Pavarotti gave his last performance at the New York Metropolitan Opera on March 13, 2004. In February 2006, at the opening ceremony for the Winter Olympics in Turin, he brought the house down with his trademark Nessun Dorma aria.

A Personal Ally of China

Pavarotti came to China for the first time in June 1986, leading a cast of Italian opera artists in a performance of Puccini's La Bohème. He also made a solo appearance at the Great Hall of the People, winning high accolades from the Chinese audience. With his two top tenor partners, Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras, Pavarotti staged a performance in the Forbidden City in 2001 to support Beijing's bid for the 2008 Olympic Games. The third and last time Pavarotti performed in China was at the end of his Worldwide Farewell Celebration Tour in Shanghai and Beijing in December 2005.

"Chinese audiences are great and I'd like to come back to China sometime in the future," he said.

Ding Yi, one of the three top Chinese tenors, paid homage to the Italian legend.

"I'm now preparing the Worldwide Three Chinese Tenors Concert, scheduled on October 24 in Beijing, with Dai Yuqiang and Fan Jingma," said Ding. "We plan to sing one of Pavarotti's songs, although which one is yet to be decided. Maybe an aria, maybe an Italian folk song."

Jiang Dawei, a renowned Chinese vocalist, said, "I had no idea how to respond when I was asked to say something about Pavarotti's death in an interview, for I didn't know that he had been passed away. He is a most admirable person in my eyes."

Jiang has been collecting Pavarotti's music for years. "I can learn a lot from Pavarotti even if my singing style is far different from his. His music is unique and no one else's can compare with it. His contribution to the development of the music world is great."

Fan Jingma, one of the three top Chinese tenors, said that the sun had set with Pavarotti's death, that an era had come to an end and it was a great loss for all human beings.

Fan, who according to the BBC is "a tenor who has a voice as charming as those of Pavarotti and the legendary Gigli" remembered his first meeting with Pavarotti, when the latter came to China in the 1980s and started teaching. Fan was one of his students. Pavarotti's voice, in Fan's eyes, is incomparable and has a great influence on generation after generation.

"I was in a blue mood when I came to know of his death," said Fan. "I took out his albums and lit a candle to commemorate him."

Pavarotti died early on Thursday at the age of 71 in Modena, Italy, according to Italian news agency ANSA. His manager Terri Robson said Pavarotti passed away at 5 a.m. at his home in Modena. The Italian superstar underwent an operation for pancreatic cancer in July last year and was hospitalized last month, ANSA said, adding that a hearse was now parked in front of his villa in the northern town of Modena.

According to an e-mailed statement Robson sent to the Associated Press (AP), the maestro fought a long, tough battle against the cancer that eventually took his life. Displaying the approach that characterized much of his life and work, he remained cheery and positive till the end.

Speaking from inside Pavarotti's home, which was heavily guarded by police, Pavarotti's assistant Edwin Tinoco told Sky TG 24 television that Pavarotti's final days had been calm and spent at home, AP reported.