The press has published that Franco Corelli, a man who was very dear to many of us, who enlightened our lives with his wonderful singing, has died at age 82.
I just read the sad official news, that had unofficially been communicated to me earlier this day, and I am in real shock.

Let us remember him through his magnificent artistic legacy, as one of the greatest tenors of the twentieth century, as he was to many of us.


Rest in peace, carissimo Franco. Non ti dimenticheremo mai...

Addio Franco, sei stato, tra i migliori tenori del ‘900, quello che ha portato il belcanto italiano nel mondo.
Hai fatto conoscere, al di là del canto verista, l’antica tradizione ottocentesca italiana che Giacomo Lauri-Volpi ti aveva amorevolmente donato.

La tua voce e la tua arte vivranno in eterno.
Non ti dimenticheremo.

Roberto

If this is really true, it is a great loss to the world of opera... He was one of the greatest.
Rest in peace Franco!

addio Franco, muore una parte di me.
A te io devo tutto, tutto il mio amore per l'opera.
senza di te mi sento più solo, l'opera ha perso il suo mito.
addio ultimo eroe...

tuo per sempre Marco

It's a sad day for the OPERA. The man Franco Corelli has gone, but the legend Franco Corelli will go on and on till the end of the world...O terra addio, addio valle di pianti!

God rest him with the HIS angels!

Franco Corelli, may you rest in peace.

Franco Corelli was determined in his art and it always showed. We may not live to see yet another singer with a voice like Franco Corelli's: a thunder from the sky. A true legend.

Here is the article I found on the on-line edition of Herald Tribune:

Posted on Thu, Oct. 30, 2003

Italian Tenor Franco Corelli Dies at 82
NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press

ROME - Franco Corelli, whose ringing tenor voice and matinee-idol
looks made him one of the top opera stars of the 20th century, has died in Milan. He was 82.

Corelli, whose career took him from La Scala to New York's Metropolitan Opera and other great stages in between, had been hospitalized in August following what was believed to be a stroke. La Scala's press office said he died Wednesday at a Milan hospital.

"We have lost one of the greatest tenors of the world. One of the greatest tenors of the century," Carlo Bergonzi, himself one of the most stylish tenors of his time, told The Associated Press Thursday.

"He was the most serious of his profession, and he was a great interpreter who made great sacrifices for his career," Bergonzi said.

Born April 8, 1921, Corelli made his opera debut in 1951 at Spoleto as Don Jose in Bizet's "Carmen."

He inaugurated the opera season at Milan's Teatro alla Scala three years later with Maria Callas, singing in Spontini's "La Vestale." He made his debut at The Royal Opera in London in 1957 as Cavaradossi in Puccini's "Tosca," becoming one of the world's finest spinto tenors.

He appeared frequently at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, for many years his favorite venue.

In all, Corelli sang 368 performances at the Met, where he made his debut on Jan. 27, 1961, as Manrico in Verdi's "Il Trovatore" opposite soprano Leontyne Price, who also made her house debut that night.

His final performance with the Met was on tour in Puccini's "La Boheme" on June 28, 1975.

He made his Vienna State Opera debut in 1963.

Corelli was a perfect romantic lead. A lyric tenor with great versatility, he also had a strapping and muscular build. As he developed his upper register, he took on and scored successes in all the great tenor roles, performing in Verdi's "Don Carlo," "La Forza del Destino," "Aida" and "Ernani," Puccini's "Turandot," and Giordano's "Andrea Chenier."

He appeared in opera houses around the globe with such greats as Callas, with whom he had a special partnership for many years, Renata Tebaldi, Birgit Nilsson and Joan Sutherland.

He frequently sang opposite Nilsson at the Met in Puccini's "Turandot," taking the role of Calaf, the prince who melts the heart of the icy princess Turandot, the role sung by Nilsson. In their second-act duet, they delighted audiences by competing to see who could hold the climactic high note longer.

