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Musicians around the world paid tribute to Luciano Pavarotti's magnificent voice and vibrant personality yesterday.
Fellow tenor Placido Domingo said: "I 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."
British tenor Russell Watson told GMTV Pavarotti was without question the man who brought opera to the people.
"The World Cup was the Three Tenors with Pavarotti at the helm, with a very entertaining version of Nessun Dorma, in fact, it's now called 'Pavarotti's Nessun Dorma'.
"He was a complete tour de force, he was incredible, he lived life to the full.
"He was a big football fan, a real fanatic. Above all else, he had an incredible voice. His voice was so distinctive you only needed to listen to a couple of bars and you knew it was him, he had incredible power and control."
British classical music critic David Mellor described Pavarotti as a "lovely, lovely man" and a "really good human being".
"What Pavarotti had was the greatest possible voice. It was a wonderful honeyed voice, a gift from God that comes just once in a generation," he told Sky News.
"I do not think he was essentially money-driven. I think what he loved was the adulation. The truth is, in terms of a natural voice, there has not been a natural voice as great as his."
Asked whether there would ever be a singer like Pavarotti again, Mellor said in terms of sheer greatness of voice and also a lovely personality, he did not think we would see that combination for some time.
Britain's Royal Opera House said 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.
"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.
"We count ourselves lucky at the Royal Opera House to have had wonderful farewell performances from him in January 2002 when he sang in Tosca, despite the death of his own mother in the final stages of rehearsals.
"The applause on those evenings was probably the most moving and heartfelt in the history of the Royal Opera.
"He had a unique ability to touch people with the emotional and brilliant quality of his voice. He was a man with the common touch and the most extraordinary gift. He will be truly missed by millions."
Giorgio Pighi, the mayor of Modena, Pavarotti's birthplace, immediately announced that the city's theatre should be named after him.
"A great artist and a good man has left us," he said. "Luciano Pavarotti has made Modena shine in the world. "It is possible that there will not be another Pavarotti," said Italian newspaper La Repubblica. "His name will be remembered among the greatest in the history of opera, a living symbol of a tradition that has deep roots, but is finding it more and more difficult to find its champions."
Pianist and New Zealand Opera head of music Bruce Greenfield played with Pavarotti at a master class he gave for young singers. He says he was very inspiring. "He was very good because he was not almighty and on high, so to speak. He was very, very frank and practical in his comments, he never talked down."
