A Star is born

Can you hear the angels singing an aria? The heavenly tenor that you can hear is Enrico Caruso, the greatest singer of all time. Enrico Caruso’s rich voice was evident from a very young age when he was called ‘Carusiello’ or the ‘little divo’ as he grew to be the most fabulous operatic tenor that the world had ever heard. His talent took him everywhere as he moved to the highest rank as a leading opera star performing all around the world. Caruso’s performances featured him with other famous singers and conductors as he went on to make box office recordings which are still in print today, 80 years after his death. Enrico Caruso not only educated the world with memorable performances but also rendered the facets of humanity, passion and an all-time value of the results of hard work.

Enrico Caruso was born on February 25th, in the year 1873, in Naples, Italy. Though his impoverished parents were not to know it at that time, Lady Luck had already entered their house with the birth of Enrico, the 18th child, who along with his siblings were the last three to survive out of twenty-one children. All Neapolitans sing and it was not unusual for little Enrico to follow this tradition. With his mother, Anna, opposing his father, Marcellino over his future, Enrico escaped to school at 33, Via Postica Maddalena and did go to work as his father wished. Enrico was passionate about singing and encouraged by his mother and Father Bronzetti who ran the school and the choir, pursued his passion. With intrinsic talent and an innate ability to grasp the nuances of music, Enrico, the little divo went through only a year of schooling before he joined a mechanical laboratory.

With the confidence which was to be shown to the world later in life, Enrico was just twelve years old and adept at mechanical drawing. But his boss refused to hike his salary and little Enrico left his job and started working for a company that manufactured drinking fountains. But Enrico continued singing. He sang everywhere, at weddings and cafes. With the mind of a little entrepreneur, he sold his talents to love-struck swains, who would lip-synch to their paramours while Enrico was the one who stood in the shadows and actually sang! Intent on the experience, Enrico let his rich voice float with the music of the universe as his accompaniment. But through this joy of singing, Enrico was still working. When his mother died, he stood against his father who insisted that he continue working, but this time Enrico overcome with sorrow at losing his mother wanted to continue his career in singing according to her wishes.

Flying on the winds of melodies

The Caruso family had been living at 54, Via San Cosmo e Damiano and Enrico knew that he could not stay any longer with his father. Though his father married again, Enrico was treated well by his stepmother who encouraged him to continue singing. Enrico was quite popular in Naples by the time he was sixteen and he was thrilled when the local organist gave him his first performance for two lire. But Enrico’s break was yet to come. He met Eduardo Missiano, a baritone who introduced him to Vergine, his trainer and instructor with whom he got into a contract. This turned out to be a nightmare eight years later. Soon, Enrico enrolled with the army but was found unsuitable as a soldier and was sent back.

Slowly Caruso’s luck changed as he pursued his singing career with the precious blend of tenor and baritone qualities in his voice. Walking on the path that the gods of music had carved out for him, Enrico in 1895 performed in Caserta in the provinces and in Naples. His first operatic performance was in Morelli’s ‘L’Amico Francesco’ with singing leads in ‘Cavalleria Rusticana’, ‘Faust’ and ‘Rigoletto’. Enrico now under the tutelage of Vincenzo Lombardi performed in a number of operas in Egypt but he made his first debut in Italy only in 1897 at Palermo with ‘La Gioconda’ and in 1898 at Milan with ‘Fedora’. Enrico’s musical path had yet another detour to make in 1897 when he met and fell in love with Ada Giachetti, a star soprano. With Puccini’s ‘La Boheme’, the pair eventually declared their love for each other and Ada left her husband for Enrico and bore his first two sons. Enrico, now the darling of the masses performed in a number of operas, such as, ‘La Traviata’, ‘Lucia di Lammermoor’, and amongst other prestigious operas, he also performed in Puccini’s ‘Manon Lescaut’.

Now on the wings of song, Enrico traveled to Monte Carlo, Milan at the invitation of Arturo Toscanini to perform at La Scala. While in London he sang with the popular Nellie Melba and went on to St. Petersburg in Moscow and Buenos Aires leaving in his wake a huge number of admirers and an infinite host of loving fans. Enrico traveled to America in 1902 for his first series of recordings for The Gramophone Company. Enrico’s hard work where he never shirked rehearsals and was always on time for shows finally paid off. His sojourn in America is the most memorable and best in his life where he performed at the Metropolitan Opera in ‘Rigoletto’ with the prestigious accolade of performing at the MET for the next 17 seasons. While in New York, Enrico Caruso took over 36 roles in major operas and gave over 622 performances which included the role of Samson in ‘Samson et Dalila’. With a history of the highest paid operatic tenors, Caruso carries the honor as one of the greatest operatic singers in the world.

