Fans Take Another Look at Pavarotti, Then and Now

I am saddened to see Mark Swed, who generally shows insight and judgment in his offerings, refer to Luciano Pavarotti as “the sorry situation of a has-been who succumbed to the excesses of stardom” (“Pavarotti’s Not Going Out as a Class Act,” May 13).

Even though Pavarotti has obviously not been in the best health for the last number of years, any singer knows he would not have rehearsed for those performances had he not intended to perform. But here he is: a 66-year-old man suffering from the flu, still expected, like Offenbach’s Olympia, to be wound-up and continue to please us.

Opera singers have the courage to spend their entire lives on a high wire, far, far above--and there is no safety net below. Now reaching the point in his dazzling career that he can no longer do so, we throw him onto the ever-growing heap of “has-beens,” rather than appreciating the gifts of a great artist, and understanding that such beauty inevitably fades.

JOHANNA DORDICK

Los Angeles

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Despite an understandable frustration at Pavarotti’s recent cancellations at the Met, Swed’s commentary told readers more about the author than the subject. The combination of name dropping about Ned Rorem and boasting of being in Covent Garden rightly suggests that Swed is far more aware of his own social agenda than music history.

As he indicated, Pavarotti’s voice will be regarded as one of the finest of the 20th century, and by virtue of that fact deserves more respect than the author afforded him.

MARK HUMPHREY

Torrance

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Our problem with Pavarotti is that at one time he was truly great and gave us a thrill a minute, and once this was gone we were no longer happy with just very good. Knowing when and how to exit is not hard.

What is hard is to admit to oneself that it is time to go.

Pavarotti was a superb opera singer and we are planning to forget his pathetic exit and remember the thrills.

BATYA DAGAN

Los Angeles