The King and I: The Uncensored Tale of Luciano Pavarotti's Rise to Fame by His Manager, Friend and Sometime Adversary [Hardcover]

Herbert Breslin (Author), Anne Midgette (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 19, 2004

Luciano Pavarotti’s longtime manager and friend tells all. All.

The King and I is the story of the thirty-six-year-old business relationship between Luciano Pavarotti and his manager, Herbert Breslin, during which Breslin guided what he calls, justifiably, “the greatest career in classical music.” During that career, Breslin moved Pavarotti out of the opera house and onto the concert (and the world) stage and into the arms of a huge mass public. How he and Pavarotti changed the landscape of opera is one of the most significant and entertaining stories in the history of classical music, and Herbert Breslin relates the tale in a brash, candid, witty fashion that is often bitingly frank and profane. He also provides a portrait of his friend and client—“a beautiful, simple, lovely guy who turned into a very determined, aggressive, and somewhat unhappy superstar”—that is by turns affectionate and satirical and full of hilarious details and tales out of school, with Pavarotti emerging as something like the ultimate Italian male. The book is also enlivened by the voices of other players in the soap opera drama that was Pavarotti’s career, and they are no less uncensored than Herbert Breslin. The last word, in fact, comes from none other than Luciano Pavarotti himself!
The King and I is the ultimate backstage book about the greatest opera star of the past century—and it’s a delight to read as well.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this outspoken and entertaining book, the authors chronicle Breslin's 36 years as publicist and manager for tenor Pavarotti, from the early days when the singer was, Breslin says, "a very beautiful, simple, lovely guy," to the final years of his career, when Breslin found him "a very determined, aggressive, and somewhat unhappy superstar." In Breslin's frank telling, Pavarotti emerges as a charming but utterly impossible man with an outsized ego, a need to dominate, a total disregard for other people (from secretaries and coaches to world-renowned conductors) and a passion for food, women, horses and money. Breslin is blunt about Pavarotti's many quirks and foibles, such as his superstitions, his inability to read music and his frequent failure to learn the words of his opera parts in time for performances. Accounts of the singer's missteps in recent years, such as the embarrassing final Metropolitan Opera appearances, are especially unflattering. Tenor and manager parted by mutual agreement, but Breslin doesn't take the separation lightly. Pavarotti seems unaffected by the acrimony; the book concludes with an interview he gave Midgette, a classical music reviewer for the New York Times, in which he expresses appreciation for his longtime manager and friend.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

At his career peak, Pavarotti was called the king of the high Cs. But Breslin, his manager for 36 years, called him Mr. Brain; he knew everything, you see. With his clear, projecting voice, Pavarotti rose to fame with a strategy of impressive solo concertizing that eventually propelled him to the operatic stage. His first loves, however, were food and the society of family and friends. Generous, he also had a lazy streak that later stunted the development of his repertoire. He had trouble memorizing words, and he never read music. He moved minimally onstage, preferring to emote through singing, not action; his foray into movies, Yes, Giorgio, was a near disaster. Breslin's forte was his stubbornness at getting everything his client wanted--and he is driven by money. Sprinkled with many stories of other clients and Pavarotti's costars, the book is more about the manager-client relationship, including the coddling and the epithets, than about Pavarotti per se. Nevertheless, its stories of a star's rise and fall are told from the heart. Alan Hirsch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday; 1ST edition (October 19, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385509723
• ISBN-13: 978-0385509725
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,300,050 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars luciano deserved better, February 1, 2008

By 

hardtruth (Staten Island, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The King and I: The Uncensored Tale of Luciano Pavarotti's Rise to Fame by His Manager, Friend and Sometime Adversary (Hardcover)

I read this before his death, and even then it seemed like a low blow. The author is so busy touting his own importance and taking credit for everything, that he consciously and unconsciously makes Pavarotti the fool(not that he wasn't in some ways). A more accurate title would have been, ME and the king.

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars PAVAROTTI - UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL, October 24, 2004

By 

Gail Cooke (TX, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The King and I: The Uncensored Tale of Luciano Pavarotti's Rise to Fame by His Manager, Friend and Sometime Adversary (Hardcover)

The opera's not over `til the manager sings. At least that's the case in Herbert Breslin's no holds barred dishy tale of his 36 years as manager, friend, and yes, foe of the famed Luciano Pavarotti, arguably the most well known name in contemporary opera. It's all here - the temper, the tackiness, the brilliance.

Of their years together Breslin writes, "Sometimes he was a great, great client. Sometimes he acted like he ruled the world around him and everyone in it, including me. Sometimes he was a close and generous friend. Sometimes he was a real pain in the ....." All of those descriptions are fleshed out with witty, wrathful, and appreciative accounts of their days together.

"The King & I" is one of those bios in which one learns as much about the "I" as we do about "The King." As it turns out, that's pretty good reading, too. Breslin begins when he was 33-years-old working as a speech writer for Chrysler in Detroit. That, he calls misery. After all. He's a New Yorker, and he loves opera. Determined to become a part of the opera world, he began by working for John Crosby who had just founded the Santa Fe Opera. His salary? $0.00.

All he had was determination and a huge hunk of chutzpah. Little did he know that some day he would manage the most famous names in the world of classical music - Renata Tebaldi, Alicia de Larrocha, Marilyn Horne, Placido Domingo, and, of course, Luciano Pavarotti.

Initially, according to the author, Pavarotti was amenable, eager to please. Yet, there must of been some inkling of his later demeanor in the fact that never once in all their years together did Pavarotti ever go to Breslin's office - Breslin always came to him. After five years together Breslin felt very much a part of the Pavarotti family, visiting the tenor's home in Modena, Italy, a number of times. He describes it as a place that was always full with Pavarotti a congenial host. Adua Pavarotti, the singer's wife was in complete charge of their financial affairs as well as having almost total responsibility for the raising of their three daughters, Lorenza, Cristina, and Giuliana.

Early on, Breslin felt that Pavarotti had the makings of super stardom, and he began to devise a plan to achieve this. Of course, singing at the Met was wonderful but Breslin saw it as too confining. He didn't want Pavarotti to leave the Met, he just wanted more. More was to come - the recordings, television, recitals, outdoor concerts, Madison Square Garden and, of course, the piece de resistance - The Three Tenors.

However, there did come a time when, as Breslin describes it, "Working with Luciano was like coming under machine-gun fire." Their relationship came to an end, with Breslin deciding that Pavarotti cared for no one but himself.

Obviously, no one really knows for whom Pavarotti really cares or how he felt about the break-up of their long term relationship. What is known is that the tenor contributed an epilogue for this book in which he expresses gratitude to Breslin.

Whether you're an opera lover, a Pavarotti fan or not, "The King & I" is a jolly good can't-put-down read.

- Gail Cooke

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A sad and bitter book., March 16, 2008

By 

Giovanni Abrate (Florida, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The King and I: The Uncensored Tale of Luciano Pavarotti's Rise to Fame by His Manager, Friend and Sometime Adversary (Hardcover)

Reading this book, I was impressed by Pavarotti's patience with Mr Breslin. It is clear that the man was driven by money and, notwithstanding his repeated claims of affection towards Pavarotti, his book shows little evidence of any true "friendship". So Pavarotti was not perfect! Big surprise! He was a typical tenor and behaved like one and he was the greatest. He ranks up there with Caruso and Gigli; he gave everything for his fans and his fans loved him, warts and all. I finished the book feeling a renewed sense of affection for Pavarotti and a gutsy dislike for Mr. Breslin.
A work inspired by bitterness and best avoided.