in Rigoletto, 1904. Wiki
Born in Naples, Enrico Caruso (1873-1921) was said to be one of many babies of a poverty-ridden machinist. Caruso’s father thought his son should adopt the same trade, so at 11 the boy was apprenticed to a mechanical engineer. But at his mother’s wish, he also attended school, receiving a basic education. He sang in his church choir, and considered a career in music. When his Mum died, the lad found work as a street-and-café-singer in Naples.
His apprenticeship was in small Italian theatres. His first major operatic role was in Umberto Giordano’s Fedora, at Teatro Lirico Milan in Nov 1898. He had engagements at St Petersburg, Moscow, Buenos Aires, Bologna, Monte Carlo and Warsaw, then the best one: an invitation to sing at La Scala Milan, the premier opera house! His debut there was as Rodolfo in Giacomo Puccini’s La bohème, with Arturo Toscanini conducting. And in 1900, he and his touring company of first-class Italian singers appeared before the Tsar and Russian aristocracy at Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg and the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.
The tenor took part in a grand concert at La Scala in Feb 1901 that Toscanini organised, marking the recent death of Giuseppe Verdi. Critics’ admiration was beyond measure. Then he embarked on his last series of La Scala performances in Mar 1902.
In Apr 1902 he was engaged by the Gramophone & Type writer Co to make his first group of acoustic recordings, in a Milan hotel room. These 10 discs swiftly became best-sellers, helping to spread Caruso’s fame particularly throughout the English-speaking world.
as famous as her Italian co-star
After triumphs with Australian soprano Nellie Melba in La Bohème at Monte Carlo & Rigoletto in London in 1902, he went to the Metropolitan Opera Co to do Rigoletto in 1903. The Met never did as well as when Caruso performed.
The management of London’s Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, signed him for a season of appearances in 8 different operas from Verdi to Mozart. His successful debut there was in May 1902, as the Duke of Mantua in Verdi’s Rigoletto, with Melba as Gilda. They’d already sung together in Monte Carlo and became a regular travelling partnership.
The following year, 1903, Caruso travelled to N.Y to take up his Metropolitan Opera contract. The gap between his London and N.Y events was filled by performances in Italy, Portugal and South America.
He soon began a long and lucrative deal with the Victor Talking Machine Co. He made his first American records in Feb 1904, totalling 275 recordings for RCA Victor until 1920, and earning large royalties. Interestingly many opera singers had rejected the gramophone owing to the low fidelity of early discs. But others including Melba used the technology, once they heard of Caruso’s income. Through his recordings, Caruso was the first opera singer to win a mass audience. His records also established recording as a commercial success.
The management of London’s Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, signed him for a season of appearances in 8 different operas from Verdi to Mozart. His successful debut there was in May 1902, as the Duke of Mantua in Verdi’s Rigoletto, with Melba as Gilda. They’d already sung together in Monte Carlo and became a regular travelling partnership.
The following year, 1903, Caruso travelled to N.Y to take up his Metropolitan Opera contract. The gap between his London and N.Y events was filled by performances in Italy, Portugal and South America.
He soon began a long and lucrative deal with the Victor Talking Machine Co. He made his first American records in Feb 1904, totalling 275 recordings for RCA Victor until 1920, and earning large royalties. Interestingly many opera singers had rejected the gramophone owing to the low fidelity of early discs. But others including Melba used the technology, once they heard of Caruso’s income. Through his recordings, Caruso was the first opera singer to win a mass audience. His records also established recording as a commercial success.
in his NY flat, 1910s. Wiki
In Berlin and Vienna Caruso Nights were celebrated, and in Mexico City he received a fortune for a single performance. So Caruso bought Villa Bellosguardo, a palatial country home near Florence in 1904. The villa became his retreat away from the stage and the grind of travel.
Les Huguenots was one of the C19th’s most popular works and Queen Victoria’s favourite opera. Caruso performed the role of Raoul at Covent Garden in 1905
In Nov 1906, Caruso was charged with an indecent act committed in NY’s Central Park Zoo. He was found guilty and fined. N.Y’s opera-going high society were outraged, but they soon got over it. And America’s middle classes also paid to hear him sing, or bought copies of his recordings, especially among N.Y’s huge Italian population.
Met artists, including Caruso, had visited San Francisco in Ap 1906 for a series of performances. Following an appearance in Carmen at the city’s Grand Opera House, a strong jolt awakened Caruso in his Palace Hotel suite. The San Francisco Earthquake led to a series of ruinous fires and the Met lost all the sets, costumes and musical instruments that it had brought on tour. Caruso escaped.
