Luciano Pavarotti

I saw Ron Howard’s new documentary, Luciano Pavarotti,this afternoon. I enjoyed the movie from the moment it began to the final credits. 

Pavarotti liked to present himself as a simple man who enjoyed singing, pasta, and people. These characteristics certainly described him, but they don’t go far enough. As a child, he witnessed the atrocities of war in Italy and later suffered a serious illness that left him in a coma for two weeks. 

A hard worker, he struggled to master his craft to become the most famous tenor of his time. One of the few people who could regularly hit a high C, he was the rock star of La Scala, Vienna, and the Met. He was determined to bring opera to the “people” and true to his word, he performed all over the world from Brazil to Beijing.

After joining with Jose Carreras and Placido Domingo to form the highly successful Three Tenors, he began singing with popular artists like Bono and Sting. Towards the end of his career, he raised large sums of money for many charities.

His divorce from his wife and marriage to a younger woman was controversial in Catholic Italy. He was married only a short time when he developed pancreatic cancer. 

The movie captures his music, his charisma, and his path to fame. A man not without flaws, he filled the concert halls with glorious music and goodwill, with laughter and tears, and humbleness which fame never diminished. A man with a good heart, he lived fully.