What Happens in Pavarotti?
The complete story of Pavarotti, from the first scene to the last, in 554 words (about 2 minutes). Spoilers throughout.
Spoilers ahead
The documentary opens with Pavarotti, an established star opera tenor, in the Amazon jungle insisting on seeing the stage where Enrico Caruso once performed to open a new theatre house. Pavarotti wants to sing on the stage where Caruso once performed. The old theatre is temporarily opened for him, and he sings a short aria on the stage. The documentary then returns to his hometown of Modena, Italy, where
Pavarotti was born to a poor middle-class family. His father is a local baker and his mother a housekeeper. As a teenager, Pavarotti becomes a member of the same choir to which his father belongs. He continues to develop his voice with hopes of becoming an accomplished singer.
When he auditions for his first major role, Pavarotti singles himself out by his ability to hit a high C with command and authority during his performance. After the audition, he is cast in an opera that allows him to hit the high C several times. Pavarotti’s reputation begins to expand and he becomes known as the “King of the High C’s”. He performs with sopranos of world renown such as Joan Sutherland and Mirella Freni and also launches a recording career.
When he hears that his friend, fellow tenor José Carreras, is in the hospital for treatment of leukemia, Pavarotti calls him to wish him to get well so that Carreras can return as a genuine competitor at the caliber of world class tenors. Carreras completes his leukemia treatment successfully and goes to New York for a recovery period. There Pavarotti, Carreras, and Placido Domingo happen to be staying at the same hotel for a period of time with the Metropolitan Opera season underway. A promoter hears of the three of them staying at the same hotel, and knowing that they are all soccer fans, suggests to them that he could arrange for a concert on the eve of the World Cup Final, where the three of them could perform in the same venue. They enthusiastically agree.
The Three Tenors concert, with Zubin Mehta conducting, takes place in Rome in 1990 to a capacity audience. It is recorded for world-wide DVD distribution, and the Three Tenors are a breakthrough success. Their playful singing of “’O sole mio” becomes a stand-out hit, with Carreras and Domingo echoing Pavarotti’s signature trills from his repetition of the song’s opening lyrics. The three also improvise on the stage a three tenors version of “Nessun dorma” as a finale. They reunite for subsequent concerts at the next three World Cup finals and ultimately perform more than 30 concerts.
The recorded version of the 1990 concert becomes the best-selling classical music album of all time, outselling established rock star acts on the top Billboard 100 lists. Carreras’ career is relaunched, and Pavarotti continues his career as one of the outstanding tenors of the twentieth century. He trends more and more to perform in large solo concerts rather than operas.
The documentary also describes his many girlfriends and affairs, which ultimately led to his divorce from his longtime wife Adua in 2000. In 2003 he married his former personal assistant Nicoletta Mantovani. In 2007 he was admitted to hospital for treatment of pancreatic cancer. On September 6, he died of complications of pancreatic cancer in his own bedroom in his hometown of Modena.