He was heard live from the Metropolitan Opera House stage in 1910 when he was in the first public radio U.S broadcast to be transmitted. Posters only increased the attraction.
Caruso's had a long liaison with the Italian soprano Ada Giachetti who had left her husband and son, to cohabit with the tenor. They had 4 sons in their relationship, painfully ended by a court in 1912.
Audiences in France, Belgium, Monaco, Austria, Hungary and Germany heard him too, prior to WWI, then he toured Argentina, Uruguay and Brasil. When U.S entered WWI in 1917, Caruso did extensive charity work, raising money for patriotic war causes by giving concerts. He put a good proportion of his earnings into investments, and by war’s end, Caruso’s income was secured. Luckily, since in 1918 he married Dorothy Benjamin (1893-1955), 25-year-old socialite daughter of a NY industrialist. They had one daughter.
Dorothy Caruso lived until 1955, having written two books about her late husband. And thankfully she kept all her husband’s sketches.
Les Huguenots was one of the C19th’s most popular works and Queen Victoria’s favourite opera. Caruso performed the role of Raoul at Covent Garden in 1905
In Nov 1906, Caruso was charged with an indecent act committed in NY’s Central Park Zoo. He was found guilty and fined. N.Y’s opera-going high society were outraged, but they soon got over it. And America’s middle classes also paid to hear him sing, or bought copies of his recordings, especially among N.Y’s huge Italian population.
Met artists, including Caruso, had visited San Francisco in Ap 1906 for a series of performances. Following an appearance in Carmen at the city’s Grand Opera House, a strong jolt awakened Caruso in his Palace Hotel suite. The San Francisco Earthquake led to a series of ruinous fires and the Met lost all the sets, costumes and musical instruments that it had brought on tour. Caruso escaped.
He was heard live from the Metropolitan Opera House stage in 1910 when he was in the first public radio U.S broadcast to be transmitted. Posters only increased the attraction.
Posters attracted potential customers and increased the profits
Supremely gifted for opera, Caruso was focused and hard-working. Certain roles eg in Pagliacci and Aida became so clearly HIS that all other tenors bowed down. His honours included the Order of the Crown of Italy; French Legion of Honora; Order of Crown Eagle of Prussia.
Supremely gifted for opera, Caruso was focused and hard-working. Certain roles eg in Pagliacci and Aida became so clearly HIS that all other tenors bowed down. His honours included the Order of the Crown of Italy; French Legion of Honora; Order of Crown Eagle of Prussia.
Caruso's had a long liaison with the Italian soprano Ada Giachetti who had left her husband and son, to cohabit with the tenor. They had 4 sons in their relationship, painfully ended by a court in 1912.
Audiences in France, Belgium, Monaco, Austria, Hungary and Germany heard him too, prior to WWI, then he toured Argentina, Uruguay and Brasil. When U.S entered WWI in 1917, Caruso did extensive charity work, raising money for patriotic war causes by giving concerts. He put a good proportion of his earnings into investments, and by war’s end, Caruso’s income was secured. Luckily, since in 1918 he married Dorothy Benjamin (1893-1955), 25-year-old socialite daughter of a NY industrialist. They had one daughter.
Dorothy and Enrico married in 1918
Opera News Magazine
Caruso was a heavy smoker of strong foreign cigarettes, didn’t exercise and had a rugged schedule of performances each season: all contributions to his persistent ill-health. He returned home from a North American concert tour in late 1920 in excruciating pain: pleurisy. Caruso underwent 7 surgical procedures to drain his chest and lungs, then returned to Naples to recuperate. He died in Aug 1921, at 48. King Victor Emmanuel III opened the Royal Basilica of the Church of San Francesco di Paola for the funeral seen by thousands. Then his body was preserved in Naples.
Dorothy Caruso lived until 1955, having written two books about her late husband. And thankfully she kept all her husband’s sketches.
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18 comments:
As little I know about opera and in spite of low tech recordings, I was blown away by hearing a his voice when a recording was played on the radio one day. Some people reach stardom for no other reason than their brilliance at their craft.
Between 1900 and 1920 the great Italian tenor, Enrico Caruso performed in all the great opera houses in Europe and America. He also performed in such exotic places as the Teatro Amazonas in Manaus, Brazil; the Teatro Caridad in Santa Clara, Cuba and the Teatro Solis in Montevideo, Uruguay. So it is not inconceivable that he might also have performed at Zeehan in Tasmania as reported in the Sydney Morning Herald. There are plenty of sources eager to tell you that not only did Caruso sing in the Gaiety Theatre in Zeehan but so too did Dame Nellie Melba and then they add the famous escapologist Harry Houdini and the risqué dancer Lola Montez.
