Luciano Pavarotti-Ella mi fu rapita, Parmi veder le lagrime

[MrPhist]

Fortunate to live in Modena as a child, first knew him as just a very friendly barber.

[Mikep487]

Very undistinguished effort. General lack of power and timbre. Great breath control, as always, but that doesn't compensate for the identified weaknesses.

[fra1979it]

non il migliore (per il meglio si veda il duo schipa-kraus) ma certamente uno dei migliori nel ruolo

[gwachberg]

as great as pavarotti is - can't help to think that something happened to the strings. probably in post production, they are remarkably too low.

[rolwitit]

this is honestly one of the most beautiful things i've ever heard

[rolwitit]

this is just so beautiful

[donerlich]

Whoa, did I just read Jose Cura's name in the same sentece as Pavarotti's?

[starwars1marc]

la voix est belle mais l'air est un peut ennuyeux

[loveluciano1]

No body s as Luciano, his voice is so beautiful, just heavenly.

[coreTenore]

Fantastic!!!

[Kapputschino12]

Is the orchestra the Berlin Philharmonic?Violins sound quite like it.

[altair92]

commovente ...formidabile Duca di Mantova

[AleBro83]

il miglior duca di mantova della storia..

[Pavarotti4eva]

thank you for the video, it was just great. i also liked the little goodbye at the end of the video. it gave the video a more human feel.

[kelric6]

I dunno...if they allow kids i'd see the prostitutes...oh wait...were they hot though cause if they weren't...

Lol, jk.  Na, it is kinda vulgar though i'm sure in Europe it's not considered...

[singermanz]

not many germans are hot... if you want hot german speaking chicks go to austria, but even then, its not the quantity of beautiful women like you get in denmark or sweeden... so no, is what i'm trying to say... it was the sillouettes of ugly sluts giving head on an opera stage. wtf...

[kelric6]

Ohh...that is horrible....i've heard of what people like Stalin did, and i've heard of people taht torture and kill victimd in horrible way, but this...revolting...i mean, not even ONE hot chick? Thats it, i now know for a fact the world is a horrible place where something like ugly shicks doing it on stage isn't illegal...lol, jk. ;p

[Elried]

not many germans are hot??????

have you ever been there?

go to munich, there you can see hot chicks, although not all of them sing in the Bavarian state opera.^^

[SchugOo]

Warum werden wir Deutschen immer nur auf diese verfluchten Bayern reduziert...

Geht nach Rheinland-Pfalz oder ins Saarland - DA gibt's hübsche Damen!

Wunderschöne Arie und wieder eine atemberaubende Stimme, wie man sie von Pavarotti kennt!

[SladkyPersik]

Peccato che Huan Diego Flores non ha la voce per questo ruolo...e non avra.

[palymusic]

Immenso... per bellezza di timbro facilità di suono limpidezza di pronuncia squillo...

la romanza è molto difficile... e lui la risolve con una facilità estrema...

che bella voce!

[tantris108]

check JD Florez in this aria - spectacular as well!

For me he is such a great leading voice in our times

[jezHB333]

I notice that near the end he goes up to a b flat, when only a g flat is in the music - is that artistic licence? (Not that I'm complaining at all - it sounds good!)

[LetItBe920]

It's a tradition that started back when Verdi was still alive, if I'm not mistaken. Just like unison high notes in the duets ("Si pel ciel", "Invano Alvaro", etc.).

[LetItBe920]

This orchestra isn't together at all....really not good. Pavarotti's singing is wonderful, as usual, but this orchestra is not good enough to be playing under him.

[jezHB333]

yes it's really quite hilarious

[CinziaMC]

Troppo forte nel ruolo del Duca di Mantova!

E' strepitoso!!!

[JulietteBates]

Pavarotti, un vanto italiano.

Che voce meravigliosa!

[IronPalm]

Are you all freakin' kidding? Um, hello... Paris, 1998; Nessun Dorma - if you don't find that to be a sword coated with honey, there's no hope for ya.

[GermanOperaSinger]

Sorry, but that nessun dorma was nothing compared to what he was in the 60s.

[Nater389]

Totally agree. A bit of an innocent statement above I think. In 1998 Pavarotti was 63. Should listen to 1979, or 1977 Nessun Dormas here on youtube. Then ask yourself again, is 1998 performance better?

