Wings For Wheels

As I was shutting down last night, I saw a headline saying that Luciano Pavarotti’s health had taken a turn for the worse.   I said to myself that I would most likely wake up to the news of his death.  Sure enough, that’s what happened as soon as the alarm went off this morning.

Not being an opera fan, all I can say about him is that, for as long as I can remember, he was the defining star in his field (as the son of an opera-lover, I probably heard his voice before John Lennon’s).  Like fellow icons Frank Sinatra and Johnny Cash, there probably won’t be another opera star with his blend of talent and charisma that transcended his genre.

And yet, I was underwhelmed by the coverage in the four segments I heard.  I know it’s tough to boil down everything that made him great in just a few sentences.  But all they could say was along the lines of, “Pavarotti died of cancer at the age of 71.  He helped bring opera to the masses.  He was one of the Three Tenors, and made a bunch of albums with pop stars like Stevie Wonder and Sting,” punctuated by some clips, “La Donna E Mobile” and “Nessun Dorma,” I think.

That’s it.  Is that the way he should be remembered, for a handful of crappy once-played crossover records?  No mention of his background, his musical education, or what made him stand out over all the other tenors.  Naturally, the New York Times gets it right.

Then again, these clips below (plus the ending of Foul Play, which is not on YouTube) pretty much represent the full extent of my knowledge of opera.