Still it is true that Zeehan’s Gaiety Theatre, built in 1898, was Australia’s largest concert hall at the time and had the capacity to seat 1000 people. By 1900 Zeehan was known as the ‘Silver City of the West’. In 1901 its population was 5,014, Tasmania’s third largest town. It was a mining boom town which would have thought nothing of paying a vast amount of money to have Caruso sing in its theatre. It’s just a pity it never happened.
From what you have said I am assuming that he had no formal training as an opera singer which makes his success evenmore remarkable.
What a life, from such a difficult start - and then the rise to the top! We can be glad to hear his voice on records (and he seems to have also an economic talent beside his huge artistic one). Thank you for giving us so much information, Helen - I didn't know much about his life.
Andrew
We may not know nothing much about opera, but we do recognise a great voice when we hear one. And we must acknowledge a man who worked hard for his mass audiences, by brilliant recordings, endless tours overseas and by opening important opera houses every season eg Metropolitan Opera, New York.
Thank you, cousin, for locating and sending me the Aussie Towns post.
If I was running the Gaiety Theatre in tiny Zeehan, I too would have hoped that Enrico Caruso and Dame Nellie Melba both performed in the theatre which opened at the very end of the century. After all, Caruso really did visit towns and cities we have never heard of, in distant countries that most stars ignored.
Fun60,
his formal training was another uncertainty. A baritone heard young Caruso singing in a swimming pool and took the lad to his voice teacher. Guglielmo Vergine did agree agreed to accept Caruso as his student, an arrangement that lasted for a few years. But even then, Caruso could only read a score with hesitation, played no musical instrument and sang largely by ear.
My feeling it was the impresarios and managers who heard Caruso were the ones who recognised his natural talent, actively supported him and gave him important roles.
Britta
a person had to have economic talent, as well as artistic skills. Otherwise they would disappear into the mass of would-be stars, filling up the choruses on stage or teaching children at weekends. Caruso was the first opera singer to win a mass audience, from his Pagliacci record which sold heaps. The gramophone ensured his fame, AND his huge financial success.
What did Dame Nellie Melba really think about Enrico Caruso, at least in her public statements?
Boa tarde e um ótimo sábado com muita paz e saúde. Parabéns pelo seu excelente trabalho e matéria.
We Travel
Dame Nellie Melba considered herself a very elegant, well brought up British Australian, almost an aristocrat. Caruso, on the other hand, was a less sophisticated, less educated Italian. But she loved his voice and wanted them to sing together as often as possible in the early 1900s. She even invited him to do a tour of Australia with her.
Luiz
it was a very special time in opera music, wasn't it? Especially for people who would never have gone to an opera house themselves, but loved to buy his commercially released recordings.
Italy's greatest gift to the world of opera was, to my mind, Luciano Pavarotti.
But as an opera lover, I love them all, inclusive Enrico Carusso.
Nelli Melba, looks lovely! She was probably a great singing partner to the famous Carusso.
What a story . Thank you . I just wish we could hear what he really sounded like but I think that the recordings of the day were just too limited in quality to be " Cleaned " up ??
DUTA
My beloved spouse agreed with you totally... he adored Pavarotti's voice. But the interesting thing (for Australians at least) is that we knew far more about Dame Nellie Melba than about Enrico Caruso. Note that Nellie Melba's real name was Helen Mitchell, Melba being short for my fabulous city Melbourne :)
See https://melbourneblogger.blogspot.com/2010/06/edzell-mansion-incomparable-dame-nellie.html
mem
That is inevitable, nod. Nonetheless have a listen to The Magnificent Caruso (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxaANq4n4HY) and see if you can feel some of the passion that his fans enjoyed so many decades ago.
I enjoyed reading your article about Caruso very much, Hels. I read a novel based on a true story and he sounded like a lovely man as well as being a great opera singer. His biography is languishing on my shelves, so I must read it soon! The Magnificent Caruso will be worth looking at as well.
Viola
After a very tough and sad childhood, the invitation to sing at La Scala Milan was a gift from God. Imagine debuting there in Puccini’s La bohème, with Arturo Toscanini conducting. Then Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg, then singing with our national heroine Dame Nellie Melba in La Bohème at Monte Carlo, and Rigoletto in London. At last life was looking good.
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