Pavarotti's Funeral on Internet TV

Posted at 9:22 AM on September 10, 2007 by Rex Levang

Luciano Pavarotti's funeral can be seen online, thanks to Italian TV. (Go to "Addio a Pavarotti".) But be aware of a few things--although it contains some music (Raina Kabaivanska singing Verdi at about 12 minutes in, Andrea Bocelli singing Mozart at 1 hour 16), it's really a church service, not a musical event, and it's in Italian. As a special commentator, they've invited Pavarotti's friend Mirella Freni; at some points, she seems to be choked up with emotion. (But given that my Italian is of the opera-libretto variety, I could be misunderstanding completely.)

(Speaking of Italian: apparently Pavarotti's nickname in Italy was "Big Luciano" -- that is, using the English word "big.")