Tenor of the times as well as a rock star

On September 13, 1994, Luciano Pavarotti and Bryan Adams stood side by side before a symphony orchestra assembled on a vast outdoor stage in Modena, Italy, Pavarotti's hometown, and they performed a duet of O Sole Mio.

Pavarotti, beaming, sang the hoary old heart-stopper beautifully, almost as if he had not done it several times before. Adams croaked and giggled and clutched the microphone in palpable terror.

The performance, which was televised internationally and later released on video, survives on YouTube. Watching it now, in the wake of Pavarotti's death from pancreatic cancer, one can only marvel at the incongruity of the scene and wonder what in the world was that rock star doing in the company of that guy Adams?