Celebrated Italian tenor Giuseppe Di Stefano, longtime singing partner of soprano Maria Callas, died in his home Monday. He was 86.

Giuseppe Di Stefano, an Italian operatic tenor well known for his association with Maria Callas, passed away Monday, March 3, at his home in Santa Maria Hoe, north of Milan, Italy, his wife Monika Curth told the Associated Press.

Di Stefano’s death was caused by injuries suffered several years ago from unknown assailants, which ailed him for the rest of his life. In winter 2004, there was an attack on his family’s villa in Kenya; unidentified aggressors struck both the tenor and his wife.

The couple required medical assistance but Di Stefano never recovered completely; he underwent surgery twice in Mombasa before being flown to Milan. He awakened from a coma, but never fully recovered.

“He was 100 percent disabled, he couldn't even eat alone,” Curth told The Associated Press by telephone. “Lately he frequently had colds and pneumonia.”

Born on July 24, 1921, in Motta Sant’Anastasia, a village near Catania, Sicily, Di Stefano made his operatic debut in 1946. He performed in the northern Italian town of Reggio Emilia, as Des Grieux in Massenet’s “Manon.”

He performed the same role the following year when he made his debut at La Scala.

He made his debut with the Metropolitan Opera in 1948 as the Duke in “Rigoletto” and performed regularly in New York for many years. In 1957, Di Stefano made his British debut at the Edinburgh Festival as Nemorino in “L’elisir d’amore” and his Royal Opera House, Covent Garden debut in 1961 as Cavaradossi in “Tosca.”

The tenor performed in all the major opera houses around the world, in Chicago, Paris, Vienna and Berlin, among others.

He performed and recorded numerous duets with soprano Maria Callas during the 1950s. They also toured together, including Callas’ final 1973 tour. The two were also rumored to have been romantically involved.

Di Stefano’s last performance was in Rome in 1992 as the old emperor in Puccini's “Turandot.”

Luciano Pavarotti, who passed away last September at the age of 72, always praised Di Stefano as his role model. He made his Royal Opera House debut in 1963 by replacing Di Stefano as Rodolfo in Puccini’s “La Boheme.”

Di Stefano will be buried in Santa Maria Hoe after a church funeral Wednesday, his wife said.