
at London's Covent Garden in 1963.

He went on to popularise what had been an elite art form, performing as
one of the "Three Tenors" with Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras in Rome
during the 1990 soccer World Cup in Italy.

Before the coffin was sealed, 100,000 mourners paid respects to
Pavarotti, dressed in a tuxedo with a trademark handkerchief in his hand.
On a wreath, his four-year-old daughter had left a colourful stick-figure
drawing signed "Alice".

"He seemed so small," said 51-year-old housewife Rosanna Cipriano of the
singer whose generous girth and twinkly eyes were as famous as his voice.

After an operation for pancreatic cancer last year, Pavarotti had hoped
to finish a world tour but he died on Thursday at the age of 71,

Pavarotti's coffin was taken to rest at the Montale Rangone cemetery near
his villa outside of town, where his parents and his stillborn son
Riccardo are buried.

The private burial was attended by his family, including Alice, born to
his second wife. Pavarotti also left three grown-up daughters from his
first marriage.

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