Farewell to a Real Legend

Ok, so I know its 10 days too late, but better late than never where tributes are concerned, right?

So last Thursday, my alarm goes off at 6.15am as it usually does, and as usual, I hit the snooze and turn over. After a couple of goes at the snooze, I start to get up, but I can't fully get out of bed til I hear the weather report, so I turn on BBC1's Breakfast programme (don't worry, its not a jot on Koshy and Mel) - and that's when I heard the news that Pavarotti, one of the greatest tenors (if not the greatest lyric tenor) had died.

I was reminded of the time, in July 2001, when I went with friends to hear Pavarotti live at Hyde Park, London. I was so excited to go to that concert because I had never heard Pavarotti perform live before, and actually it was the first concert I attended of someone so famous and so talented. Not to mention his 'special guests' - Charlotte Church (who at that time was actually pretty good), Annalisa Raspagliosi, Vanessa-Mae and Russell Watson.

Unfortunately, being a 'picnic in the park' type concert, we were quite some way away from the screen and surrounded by a load of people who weren't as enthralled by Pavarotti's powerful voice as I was, so they did talk rather a lot through the whole thing. I had enough of that after a while and wandered as close to the front as I could, and got a pretty good view (and good listen, too) of the King of the High C's. The concert was just wonderful, the music so uplifting - I couldn't believe I was really there. Pavarotti performed Recondita armonia from Tosca, Che gelida manina from La Boheme, Lamento di Federico from L'Arlesiana, Addio alla madre from Cavalleria Rusticana, Vesti la giubba from I Pagliacci... it was simply wonderful. As he took his encores, I was so inspired and over-whelmed by the experience, I had to share it with someone who would really appreciate it (other than the group I was with) - so I phoned my sister Melissa, held the phone up in the air so she could listen too. If I remember correctly, it was his signature aria - Nessun Dorma from Puccini's Turandot. That aria means more to me and Mel because of our experience hearing Turandot for her 21st birthday at Sydney Opera House. Plus, Mel does a pretty good Pavarotti impersonation on that one!

I know much has been said of Pavarotti's private life, and actually I don't care about that. The world lost a legend last week. The Voice will be missed.

This video is of one of Pavarotti's last performances, at the Torino 2006 Winter olympics. Although I didn't hear him there, I did go to those Olympics...