Pavarotti Remembered

Mike Wallace Looks Back At His Profiles Of The Legendary Tenor

(CBS)  Dr. Nicoletta Mantovani was studying for her PhD in biology when she met Pavarotti, and her passion was insects, not opera.

At the time, Nicoletta admitted she wasn't an opera fan but that she knew who Pavarotti was. "I knew, but, you know, I was always turning channel when he was on because I couldn't stand the opera and couldn't stand him, you know? That was the point."

And for Pavarotti, what happened next at this point in his life, he told Wallace, was totally unexpected.

"And then I fall in love right away," Pavarotti said.

Asked why he fell in love, the tenor responded, "If you know why you fall in love, you are not in love. Is it true?"

"I suppose that's true," Wallace agreed.

"There is no reason. She doesn't love my job. I don't like her music and so and so. Why?" Pavarotti said.

In 2002, they had been together for nine years, endured the sneers and the snickers. There were the health problems -- Pavarotti had hip and knee replacements. And once his divorce is finalized, Pavarotti hoped to marry Nicoletta and even to have children with her. (Editor's note: The couple married in Dec. 2003; they had a daughter, Alice.)

"You obviously seem very happy together, but who's the boss?" Wallace asked.

"I know you very little to tell you the quality of this question. Who is the boss between a man and a woman?" the tenor replied.

Maybe she's not really the boss, but Nicoletta was Pavarotti's artistic director and responsible for his annual "Pavarotti and Friends" benefit concerts, which were held in Modena, Italy, where the tenor is joined on stage by some of the biggest names in pop to aid poor youngsters around the world.

When asked how he thought his tenor glorious voice would hold up, Pavarotti told Wallace, "I don't know. I don't have any idea because I slow down and next year slow even more down, and I slow down until I think I will give up by myself."

As for his life in 2002, Pavarotti said, "I am happy. I am not jolly. I am happy."

[evasch3]

I am sorry that you have only the marriages and a failed high C as a remembrance of Pavarotti
Eva

[jozielee]

What beauty Pavarotti brought into the world. The look of him, his sound will long be remembered. May he rest in blissful peace knowing he left the world a more beautiful place simply by following his heart in doing what he enjoyed most . . . singing.

[soulfulady]

Yesterday a friend read a story by Hans Christian Andersen at a gathering dedicated to the memory of Pavarotti. It seems to sum up his precious legacy in this world. Its called "A Rose From Homer''s Grave". Here it is:

"All the songs of the east speak of the love of the nightingale for the rose in the silent starlight night. The winged songster serenades the fragrant flowers.

Not far from Smyrna, where the merchant drives his loaded camels, proudly arching their long necks as they journey beneath the lofty pines over holy ground, I saw a hedge of roses. The turtle-dove flew among the branches of the tall trees, and as the sunbeams fell upon her wings, they glistened as if they were mother-of-pearl. On the rose-bush grew a flower, more beautiful than them all, and to her the nightingale sung of his woes; but the rose remained silent, not even a dewdrop lay like a tear of sympathy on her leaves. At last she bowed her head over a heap of stones, and said, %u201CHere rests the greatest singer in the world; over his tomb will I spread my fragrance, and on it I will let my leaves fall when the storm scatters them. He who sung of Troy became earth, and from that earth I have sprung. I, a rose from the grave of Homer, am too lofty to bloom for a nightingale.%u201D Then the nightingale sung himself to death.

(continued...)

[soulfulady]

A camel-driver came by, with his loaded camels and his black slaves; his little son found the dead bird, and buried the lovely songster in the grave of the great Homer, while the rose trembled in the wind.

(continued....)

[soulfulady]

(continued from "A Rose From Homer''s Grave"...)The evening came, and the rose wrapped her leaves more closely round her, and dreamed: and this was her dream.

It was a fair sunshiny day; a crowd of strangers drew near who had undertaken a pilgrimage to the grave of Homer. Among the strangers was a minstrel from the north, the home of the clouds and the brilliant lights of the aurora borealis. He plucked the rose and placed it in a book, and carried it away into a distant part of the world, his fatherland. The rose faded with grief, and lay between the leaves of the book, which he opened in his own home, saying, %u201CHere is a rose from the grave of Homer.%u201D

Then the flower awoke from her dream, and trembled in the wind. A drop of dew fell from the leaves upon the singer%u2019s grave. The sun rose, and the flower bloomed more beautiful than ever. The day was hot, and she was still in her own warm Asia. Then footsteps approached, strangers, such as the rose had seen in her dream, came by, and among them was a poet from the north; he plucked the rose, pressed a kiss upon her fresh mouth, and carried her away to the home of the clouds and the northern lights. Like a mummy, the flower now rests in his %u201CIliad,%u201D and, as in her dream, she hears him say, as he opens the book, %u201CHere is a rose from the grave of Homer.%u201D

[soulfulady]

Its always fascinating to me how each of us perceives the same situation or person differently. One begins to wonder what is ''real''. Truth is in the eye of the beholder perhaps. The way I see it, these personal glimpses of Pavarotti were precious. They provided intimate insights into the man behind the music, a man who was as large in spirit as he was in body. A giant whose life itself seemed to be the living embodiment of the operas he sang. I see more of his greatness now than I have ever seen before. Sometimes that is what happens: the fullness of one''s life is only revealed after it has been released from its cage.

[mpeterson124]

What a sad and pathetic remembrance - focusing on the folly of an old man and his airhead mistress. I could have done without that. It would have been nice if we could have seen some clips of the arias that made him great - his amazing talent - and not the evidence of his addled brain in his old age. The whole thing just made me sad and depressed.

[mpeterson124]

What a sad and pathetic remembrance - focusing on the folly of an old man and his airhead mistress. I could have done without that. It would have been nice if we could have seen some clips of the arias that made him great - his amazing talent - and not the evidence of his addled brain in his old age. The whole thing just made me sad and depressed.