Farewell Luciano (A thread for Pavarotti)

Luciano Pavarotti, the Italian singer whose ringing, pristine sound set a standard for operatic tenors of the postwar era, died on Sept. 6, 2007. He was 71. The cause was pancreatic cancer. In July 2006 he underwent surgery for the cancer in New York and had made no public appearances since then. He was hospitalized again this summer and released on Aug. 25. More than anything, what Luciano Pavarotti did was bring mass culture — particularly the sensibility of the rock ’n’ roll age — to the world of opera. I for one will miss him.