At a 1961 performance in Boston on tour with the Met, Nilsson outlasted him and Corelli became so jealous he bit her on the neck, said Nilsson's publicist Edgar Vincent. Nilsson, famous for her sense of humor as well as her powerhouse soprano voice, notified Met general manager Rudolf Bing that she would be unable to sing in the next performance in Cleveland until she had been tested for rabies.

Barry Tucker, son of the late American tenor Richard Tucker, called Corelli "one of the greatest tenors of all time," and remembered him for "his ringing high Cs."

"My mother used to say to my father all the time after (hearing) `Turandot:' `This opera was written for Franco Corelli,'" said Tucker, a longtime friend.

Corelli also had a hand in the Met debut of Placido Domingo. Corelli was scheduled to sing in Cilea's "Adriana Lecouvreur" opposite Tebaldi at the Met on Sept. 28, l968.

"I had just sat down to dinner when the phone rang and Rudolf Bing's voice inquired, `How are you feeling, Placido?'" Domingo recalled in 1998.

"'Oh, fine, Mr. Bing,' was my answer.

"`That's good, because in an hour from now, you have to sing Maurizio. Franco Corelli just canceled, because he is sick.'"

The mayor of Corelli's hometown of Ancona, Fabio Sturani, sent a message of condolence to Corelli's family, calling Corelli one of the most "refined" tenors in Italian lyric opera.

As his voice aged, Corelli sang fewer operas and concentrated more on concerts. He retired in 1976, although he was present as a special guest in October 2002 at a Milan awards ceremony where he received a standing ovation.

He is survived by his wife, the singer Loretta Di Lelio.

This is really sad news. I invite you all to pay your respects in this thread. My condolances to his family.

Jay

Sad, sad news. I was reading an article about him in the magazine L'Opera only last night. At the moment I can think of little else.

God bless you, Franco

Nick

If you are listening up there, thank you Franco for letting us hear one of the most incredible voices in the history of opera. You were one of the greatest artists, and your voice, on your many fantastic recordings, still thrills us today. A sad day but thank God you came along.

Rest in peace.
John

Very sad news indeed.
He was a great tenor. I don't know what to say.
Rest in peace Franco Corelli.

Addio to perhaps the most thrilling, most charismatic tenor of the century...not one of your time had the ability to excite and inspire as you did, not one possessed a voice so full of passion....you will always be remembered as a man who devoted himself selflessly to his art and in doing so yielded a product the likes of which have never been seen. You were unique, Franco, and have touched us all. Thank you for your dedication, and may you rest peacefully with God.

I discovered Franco Corelli when I discovered Opera, ten years ago.
After having listened to numerous recordings and live opera's, my one great regret was and always will be that I have not heard Franco Corelli live.
I listen to and appreciate numerous other opera singers, but as time goes by I become more and more convinced that Franco Corelli was unique.
I hope to live to see the day when a tenor comparable to Franco Corelli appears, and almost 30 years have already passed.

To call somebody the greatest is always relative, but as an OPERA House tenor I do not think that he had or has an equal.

I have read that due to the size of his voice, Franco Corelli was very difficult to record properly. Nevertheless, what we have in terms of audio and video recordings will be an everlasting testament to an incomparable vocal phenomenon and a collosal artist.

Up to now, every time that I have listened to Corelli recordings, I was happy to know that his heart was beating and hoped that somehow he knew what joy he broght to people.
Now that he is no longer with us, let our hearts beat for him, and never, never let the world forget that singing like Franco's could and did exist.

For all of us who love singing, particularly the sound of the tenor voice, Franco epitomised the very notion of 'Great Tenor.' His was one the very greatest tenor voices of the last hundred years. Unforgettable and irreplaceable.

We offer our condolences to La Signora Corelli;

May our God go with you, Franco.

Geoff.

Raise a glass of fine red wine to this great tenor. Listening to him sing some of his greatest arias , from Tosca, Turandot and Il Trovatore-oh what we would do to be in the audience. What a voice, what a man.....part myth, part legend. Much loved.