Luciano Pavarotti - Ah mes amis! - Live 1995 at the Met

Things go wrong for Pavarotti as he attempts to sing the aria that made him famous, in the same auditorium, almost a quarter of a century after first doing so. He is 60 years old and manages to plough through 'Ah, mes amis!', but runs into trouble during 'Pour mon ame', despite the conspicuous transposition.

This is a saddening recording; he cancelled after the first act. He did sing the rest of the performances in their entirety, however; the failures here are partially due to illness.

Edoardo Muller conducts the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, stunningly, I might add.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• pavarotti
• luciano
• pour
• mon
• ame
• quel
• destin
• ah
• mes
• amis
• opera
• la
• fille
• du
• regiment
• donizetti

[XP11XP]

He was terrible. There is well-documented proof of his bad technique, including a Bohème and Don Carlo.

[Mooorhe]

@XP11XP

He did not have bad technique.

[chaiter1]

Luciano should've stuck to original and not transpose.

When your voice is used for years to sing a phrase at a certain pitch, once you transpose you are no longer on familiar ground. Crack once and in comes insecurity.And if he started the aria in original key he should've stuck to it. The voice builds up there and then suddenly an abrupt change in pitch bringsit out of focus.

He could sing a perfect C even in 1998 (Surdato n'namurato in Three tenors concert) and as late as 2003 (Stella).

[Mooorhe]

Interesting view, thanks for commenting!

[zurriussII]

People, Pavarotti was a HUMAN, not a GOD. Callas was not worth "La Divina" because she sometimes cracked, Sutherland was not worth of "La Stupenda" because she sometimes forgot words and Pavarotti was not worth of "King of high C's" because in his 60 he couldn't hit all 9 C's????

COME ON!

And who is left? Farinelli?

Don't try to kill a HUMAN for a mistake because NOBODY is mistaken!

[ChrisStockslager]

@aroncooker Unfortunately, you're right. Sutherland always managed to pull it off very very well even with a cold. Pavarotti --- not so much.

[tombaker1222]

He performed well past his prime, unfortunately. Great technique will take you so far but at 60 after a career of doing it, he was just tired.

[MariaCallasLegend]

@muchogustavo1 i hate Bonisolli...bad technic and afwul sound...only good top notes!!

[muchogustavo1]

@MariaCallasLegend LISTEN TO FRANCO BONISOLLI HIT HIGH C EVEN AT 60 YEARS OLD!

[WANK83]

Thank you for posting this video. It shows us how a great tenor can sometimes have failures. Luciano Pavarotti remains one of the greatest. That's the reason why the Met's audience gave him a warm applause.

Regards from France

[MarceloMadsonCantor]

60 anos e cantando assim!!! Bravo!!!! Não inporta se no lugar do Dó foi a nota Si, Maestro Pavarotti foi o maior e melhor. Bravo!!!!! Bravísssimo!!!!!!

[thehix]

@scumblejack Cause Kraus never sang Il Trovatore or Turandot or Aida. That's why. One cannot expect to be able to get back to lirico-leggiero repertory once he has been to the dramatic/spinto side.

[dtdbtw]

bitches be laughing in the background tsk tsk I must say even I giggled a little bit.... im going to hell for sure

[appeace1]

I am not an expert but even I can tell that Pava is ill and has had or does have laryngitis. I could well imagine attempting the top C's was physically painful; as well as, emotionally painful. Thank God the audience seems to understand what has happened and are very polite in their response!

[mclainster]

Unfortunately, talent always trumps technique which is why Luciano will be remembered as the greatest.