Stars, statesmen, fans grieve at Pavarotti funeral

MODENA, Italy, Sep 8 (Reuters) Rock stars, political leaders and grieving music fans joined the family of Luciano Pavarotti today at the funeral of one of the greatest tenors in opera history.

U2 frontman Bono and film director Franco Zeffirelli joined bereaved family members for the mass at the cathedral in Modena -- the town where Pavarotti was born the son of a baker and died a superstar whose voice and face were known around the world.

''The death of Pavarotti has made us feel poorer,'' said Archbishop Benito Cocchi, recalling the story of the singer's life. ''The story of a boy who had the natural gift of an exceptional voice which he cultivated with tenacity and thus became the leading figure among all the tenors of his time.'' Opera friends of Pavarotti performed the mass which was broadcast live on state television and the Internet.

Bulgarian soprano Raina Kabaivanska opened the service with Ave Maria from Verdi's Otello. Blind Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli sang Mozart's Ave Verum Corpus during the Eucharist.

The choir -- Corale Rossini -- was the same one in which both Pavarotti and his father once sang.

Fans in the sunlit square in front of the 12th century cathedral applauded as celebrity guests arrived. More than 100,000 people had filed past Pavarotti's coffin in the two days before the funeral.

DRESSED IN TUXEDO Before the coffin was sealed, mourners paid their respects to the familiar figure, dressed in a tuxedo with his trademark handkerchief in his hand. On a wreath, his four-year-old daughter had left a colourful stick-figure drawing signed ''Alice''.

''He seemed so small,'' said 51-year-old housewife Rosanna Cipriano of the singer whose generous girth and twinkly eyes were as famous as his voice. ''He moved me. When he sang he touched your heart.'' After an operation for pancreatic cancer in July last year, Pavarotti had hoped to complete a farewell world tour. He died on Thursday at the age of 71, leaving the four-year old daughter with his second wife and three grown-up daughters from his first marriage.

Born to a local baker father and a cigar factory worker mother, Pavarotti trained as a teacher, dreamt of being a soccer star, but pursued a career in singing -- a passion instilled in him by his father, a keen amateur.

Pavarotti shot to fame as an understudy in a performance of ''La Boheme'' at London's Covent Garden in 1963. In 1972 he brought the house down at New York's Metropolitan Opera by hitting nine high C notes in a row.

He went on to popularise what had been an elite art form, performing as one of the ''Three Tenors'' with Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras in Rome during the 1990 soccer World Cup in Italy.

''Nessun Dorma'', the aria from Puccini's ''Turandot'', will be played ahead of Euro 2008 soccer matches by the Italian and English national teams today.

With its line ''All'alba vincero''' -- ''At dawn I will be victorious'' -- it became a Pavarotti standard and symbolised the link between high art and popular culture made by an opera star who performed with singers as diverse as James Brown and Sting.

The tenor's death renewed popular interest in his music and on Saturday a ''best of'' collection was at number 2 in the Amazon.com music charts, with two other CDs in the top 10.

Pavarotti will be laid to rest at the Montale Rangone cemetery near his villa outside of town, where his parents and his stillborn son Riccardo are buried.

REUTERS PDT BST2022