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Thursday, September 06, 2007 at 14:59 Subject: /Italy-People/ 3RD ROUNDUP: Star tenor Luciano Pavarotti dies at 71 Eds: Adds reax from Caballe, Carreras, others Rome (dpa) - Luciano Pavarotti, the legendary Italian tenor who turned opera arias like Nessun Dorma into global pop hits, will be buried in Modena in northern Italy on Saturday. He died Thursday in Modena, the city of his birth, at the age of 71, after battling pancreatic cancer for more than a year. The Italian "tenorissimo" underwent surgery in July last year in New York to remove a pancreatic tumour, but he never recovered his health and retired to live with his family in Modena.

His final hospitalization came last month when he was admitted for two weeks with a lung infection before being released August 25. The funeral service will take place at the famous Modena cathedral, a UNESCO world heritage site, Modena's mayor Giorgio Pighi said, adding that "a great artist has left us, a good man. Luciano Pavarotti brought glamour to Modena.

" Meanwhile tributes to the singer poured in from musical, cultural and political figures around the world. Spanish-born opera star Placido Domingo, who with Pavarotti and Spain's Jose Carreras made up the Three Tenors, paid a warm tribute to his friend and colleague, saying he always admired "the God-given glory of his voice - that unmistakable special timbre from the bottom up to the very top of the tenor range." "I also loved his wonderful sense of humour and on several occasions of our concerts with Jose Carreras - the so-called Three Tenors concerts - we had trouble remembering that we were giving a concert before a paying audience, because we had so much fun between ourselves," Domingo said in a statement from Los Angeles.

Jose Carreras, speaking to reporters in Sweden, said the death meant the loss "of one of the greatest voices ever" and he added that he was "very proud" to have been a colleague and "very close friend" of Pavarotti. The Spanish-born opera star said that although Pavarotti's death was expected it was still painful. The Three Tenors performed at highly-feted concerts between 1990 and 2003.

Asked to rate Pavarotti, Carreras said: "I think he has been one of the most important tenors of all times, you can consider him together with a very few other artists like (Maria) Callas or (Enrico) Caruso, he is on that level, and we all know this." Carreras said he had spoken with Pavarotti four or five days ago and the Italian told him to "have as much fun as you can." He added he would remember Pavarotti's "wonderful charismatic personality," adding that he was a "great poker player.

" Spanish soprano Montserrat Caballe called Pavarotti a "wonderful man." "Pavarotti was a maestro who taught us solidarity with each other," the diva said. "He needed no show to shine.

Above all he wanted to do a good job. And indeed he carried out his work better than everyone else." Caballe recalled how the tenor comforted her during an illness in 1985.

Now he has passed away himself: "I am very sad," she said. British pop singer Elton John said "it's a sad day for music and a sad day for the world." He sang the duet Live Like Horses with Pavarotti in 1996.

The head of Vienna's State Opera, Ioan Holender, voiced deep regret over "the loss of the most beautiful tenor voice of my time." The State Opera displayed black flags of mourning, an honour usually reserved for honorary members of the house. The Royal Opera House (RHO) in London said that Pavarotti's legacy would be that he brought opera to millions of people who may never have come across it otherwise.

"Luciano Pavarotti was one of the finest singers of our time; he gave so much pleasure to audiences, musicians and staff at the Royal Opera House over many years," a statement said. "But ours was not a unique experience, he was one of those rare artists who affected the lives of people across the globe in all walks of life." "Through his countless broadcasts, recordings and concerts he introduced the extraordinary power of opera to people who perhaps would never have encountered opera and classical singing, in doing so he enriched their lives.

That will be his legacy." French President Nicolas Sarkozy also paid tribute to the tenor, calling him "the best-known classical singer in the world." "His artistic qualities as well as his warmth and his charisma seduced the entire world," Sarkozy said in a statement released in Paris.

