Placido Domingo's eyes welled with tears as he sang at a concert in Berlin, thinking of his Three Tenors colleague Luciano Pavarotti, who was recovering from surgery for pancreatic cancer at a New York hospital.
Friday marked the 16th anniversary of the first concert that Pavarotti, Domingo and Jose Carreras sang together -- before a World Cup final in Rome.
"When I was singing the last aria, I couldn't help being quite sad, thinking that Luciano is in this moment suffering," Domingo said after the Berlin performance on Friday night. "It was very, very emotional."
Pavarotti, 70, is battling a kind of cancer that is often considered a death sentence.
But he is recovering well, his manager said, and two cancer experts said surgery offered improved odds for survival.
Pavarotti was preparing to leave New York last week to resume a farewell tour when doctors discovered a malignant pancreatic mass, manager Terri Robson said. All his remaining concerts this year have been canceled.
"Fortunately, the mass was able to be completely removed at surgery," Robson said.
She said he underwent surgery within the past week at a New York hospital that she declined to identify. He remained hospitalized on Friday.
Because pancreatic cancer is usually diagnosed at an advanced stage, it has one of the worst prognoses of all types of malignancies. Fewer than 4 percent of patients are still alive five years after diagnosis, and the majority die within a year.
But when the cancer is contained and can be surgically removed -- as was Pavarotti's -- "that means he has a chance for long-term survival," said Dan Laheru, an oncologist at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center in Baltimore.
Current studies show that 15 percent to 20 percent of patients with pancreatic cancer who have had surgery are still alive five years after being diagnosed, Laheru said. Of such patients, 63 percent survive one year and 42 percent two years.
At an age when most tenors have retired, Pavarotti's infrequent performances in recent years capped a four-decade career at the pinnacle of the music industry.
Instantly recognizable due to his smiling bearded face and heavy bulk, Pavarotti became the most popular opera tenor since fellow-Italian Enrico Caruso.
In his heyday, he was known as the "King of the High Cs" for the ease with which he tossed off difficult top notes, and he turned Nessun Dorma, an aria from Puccini's Turandot, into a universally recognized signature piece.
He took advantage of the television age to become a widely marketed artist -- especially as one of the Three Tenors who sang together at four World Cup soccer finals.
Domingo said he last saw Pavarotti in May, when he visited him in the New York hospital where Pavarotti was recovering from back treatment.
"His innate strength seemed to have conquered those troubles and I hope that the same inner fortitude will make him overcome his current troubles," Domingo said.
The Three Tenors gave their first concert after Carreras overcame leukemia, and Domingo said that Pavarotti's illness might spark a reunion.
"Once we did it when Jose was feeling bad. It would be very nice to be able to do it for Luciano," Domingo said.
While Pavarotti's active career in operas was over, fans around the world anticipated his concerts. His last performance was at the opening ceremony of the Turin Winter Olympics.
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