From our files: An interview with Luciano Pavarotti
In 1972, the Monitor spoke with the legendary tenor, who died last night in his hometown of Modena, Italy.
posted September 6, 2007 at 2:00 p.m. EDT
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"Of course he was right, but I reminded his of it later. Several years ago there was a special gala of 'La Boheme' in Modena. Mirella Freni, who is also a Modenese, and I both sang, and it was arranged for my father to sing Parpignol – you know, the toyseller who has a few phrases in the Café Momus scene. My poor father was very nervous at the general rehearsal, and on one of those few notes his voice cracked – phut! Afterward I took him aside, 'Father,' I said, 'you must go home and study some more, please.'" And the son laughed heartily at what must now be as much a Pavarotti family joke as legend in Modena.
English-speaking tour
After gaining early experience in Italy, the young singer was engaged by theaters in Holland, Austria and Switzerland, and in 1963 made his Covent Garden debut in "La Boheme" as a replacement for Giuseppe Di Stefano. He returned to England the following year as Idamante ("That's a girl's part," he observed with a laugh) in Mozart's "Idomeneo," at the Glyndebourne Festival, where he had a chance to perfect the English he had studied in school at home. These opportunities were furthered when Richard Bonyge arranged to have him make his North American debut (in 1965 in Miami) opposite his wife, Joan Sutherland, in "Lucia de Lammermoor," followed by a three-month tour of Australia with the Sutherland-Williamson company.
The burgeoning tenor returned to his homeland in triumph. His town of Modena honored him with its highest "Principessa Carlotta" prize; that lion's den for singers. Parma, voted him its "Verdi d'Oro," and in 1966 he went to La Scala for his debut as Tebaldo in Bellini's rare "I Capuletti ed I Montecchi," and sang in a Verdi Requiem under Herbert von Karajan in a centenary birthday tribute to Arturo Toscanini. Bellini's birthplace, Catania, very particular about the way its native son's music is sung, took his "Puritani" to its heart, and he sand a variety of bel canto roles in other leading Italian theaters.
Once, a prominent Italian critic compared his Nemorino in Donizetti's 'L'Elisir d'Amore" to that of a famous tenor(a Pavarotti idol) now passed on. "He shouldn't have done this," Pavarotti said with a frown. "I was, of course, honored by his intention, but to say I sang like him, or as well as – well, I think this is not right...." (His large frame trembled as does "Trovatore's" Count Luna when he reacts in melodramatic horror with "Io fremo.") Superstition, one asks? No no - "He was he, I am I" was the gist of his feeling.
Not right and all right
The situation in Italian theaters, once the breeding ground for a race of fine singers, gives Mr. Pavarotti some concern. "For the most part, they are not in good hands," he mourns. "What can one think when many of the leading Italian singers are no longer interested to sing at La Scala, with one of the best choruses and orchestras for opera in the world? It is political trouble – musical politics – changes that neglect the past. I am an Italian, and I a proud of La Scala, like my colleagues, but La Scala looks now in a different way than it did at its country's leading singers. Now, one wins a singing contest on television and becomes famous overnight – without experience or solid training, despite fine gifts. Is this right? Have we all wasted our time? I think not, I think not..."
On a more cheerful note, Mr. Pavarotti spoke of the possibility of Donizetti's "La Favorita" (with its luscious tenor role) in San Francisco in 1973, and "the dream of every tenor – Manrico in 'Il Trovatore' – as long as 10 years away for me. It is a full lyric role, loudness has nothing to do with it, but it must carry and be strong."
Concerts? "Oh yes, I will do some. One with orchestra, only arias, and later in Carnegie Hall, New York, with arias and some antique songs. I hope they will go well, but for me, it is better, the right lights and the smell of the stage – I must enjoy myself when I sing, and concentrate on what is happening. In concert, I don't know. But I tell – if everything is lovingly done – everything will be all right - [crescendo toward high C] all-l-l RIGHT!"
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