The President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, said "this is a sad day for European opera culture. Today we are without Luciano Pavarotti, one of the most famous and loved modern tenors, not only because of his exceptional talent, but also because he was sympathetic and had a very strong social commitment." "Pavarotti spread the banner of European music across the world .

.. (and) contributed to spreading opera culture to an ever- increasing public worldwide.

His passing deprives the world of opera and European culture of one of its most loved and respected performers." On Wednesday, as it was reported that the singer's health was worsening, Italy's Ministry of Culture announced that it was awarding the Premio per l'Esccellenza nella Cultura Italiana (Prize for outstanding achievements in Italian culture) to Pavarotti. Italy's Culture Minister Francesco Rutelli described the tenor as "a giant of the 20th century" on Thursday, adding "Big Luciano will always have a place in music history.

" Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi said that "in the music world and Italy a huge voice has disappeared ...

his artistic qualities, his warmth and his charisma seduced the entire world." British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the death was a "terrible loss" felt beyond the music community. "He has been heard by millions of people - it's a terrible loss and not just to the music community.

He was a great character and well loved throughout the world," Brown said. Pavarotti was born October 12, 1935, in Modena. He harboured early dreams of a career in football and worked as an elementary schoolteacher before beginning his musical training.

In 1961, he made his opera debut in Reggio Emilia in the role of Rodolfo in La Boheme, the work that would also see him take the stage for the first time at Milan's La Scala in 1966. In the past 45 years, he performed in all the major opera houses in the world from La Scala to the New York Metropolitan Opera and London's Covent Garden to the Vienna State Opera. His stage partners included the world's most famous sopranos, including Joan Sutherland, Montserrat Caballe and Ileana Cotrubas.

After Pavarotti's debut in Reggio Emilia, invitations followed to opera houses around Italy. "Big Luciano" became internationally known in 1964 when he filled in in London for Giuseppe Di Stefano, who was ill, also as Rodolfo in La Boheme. The singer whose girth and ego nearly equalled his fame achieved another breakthrough in 1972 at New York's Met in La Fille du Regiment when he hit nine high Cs and earned a record 17 curtain calls.

In 1988 in Berlin, he upped that number to 115. He received another rousing welcome in New York in 1993 when a performance in Central Park drew more than a half-million people with millions more watching live on television around the globe. He called his voice a gift from God and likened a tenor's high notes to a bullfight.

"You are not allowed one mistake," he said. "..

. I suppose there is something undeniably exciting about a grown man singing full out those difficult, unnatural high Cs. It creates a wild, almost animal excitement.

" His fame and record sales rose as part of the Three Tenors. The trio debuted on the eve of the World Cup final in Italy in 1990, performing in the ancient Baths of Caracalla in Rome after Pavarotti's rendition of Puccini's aria Nessun Dorma from Turandot became the World Cup's theme song. The trio's recording of the concert sold more than 10 million copies, making it the best-selling classical album of all time.

Pavarotti further extended his fan base and renown beyond the opera house through his benefit concerts Pavarotti and Friends, in which he performed with international rock and pop stars. The lighter fare garnered him criticism from opera fans, but he shrugged it off. "I want to bring people good music and make them happy," he said.

"Music, like sport, should be for everybody." But by the beginning of the 1990s, the best days of his career was over. In an appearance in Verdi's Don Carlos at La Scala, he was jeered, and he cancelled numerous performances in those final years because of health problems, including back pain and laryngitis.

In 2004, he announced his departure from the opera stage but later began a farewell tour that was interrupted because of health problems. His final public performance was at the Turin Winter Olympics in February 2006, five months before he underwent his cancer surgery. Pavarotti's private life also often put him in the headlines, from disputes with tax authorities over his fortune, estimated at a quarter of a billion dollars, to his drawn-out divorce from his first wife, Adua Veroni, and his marriage to his assistant Nicoletta Mantovani.

He had three daughters in his first marriage and a fourth daughter, Alice, now 4, in his second. Alice's twin brother did not survive the birth, and Pavarotti said he never recovered from the grief.