[MaikHaeber]

You never really know who has an opinion of their own, or who ist just parroting praise they have read somewhere else. I cannot help the impression that some people seem to think the louder and the more uncritically they praise Pavarotti the more of an opera expert they count for. One cannot seriously claim Pavarottis voice from the nineties was as brilliant as in the sixties, without making a complete fool of oneself.

[Nater389]

Agreed. I'm by far no expert, but I have an ear, and can realize that his voice was much better in the 60's and 70's. Some people just listen to one recording and think its the best definitive version. Most of the time, they lack an ear.

[Nater389]

Ruined compared to who? His voice was quite fresh till his death, and kept much longer than most other tenors.

[MaikHaeber]

Compared to his own voice from the sixties and earliy seventies. His voice from those days reminds me of a silvery sword, covered in honey. Twenty years later you still feel the sword, but the honey has vanished, and the sword is chipped along the edges. His voice lost all its luster. It was horror in the end, compared to where he started from.

[GermanOperaSinger]

Thanks for the analogy...I agree completely.

[Nater389]

Agreed.

[stybboon]

yeah man. u used a very nice metapher with the sword and honey. sign !

[Mooorhe]

That was a very accurate assessment, from 1964 - 1979 I believe he had that silvery voice covered in honey and it is glorious. That voice will have regained its full beauty in heaven though I'm sure.

[MaikHaeber]

I guess he will be sitting together with Corelli, Gigli and Caruso, looking down on today's opera scene, crying bitter tears of desperation at each other's shoulder.

[GermanOperaSinger]

No, I think they will all be laughing their asses off at the joke this wonderful art has become.

[wowyourgaiy]

AMEN BROTHER.

[Elried]

or they will respect the singers of today, like beczala, florez oder ramon vargas!

why are you all so negative? there are quite a lot good singers around! why can't you all just apreciate them?

[Nater389]

I can't speak for everyone. It's not that I don't appreciate them...technically, they are no where near as good as those from the past. No one trains in the correct manner anymore. Voice teachers appear to be a dime a dozen and they destroy voices thinking they know. Also, we haven't seen or heard voices in present day like those of Pavarotti, Corelli... to name a couple. They brought truly unique voices to opera. We don't have that today, in my opinion.

[Nater389]

Florez, for instance, has good technique, but his sound is monotone and not dynamic and sounds boring after a while. Ramon Vargas might be the closest to being like those of old.

[moo7chi7ld]

How interesting I jut got his donizetti and bellini qlbun and was thinking the same thing. One commented that he is a Tenorino, not a true light tenor, whhich is a much more complex voice. His tone lacks any percentage of color that could warm it up, and one vocal diagnostician on the web has warned of his impoending vocal doom The voice is an organ that doesnt tolerate misuse, and pride is its worse enemy. The same diagnostician has bemoaned the trouble Maestro Villazón is having.

[Hayacafrita]

Or Dickinson! hehee

[pegtck67]

It isn't negativity to speak the truth. While others may be trained in how to sing the notes, no one I have ever explored has had the passion and quality of voice and spirit that Luciano Pavarotti did. The only one to come close is relatively new, Jose Cura. Pavarotti didn't just sing the music, he WAS the music.

[mgdoom]

@GermanOperaSinger and @MaikHaeber: I agree....the only tenor in these days that I find thrilling is Joseph Calleja...I think he is the best right now....reminds me of Bjorling...!

[sirinferno]

as a newcomer to the opera scene (by temporal reasons rather than through lack of discovery), what's wrong with today's opera scene? (just out of curiosity, i don't know either way)

[MaikHaeber]

Today's opera scene is simply lacking great singers, and above all: is lacking those one or two great leading figures. Every era had its great singers whose name were known to everyone: Caruso, Gigli, Pertile, di Stefano, Corelli, del Monaco etc. Which stars can you name today? None. Why was Pavarotti celebrated so much until his death, even when his voice had been ruined as from the eighties? Because there was - and still is - no replacement. He was the last one, and no-one has taken over.

