Luciano Pavarotti's voice rang out a final time today inside Modena's cathedral in northern Italy, as a recording of the great tenor singing with his father highlighted a funeral attended by family, dignitaries and close friends.
Italian President Giorgio Napolitano pays his homage to late tenor Luciano Pavarotti in Modena's Duomo
Guests gave the tenor one last standing ovation as Panis Angelicus, the 1978 duet Pavarotti sang with his father, Fernando, inside Modena's Duomo came to a close.
The duet was one of the most poignant moments of the funeral, which began with a moving rendition of Verdi's Ave Maria and a message of condolence from Pope Benedict XVI, saying that Pavarotti had "honoured the divine gift of music through his extraordinary interpretative talent".
Thousands of people watched the invitation-only service from a huge television screen erected in Modena's main piazza, where a recording of the tenor's most famous works had boomed out during two days of public viewing.
They watched as Italy's Air Force precision flying team flew over the cathedral at the end of the service, releasing red, white and green smoke in the colours of the Italian flag. Pavarotti's white maple casket, covered in sunflowers - his favourite - lay before the altar, with his wife, Nicoletta Mantovani, looking on.
Sitting nearby were Pavarotti's three daughters from his first marriage. On hand were the Italian premier, Romano Prodi, U2 lead singer Bono, film director Franco Zeffirelli and former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Also invited were Stephane Lissner, the general manager of Milan's La Scala Opera House, where Pavarotti appeared 140 times, once receiving boos, and the Metropolitan Opera's former general manager, Joe Volpe.
A message from Pavarotti's 4-year-old daughter, Alice, was read during the service as Mantovani sobbed. "Papa, you have loved me so much, I know you will always protect me. I will hold you dear to my child's heart every tomorrow," it said.
The opera great died Thursday in his home on Modena's outskirts after battling pancreatic cancer for more than a year. He was 71. He was beloved by generations of opera-goers and pop fans alike for his breathtaking high Cs and his hearty renditions of folk songs like O Sole Mio and popular tunes like My Way.
The Bulgarian-born soprano Raina Kabaivanska, a fellow Modena resident who had worked with Pavarotti, cried when she sang the Ave Maria from Verdi's Otello as the ceremony began. Flutist Andrea Griminelli played the Dance of the Blessed Spirits from Gluck's Orfeo e Euridice. Tenor Andrea Bocelli sang Mozart's Ave Verum Corpus.
The Rossini Chorus performed hymns throughout the service, which was celebrated by Modena Archbishop Benito Cocchi and 18 other priests. Bishop Cocchi said the presence of so many dignitaries at the funeral was a sign "of the esteem, of the affection and of the gratitude that universally surrounds the great artist".
But he said it was also significant how local Modenese had rendered homage to their native son, applauding out of respect when Pavarotti's casket was brought to the cathedral on Thursday for public viewing. The applause, he said, "was not joyous as in other occasions, but intense and sincere". "The death of Luciano Pavarotti has made us feel more impoverished," he said.