Music Legends—Enrico Caruso
"[Enrico] Caruso was the most popular singer in any genre in the first twenty years of the twentieth century and one of the pioneers of recorded music." —Wikipedia
Editors Note: Following is a short biography of the great tenor, Enrico Caruso, written by Joern H. Anthonisen who has created a wonderful website called Grandi-Tenori.com. Grandi Tenori.com features biographies and articles on tenors, historical and contemporary, extended with rich analysis of renditions of arias, news on promising tenors and debates on tenors vocal qualities, stage presence and interpretation. The site also includes semi-regular reviews on opera on stage, on CD or on DVD, spectacular photos and featured singers of exceptional stature. Grandi Tenori.com is also a meeting place for opera lovers, be it mere aficionados or singers, professional as well as young and aspiring. One of the aims with the site is precisely to put aficinados of vocal art together, and if possible, promote young singers and artists who otherwise lack projection. Be sure to visit Grandi Tenori.com. Enrico Caruso Written by Joern H. Anthonisen Born on February 25th 1873, in Napoli, Italy, Enrico Caruso grew up in poor and destitute circumstances. He was probably the third of seven children to an alchoholic father, and Caruso received little or no education. His musical training was made up of choir rehearsals in church until his voice broke, whereupon he made his living as a hired serenade singer. His operatic debut took place on 15 March 1895 in a Neapolitan back street theater, but it was sufficient to launch the young "Errico" on the south Italian circuit. His coup came when auditioning for Puccini himself the summer of 1897 for a performance of La Boheme in Livorno; a baffled Puccini uttered the celebrated line "Who sent you to me? God himself?" Great fame followed with Fedora in Milano, and Caruso was signed for a lucrative recording contract with the Gramophone and Typewriter Company in 1902 for ten arias at £10 per take. In May the same year he debuted at the Covent Garden in Rigoletto, and his Met debut came in November 1903. He sang with the company the next 18 seasons, appearing on 607 occasions in 37 different operas. "His name was to become synonymous with greatness, a household word, and his movements were followed fastidiously by public and media alike" [Roland Vernon]. At the height of his career he fell ill with bronchial pneumonia which later developed into chronic pleurisy. After several misfortunate attempts of surgery, he died in his native Napoli on August 2nd 1921, 48 years of age.
|