[HopePoisoned]

I had stars on the tip of my tongue, but I realized that their careers are all waning...I suppose maybe the only thing wrong with the scene today is the lack of stars who have achieved a kind of fame that even the mainstream has heard of - but i don't think that the opera scene needs crossover artists, who are the ones who would achieve such broad fame, but rather that the world at least look on the genre in appreciation and allow the true stars of it to at least be heard of

[MaikHaeber]

Oh, Corelli and del Monaco weren't crossover artists, were they? There may be a lot of hard workers who do an honest job on stage, but that's not enough to make the scene shine. Today's opera scene is dragging along, without highlights and great names. Should we play a video game, watch a B-movie, or go to the opera ..? Today, the one is about as thrilling as the other. Okay, you can watch Alagna walk off stage in mid-performance when booed at. At least something to write about ...

[MaikHaeber]

The point is: Opera did not earn her reputation as Queen of musical entertainment through the combined effort of thousands of well-meaning, hard-working, but after all, average singers, but through the seemingly effortless vocal glory of a Chosen Few, those masters who can transform work into art, who know their vocal capacities and their repertoire, and who manage to stay on stage for a couple of years with sustained vocal quality. These people are missing today, and that's it.

[doddsalfa]

you talk down to the greatest tenor ever:(

[MaikHaeber]

What makes you think he was the greatest tenor ever? Because a well-oiled marketing machine told you so? Listen to the development of his voice over time, and get an opinion of your own!

[doddsalfa]

opinion of my own!I have been listening to opera from 12 years of age.Your statemen that his voice had been ruined from the eighties is false,this proves that .Pavarotti - Lamento di Frederico - L'Arlesiana, Cilea on youtube from 82'

[singermanz]

go to germany and see an opera. its all about shock value there. last summer, a performance of Die Entfurung Aus Dem Sarail was directed to have sex acts being performed on stage with legit prostitutes, and Constanze being shot in the head. Another performance the same season of Rossini's Barber with the Heidelberg Opera company, people peed on each other! This is what opera is becoming. Along with people like villazon who can't manage to maintain a career lasting longer than 5 years.

[sirinferno]

that's just...wrong :/

[Pavarotti4eva]

i frequent terrible places on this here internet, and i have not once lost my faith in humanity.

Researching german opera performances has stolen mine....

well, at least in germans...

[piasecznik]

@singermanz

Just where in the Barber would they manage to get peeing people in there? Low-life people during Figaro's cavatina? Almaviva pissing on Bartolo during his final coloratura aria? I just don't see it.

[itonlyhappens]

@MaikHaeber Yes, Pavarotti's voice declined as he grew older.  What an insightful observation!

[MaikHaeber]

@itonlyhappens No, you expert. His voice declined because Pavarotti, having been a lyrical tenor, chose to go into the dramatic repertoire which his voice wasn't meant for. The reason: you can earn more money and fame with Manrico than with Nemorino. Same mistake like many before him and after him (see Roberto Alagna). And for lack of competition, a foolish audience bought it all and continued cheering until his death. In the second half of his career, Pavarotti sold his name, not his voice.

[operaspark]

I'd still rather listen to Pavarotti's voice from the end of his career over MANY other singers! I do agree with you about the sword/honey thing. He'd lost the golden shine to his voice by this period, but at times the beauty still shone through

[Nater389]

The Bb at 4:33 is amazing. Domingo didn't even attempt the Bb in his versions.

[Mooorhe]

I actually have a Domingo version in which he interpolates the B flat elsewhere in the aria.

[TheInquisitive4Ever]

Moorhe-One of those few B's MIngo was able to hit I suppose. lol

[Pavarotti4eva]

the music is perfect! it is crystal clear, and i love the violin part in the beggining!

pavarotti is the king as always, thanks for posting this!!!

[spyderwalk]

Absolutely Priceless!

[sketti1111]

The best ever

[loveluciano1]

very beautiful, he had so sweet and worm voice.

[ShawDAMAN]

Worm voice? LOL... :D I guess you mean warm. :)

[loveluciano1]

ShawDAMAN thank for your correction. yes indeed i meant warm voice.

[ShawDAMAN]

Public television just aired a new Pavarotti special called "A life in 7 arias." I watched it, it was excellent.

[loveluciano1]

unfortunately, i don't saw this special, i not from united states. can you please tell me the brief of this pavarotti special?

[evedust]

Thanks for posting these beautiful treasures.