Pavarotti Remembered

The music world lost one of its greats this past week. Luciano Pavarotti's extraordinary talent, coupled with a larger-than-life persona, transcended the opera stage. His voice and smile were a fixture in soccer stadiums, concert halls and Olympic ceremonies for a generation.

Mike Wallace looks back at two 60 Minutes conversations with the great tenor. Wallace first interviewed him in 1993, when some said Pavarotti was already in the twilight of his career. But nine years later, in 2002, Pavarotti still wasn't ready for that final curtain when Wallace visited him again, this time on the Caribbean island of Barbados.

In 1993, Pavarotti said he was spending 10 months of the year on the road; nine years later he was talking to Wallace during a six-week beach vacation. "I am 10 years older, and in this 10 years, I realize that taking time for yourself is not bad, not bad at all," he said.

How was the tenor feeling?

"I feel here, with all my friends, with you, what can I feel? Sensational?" Pavarotti said.

And one big reason he was feeling sensational was Nicoletta Mantovani, the young woman he met in the summer of 1993, the same summer Wallace first sat down with Pavarotti.

In 1993, there were already whispers in the opera world that the twilight of this superstar's career was upon him. Back then, when Wallace and Pavarotti sat down together, the tenor acknowledged that he was feeling the pressure of the critics and the doubters.

Asked how bad the pressure is, truthfully, Pavarotti said, "I think it's an enjoyment; I don't think it's a job. It's not a profession; it is an enjoyment. I'm telling you the truth."

"Otherwise, I would not do now at my age, when everybody is trying to kill me. Every newspaper is there ready to say when I'm going to die, and I do that," Pavarotti added.

And then there were the fans. "If you do something wrong they can protest; they can boo you," the tenor said.

And at La Scala in Milan, that's exactly what happened. Pavarotti failed to hit the high notes in the second act of "Don Carlos." His voice cracked.

The applause one heard didn't come from the loggionisti -- those temperamental fans who sat in the upper balconies booed. It's a reaction Pavarotti almost never received. The occasion was the opening of the opera season before the president of Italy. It was a miserable humiliation.

Who are among the loggionisti?

"I think they are people that, they live to go to the opera every night," Pavarotti told Wallace. "They give all their love to the opera. They think that they are the ultimate judge of what is going to happen there. And they think to have the right to applause or to boo. And if you want to know my opinion, they are right."

Asked if he was hurt about the speculation that he is entering the twilight of his career or that he is lazy, Pavarotti admitted, "You want to know something? I am lazy."

At a luncheon alfresco with his extended family, Pavarotti ate and drank modestly. He was on a 2,000-calorie daily ration.

The tenor's alleged 300-pound-plus weight had always put extra pressure on his right knee, the one that had been operated on earlier. It made some operatic parts difficult and painful for him, but that 1993 vacation and his new weight loss had, quite obviously, made him more agile, as he took Wallace for a spin on a scooter.

At the time Wallace's first story was broadcast, Pavarotti had been married to his wife, Adua, for more than 30 years.

And Adua had learned to tolerate her husband's eccentricities. "If you see the baby, like that little boy … it's the same," she told Wallace.

Asked what that's all about, Adua said, "He's impatient. … Impatient, yes. Cannot stay concentrated more than 10 minutes."

Except when he's singing. In New York City's Central Park, a half-million fans came, for free, to listen and to be enthralled. And the concert was transmitted to 47 countries as a TV special.

Wallace showed Pavarotti that performance from nearly a decade ago, when they sat down together in Barbados.

The tenor remembered that night. "You cannot forget. Now this is a moment like you say before, it is a moment of truth. You sing like that, there will …you sing the words, they don't do that," Pavarotti said.

And there was lots of applause for Pavarotti when he marked the 40th anniversary of his stage debut, "La Boheme." It was celebrated with a concert in Modena, Italy, his hometown.

That was a banner year for Pavarotti. He continued with his concerts, in places like Boston, Shanghai, and Canada. But, by far, the biggest development since Wallace had last interviewed Pavarotti in 1993 was the fact that he and his wife, Adua, had separated. He now shared his life with Nicoletta Mantovani.

In 2002, Pavarotti was 66, she was 32. "There is 34-year difference. Not bad, huh?" the tenor said.

It was a scandal in Italy when Pavarotti, who was still married at the time, took up with Nicoletta.

Asked if she was ever worried about people calling her Pavarotti's mistress, Nicoletta told Wallace, "Well, you know, now I'm used to that. And at the beginning, I was so young that I didn't realize what was happening, you know."

There was one memorable incident involving a lady on the street. "That was at very beginning. Modena is small city in Italy. It's his hometown. So this was big scandal. And I was not walking in the center of Modena, and the lady with the bike look at me, said, 'Are you Nicoletta?' I said, 'Yes.' She said, 'Shame on you.' and started … and I was, 'I can't believe!' And I start running away and crying, you know."

Dr. Nicoletta Mantovani was studying for her PhD in biology when she met Pavarotti, and her passion was insects, not opera.

At the time, Nicoletta admitted she wasn't an opera fan but that she knew who Pavarotti was. "I knew, but, you know, I was always turning channel when he was on because I couldn't stand the opera and couldn't stand him, you know? That was the point."

And for Pavarotti, what happened next at this point in his life, he told Wallace, was totally unexpected.

"And then I fall in love right away," Pavarotti said.

Asked why he fell in love, the tenor responded, "If you know why you fall in love, you are not in love. Is it true?"

"I suppose that's true," Wallace agreed.

"There is no reason. She doesn't love my job. I don't like her music and so and so. Why?" Pavarotti said.

In 2002, they had been together for nine years, endured the sneers and the snickers. There were the health problems -- Pavarotti had hip and knee replacements. And once his divorce is finalized, Pavarotti hoped to marry Nicoletta and even to have children with her. (Editor's note: The couple married in Dec. 2003; they had a daughter, Alice.)

"You obviously seem very happy together, but who's the boss?" Wallace asked.

"I know you very little to tell you the quality of this question. Who is the boss between a man and a woman?" the tenor replied.

Maybe she's not really the boss, but Nicoletta was Pavarotti's artistic director and responsible for his annual "Pavarotti and Friends" benefit concerts, which were held in Modena, Italy, where the tenor is joined on stage by some of the biggest names in pop to aid poor youngsters around the world.

When asked how he thought his tenor glorious voice would hold up, Pavarotti told Wallace, "I don't know. I don't have any idea because I slow down and next year slow even more down, and I slow down until I think I will give up by myself."

As for his life in 2002, Pavarotti said, "I am happy. I am not jolly. I am happy."