* http://www.musicalamerica.com

*[References to "Scotsman" and "La Stampa," but no URL]

   In an interview with La Stampa newspaper, corroborated by
   MusicalAmerica.com Italian correspondent Carlo Vitali, Dr. Lidia
   La Marca, a close friend of Pavarotti's, tells of a distressing
   conversation she had with the tenor shortly before he died.  La
   Marca, wife of conductor Leone Magiera, adds that the information
   she relates is information Pavarotti wanted released after his
   death.

   As translated in the Scotsman, "In Luciano's room there was us,
   our daughter Eloisa, Nicoletta and the child she had with Luciano,
   Alice.

   "Luciano looked tired and it was hard work for him to talk but
   he was lucid; he talked about football and made a few jokes with
   Leone.  Then at a certain point he surprised us all by asking
   everyone to leave and I was left alone with him.  I saw Nicoletta's
   face go white."

   "He just unleashed himself like a child. He said, 'I am in a bad
   way. In these last years Nicoletta is tormenting me. I am isolated,
   my friends don't come and see me anymore, she speaks badly about
   my daughters and she surrounds me with people I don't like. She
   has even pushed away Tino [Pavarotti's personal assistant] and
   his wife [Veronica] who were like children to me. I need Veronica.'

   "He was desperate and I know that he was very close to Veronica
   - to give you an example it was she who dressed him and put his
   make-up on after he died."

   Dr. La Marca added: "This went on for 20 minutes. He also said,
   'She thinks about money all the time, she arrives with documents
   for me to sign. She threatens to not let me see Alice, and she
   has these scenes.'

   "Then he said something which gave me goose-bumps. He said, 'You
   know, Lidia, how this will end? I will shoot myself or we will
   separate.'"

   "I am telling this because Luciano asked me. He said, 'After my
   funeral you can say these things'. I think it's my moral duty
   to do so and this is exactly what he told me."

And in the "Scotsman" -

   http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=1450412007

   Family set for dispute over Pavarotti's 250m will
   NICK PISA IN ROME

   THE settlement of Luciano Pavarotti's 250 million estate is
   expected to be disputed by his family, after it emerged that the
   opera star changed his will only weeks before his death.

   Relations between Pavarotti, 71, and his wife, Nicoletta Mantovani,
   37, the mother of his four-year-old daughter, Alice, are said
   to have "cooled" prior to his death last week from pancreatic
   cancer.

   Reports in Italy said his will was changed a month ago and friends
   expect a dispute between his second wife and his daughters from
   his first marriage over who gets what from the opera singer's
   fortune, which includes several properties in New York, Monte
   Carlo and his home town of Modena.

   Yesterday, his dietologist, Professor Andrea Strata, who was
   close to the star, said: "It's all very sad... he isn't even
   cold in his tomb yet and now all this is coming out.

   "I don't want to say too much, but let's just say that with every
   husband and wife there are always things going on and Nicoletta
   and Pavarotti were no different from any other couple."

   Prof Strata's wife, Franca, revealed six weeks ago that when it
   first emerged Pavarotti was close to death, Nicoletta had called
   frantically from New York.

   Mrs Strata said: "She was in a panic and was looking for some
   papers for the three New York apartments. Nicoletta was in America
   and couldn't find them anywhere and she was very concerned.

   "She asked me to look for them in my safe to see if Luciano had
   left them here by mistake, as he was always staying at my house.
   But they weren't here - who knows where they are."

   It was reported that Pavarotti had changed his will in the weeks
   before his death, revising one that he had written in New York
   a year ago.

   Insiders said the changes were in favour of his elder daughters,
   Lorenza, Cristina and Giuliana, which had also increased tension
   between Nicoletta and them. One friend of Pavarotti's said
   yesterday: "I know that around a month ago he spoke to a trusted
   friend who administrated his affairs and they went to see a
   lawyer in Modena.

   "Some businesses that were in other family members names were
   returned to his name," said the friend. "And I also heard that
   he changed his will.

   "He and Nicoletta had not been getting on for a while, especially
   in the run-up to his diagnosis in New York last year.

   "When I spoke with him he would say that it was only Alice that
   was keeping them together, and he kept saying, 'Nicoletta doesn't
   respect me'."

   According to another friend, Pavarotti had said: "Nicoletta and
   I are thinking of separating. I am thinking of going to a lawyer."

   Friends have confirmed that in recent months he had grown closer
   to his daughters - who had sided with their mother, Adua Veroni
   - after he left her for Nicoletta.

   Mrs Strata added: "Luciano always spoke highly of Adua. He kept
   saying you just don't cancel nearly 40 years of marriage like
   that."

   Pavarotti's agent, Terri Robson, said: "I am not going to talk
   about Luciano's will."

Janos Gereben
www.sfcv.org
[log in to unmask]

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