The three tenors at the World Cup

The winners are already celebrating by the time you read this. I am dying to find out who won. Was it Verdragg Dutch or Viva Espana? But no matter, these two teams brought a grand finish to one of the most exciting World Cup seasons ever. We were awed by the take-no-prisoners style of the young Germans; wondered why the French were so upset over the vuvuselas; and we will never forget how the stars, defending champion Italy, the stalwart Brits, the fearsome Brazilians and even the legendary Maradoma’s beloved Argentinians were sent home early in the games. And in the end there were only Spain and Netherlands left standing.

Argentina also lost in 1990 by one goal to the Germans. But that is not the only thing there is to remember about that season. That was the year when the three greatest tenors of our time performed together for the first time on the eve of the World Cup Finals in Rome on July 7. I do not remember who came up with the idea but it was fantastic. Jose Carreras from Spain, Placido Domingo of Mexico and Luciano Pavarotti of Italy singing under a moonlit Roman sky at the Caracalla Baths with a 200-piece orchestra conducted by Zubin Metha on the eve of the World Cup Finals.

I wanted to be there. I was not. I had to content myself with a tape copy of the concert and I remember thinking that if archangeIs could sing, they would sound like these three gentlemen. I got to watch the show on TV some months later, World Cup events coverage then was not live or as extensive as today, and again I marveled. A friend got me the CD and book edition a few years after. Digitally remastered the sound was magnificent. Whoever built the Caracalla Baths certainly knew a lot about 20th century acoustics. So you can just imagine how I felt when I got hold of The 20th Anniversary Special Edition, Carreras, Domingo, Pavarotti, Mehta In Concert, Roma, 1990 on DVD. And on the eve of another World Cup Finals at that! I got goose pimples.

Technology has preserved everything. There was Carreras and his heart-wrenching soft notes, Domingo of the heroic tones and Pavarotti of the pipes of incredible brilliance. Even Metha, ever flamboyant, held his own. Whoever put the program together also deserves praise. It started seriously enough with Carreras doing Il Lamento di Federico from Cilea’s L’Arlesiana, Domingo with O’Paradis from Meyerbeer’s L’Africaine and Pavarotti singing Recondita Armonia from Puccini’s Tosca. But the repertoire got lighter and lighter as the evening wore on and reached great heights by the time they got together for their finale medley. This was made up of standards, La Vie En Rose and Broadway tunes, Memory from Cats and proved to be a real showstopper. And it was after this as they left the stage during the standing ovation that pop opera was born.

 Classical singers doing pop tunes was nothing new. It was not popular because fans from other parts of the world never bothered about it. But the popularity of the three tenors changed that. As the soundtrack of the Rome concert zoomed up the charts and eventually became the biggest selling classical recording of all time, demand for pop songs by opera voices also soared. So it is to this trio that we owe the rise of pop opera. It was easy pickings for Andrea Bocelli, who came next in the wake of this threesome with his blend of opera and rock. That was also why fans found Josh Groban remarkable; why Simon Cowell formed Il Divo; and why there are now artists like Katherine Jenkins, Russell Watson, The Priests, Paul Potts, Susan Boyd and others in the pop charts.

And speaking of Paul Potts, it will be recalled that his winning piece in Britain’s Got Talent was Nessun Dorma. The aria from Puccini’s Turandot became the unofficial theme song of the World Cup after it was performed by Pavarotti and encored by the trio to end the concert. Nessum Dorma translates into None Shall Sleep and ends with vincero, vincero or I shall win, I shall win. It was sung by a warrior on the eve of a great battle in the opera and maybe echoed the sentiments of the soccer players who will be playing in the final games the next day.

The Three Tenors got together again on the eve of the next World Cup Final in Los Angeles in 1994. Audience response to them was so enthusiastic that they were convinced to embark on a spectacular world tour. This took them around Asia, Europe, America and Australia. The Three Tenors together in concert will never happen again. Carreras and Domingo have retired from performing while Pavarotti has gone on to the great beyond. But, thanks to DVD, he lives on with the music they made on the eve of the World Cup Finals in ancient Rome.