Twenty-two floors above Central Park, Luciano Pavarotti looked out inquisitively over a rain-drenched New York. Only two days before, he had arrived from San Francisco, where his performances in Lucia di Lammermoor elicited rave reviews and caused the critic of the San Francisco Chronicle to call his a “vocal art of legendary proportions.” Now, the thirty-three-year-old lyric tenor from Modena, Italy, stood on the threshold of his Metropolitan Opera debut.

That debut, arriving only seven years after his first appearance in opera, was to be in La Boheme, the work that first introduced him to the stage. “Rodolfo is ‘una persona viva,’ a true, live person. He is the same vital character today that he was when the opera was first written. Although I sing this role in many places and have to move differently in each production, the feeling behind each phrase is always the same. The feelings of Rodolfo are mine,” commented Pavarotti, subsequently revealing with a broad smile that the beard encircling his face was newly grown for Puccini’s poet.

His specialty is bel canto, as his list of favorite operas—Lucia di Lammermoor, L’elisir d’Amore, La Fille du Regiment and I Puritani —and his list of accomplishments prove. Pavarotti sang his first Elisir with Joan Sutherland’s company in Australia in 1965 and La Fille (in the original French version, which he finds “more interesting than the later Italian one”) with her at Covent Garden in 1966. He has recorded Bellini’s Beatrice di Tenda and La Fille both with Miss Sutherland, and seems to have enjoyed the second in particular, for he always mentions it with a grin and a reminiscent chuckle.

“Ever since Donizetti wrote La Fille, no tenor sang Tonio’s first-act aria and cabaletta in the original key. I am the first crazy one,” Pavarotti confessed happily. Having postponed his final decision whether to sing it in the original key or the usual lower key until the general rehearsal at Covent Garden, “the orchestra at that rehearsal stopped and applauded. Then I suddenly knew I should continue to sing it in the original key.” He has done so ever since and will do so at La Scala in January when he sings the opera again, this time with Mirella Freni—a close friend from home, with whom he has sung in most of his debuts, including those in San Francisco and New York.

Pavarotti, who is also famous for his flawless performances of Elvino in La Sonnambula, observed that “Bellini is in a class all by himself. His music is always legato, always sweet, even in its dramatic passages. Donizetti is similar, but with more libertà. There is more freedom of expression in Donizetti, and his music is not so difficult as Bellini’s.” He is especially fond of La Sonnambula because Elvino presents a welcome challenge dramatically and vocally: “He is a good boy who suffers for only two days in his life. The Count arrives on Saturday, and by Monday Elvino’s troubles are over. This makes him more difficult to perform than Rodolfo, for example, because there is no strong color in his personality; his life is normal and routine.” Vocally the role is perhaps the most difficult in the lyric tenor literature, but Pavarotti, who sings it at the Metropolitan on December 12 and 18, loves this very element of risk.

“I love Verdi very much, too, but most of his roles are generally for spinto. I will try them gradually,” he added. Pavarotti made his La Scala debut and opened the Rome Opera’s 1966 season as the Duke in Rigoletto. (“Personally, I do not like him, but when I sing the Duke, I feel like him.”)…Also ahead of him is a broadcast over Italian radio of Un Ballo in Maschera. “Riccardo is a fabulous role,” he maintains. “It demands a lot from the voice, but it is the most lyric of Verdi’s dramatic roles.”

Formerly a teacher in Modena, where his wife is still pursuing that profession, Pavarotti enjoys listening to others sing and likes to go to the movies. “What I love best is life,” beamed the tall, dark-haired tenor—“la vita mi piace!”

ROME (Reuters) - The partner of opera star Luciano Pavarotti has given birth to a baby girl but a twin brother has died in the womb.

Nicoletta Mantovani, 33, had an emergency Caesarean section in a Bologna hospital on Monday afternoon in her 31st week of pregnancy but the male twin was starved of oxygen before surgeons could deliver him.

"The pregnancy was a complicated one right from the beginning, and Nicoletta was being constantly monitored. The boy died but she and the baby girl are both doing fine," hospital spokeswoman Letizia Maini told Reuters on Tuesday.

The girl, who weighed less than two kg (4.4 pounds), was the first child for Mantovani but the fourth for 67-year-old Pavarotti, who has three daughters from his former wife.

Pavarotti, one of the world's top tenors who is widely credited with bringing opera to the masses, was at his partner's side in Bologna, central Italy, his spokeswoman Renata Meroni said.

Explaining Pavarotti's reaction to the baby boy's death, Meroni said: "Without a doubt it's one of the worst days of his life."

The death of his son comes almost a year to the day after Pavarotti's mother died, aged 86.

Adele Venturi Pavarotti was one of the prime movers behind his decision to embark on a singing career which took off in 1961 with his debut in "La Boheme".

Mantovani, the singer's one-time secretary for whom he abandoned a 37-year marriage, was seen as the driving force for revitalising his career after a hip replacement in 1998.

RARE COMPLAINT

Doctors at Bologna's St Orsola hospital said Mantovani suffered from a rare gynaecological complaint which had occurred only five times worldwide.

"There was the possibility of grave consequences for the mother, for example, haemorrhages," doctor Luciano Bovicelli said in a statement.

"The complexities and the risks of the pregnancy were explained and with courage and determination Ms Mantovani and maestro Pavarotti took the decision to proceed," he added.

When Mantovani conceived, three eggs were fertilised but only two developed into embryos. Although two placentas grew, the third non-developing egg, known as a "mola", remained in the womb, handicapping the life-support system.

"The mola has a degenerative effect on a placenta's ability to deliver much-needed nutrients to any embryo," explained one Rome-based gynaecologist, who did not wish to be named.

Mantovani went to the hospital on Monday for a check-up but the doctor was unhappy with her condition and carried out further tests before starting the emergency operation.