Crowds Gather For Luciano Pavarotti’s Funeral In Modena
Posted September 8, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Verdi’s “Ave Maria” rang out through a cathedral in Modena, Italy as the world bade farewell Saturday to opera great Luciano Pavarotti in an invitation-only funeral.
Thousands of others watched the service on a huge television screen erected in Modena’s main piazza, where a recording of the tenor’s most famous works had boomed out during two days of public viewing.
Pope Benedict sent a telegram of condolence, which was read out at the start of the service. He said Pavarotti had “honoured the divine gift of music through his extraordinary interpretative talent.” Among those at the funeral were Italian Premier Romano Prodi, Italian film director Franco Zeffirelli and former U-N Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
Pavarotti’s white maple casket, covered in sunflowers – his favourite – lay before the altar, with his wife, Nicoletta Mantovani, looking on. Sitting nearby were Pavarotti’s three daughters from his first marriage.
The world-famous tenor died Thursday in his home on Modena’s outskirts after battling pancreatic cancer for more than a year.
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People are gathered in front of Modena’s Romanesque cathedral, September 8, 2007, before the funeral mass in tribute to Italy’s opera superstar Luciano Pavarotti. (Photo Courtesy AFP/Getty Images/Giuseppe Cacace)
