Italy paid her collective respects to Luciano Pavarotti in many ways; not only 150,000 went to Modena's Duomo when the great tenor was lain in state, and 50,000 people crowded the Modena city squares yesterday to follow his funeral on two giant screens; but the live broadcast on national TV has received, today's oficial data report, monster ratings.
(It was also broadcast live, online, by RAI's Tg1: the stream has been saved here)
5,434,000 Italians have watched the ceremony live on the RaiUno network, and more than a million have watched it on the SKY satellite channel (that requires a decoder and subscription, unlike the free signal of Raiuno).
In the end, more than half of all TVs that were turned on yesterday afternoon in Italy were broadcasting Pavarotti's funeral.
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Nessun Dorma is quickly climbing UK charts and could end up a surprise number 1 next week; it'd be the first classical piece to ever make it to the top of the singles charts in the UK.
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As Opera Chic reported yesterday, Italian embassies and consulates around the world will open book of condolences from tomorrow morning to Wednesday night; so check with your local embassy/consulate if you want to pay tribute to the great man.
The Italian Embassy in DC will have a book open tomorrow from 9AM to 3PM; The -- usually extremely unhelpful, but this time they seem to have made an exception to their trademark rudeness -- New York City consulate will have one, too, from 10AM to 3PM, Monday to Wednesday.
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Update:
Reuters reports:
Italian Opera Star Luciano Pavarotti returned to the British singles charts for the first time in almost 15 years on Sunday as fans bought his "Nessun Dorma" following his death.
His recording of the aria from Puccini's "Turandot" jumped to number 24 from 160, according to the Official UK Charts Company. The song, played over loudspeakers at his funeral service in Modena on Saturday, reached number two in June 1990. It has been an anthem for soccer fans ever since Pavarotti performed it at the 1990 World Cup in Italy.
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Update: A few hours ago, in Milan's historic Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, a few steps from la Scala, a giant screen has been set up and it has played twice, at 2PM and 5PM, the video of a Pavarotti concert from 1982. Milanese friends report that the surprise show has been cheered by long applause.
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