An Infinite Legacy

With success encompassing his future, Enrico became the first musician with a best selling recording history and is quoted having said: “My Victor records will be my biography”. Responsible for spreading the culture of Neapolitan music abroad, Caruso sang as encores, ‘O sole Mio’ and ‘Santa Lucia’. This gave the immigrants from Europe a lot of confidence and hope. He sang ‘L’elisir d’amore’ in Naples which brought down his popularity with the critics but not his adoring public which made him swear never to return to Naples except to eat, “Vermicelli alle Vongole”. But when he came back to Naples he would give huge donations to the poor. Enrico sang the tenor parts in Adriana Lecouvreur, Germania, La fancuilla del West, Le Maschere and L’elisir d’amore. He made New York City his home and rose to the highest ranks as a leading tenor. His wonderful voice, versatile style and generous nature led him to help out baritone performers who had a bad throat or cold. He would stand in the wings and sing instead of them, while the singers themselves would lip-synch and pretend to sing in front of the audience. With his beautiful voice and wondrous talent, Enrico Caruso was made a member of the Royal Victorian Order (British) in 1907. He met and married Miss Dorothy Benjamin at the St. Patrick’s Cathedral on 20th August in New York and starred in two silent movies in 1918.

Caruso’s fantastic sense of humor was often displayed in the professional caricatures that he often drew including the famous conductor Arturo Toscanini and the composer Guiseppe Verdi. His caricatures are exhibited at the Caruso museum which is dedicated to him. His generosity knew no bounds and was legendary. He would take off his own coat to clothe a shivering pensioner and would buy gold coins to give away as presents besides starting free open-air concerts in Central Park. Caruso used to collect coins wherever he performed and his vast collection of old coins were from ancient empires and valuable cultures. His collection comprised of myriad unique and rare artifacts and antiques bought and treasured with passion and love.

Started to carry on the legacy of the Great Caruso, the Caruso Museum initiated by his son, Mancusi holds a repertoire of Caruso’s memoirs. The museum opens out facets of the private life and passions of Caruso. Caruso’s famous collection of 70 original Victor records is displayed along with his Egyptian cigarettes and elegant tortoise-shell holder. This collection also holds his personal effects such as, a ciagarette case, Caruso’s fork and knife and his shoes. His son, Mancusi, nostalgically reminisces that his father would not sign a contract unless he was allowed to smoke on the premises! On one instance, in Germany, the great Caruso insisted that he smoke while the authorities insisted that he could only smoke next to a fire extinguisher and a bucket of water!

The Eternal Language of Music

The Caruso Museum also houses a vast spectrum of black and white photographs which shows smoke spiraling from Caruso’s cigarette. Caruso sense of humor included a child-like trait which sent him into gales of laughter on rainy and windy days when the elements of Nature sent umbrellas, hats and skirts berserk. But for all his generosity and talent, Caruso was highly superstitious. He used to wear a dried anchovy strung around his neck for good health. Besides refusing to travel on certain days of the week unless he had talked with his astrologer, he used home-made remedies like garlic and ether spray to protect his vocal cords. He ate, smoked and drank too much having a habitual large whisky before his performances! But his compassion for people and the intrinsic value of his roots often came to the fore. One such incident was during the massive earthquake of 1906 in San Francisco. Whilst the hotel he was staying in was in great furor during the earthquake with all hell breaking loose, Caruso walked through the corridors of the hotel and sang an aria that calmed everybody down.

Though Caruso left an ever-lasting legacy, his life unfortunately did not possess the same qualities. Whilst singing at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Caruso coughed up blood. The performance was stopped but in December of the same year while performing Pagliacci he doubled up in excruciating pain accompanied by coughing up blood. But in spite of the loving concern of his wife, daughter Gloria and friends, he carried on. His rapport with his audiences was phenomenal and they adored him. But the doctors diagnosed him with pleurisy and though he had an operation in January, the great Caruso lasted for only six months after that. He died on August 2nd, 1921. Caruso was only 48 years old at the time of his death. His body lay in state for six years in Naples enabling his ardent admirers from all over the world to mourn his loss.

Walk down Piazza Ottocalli in Naples, near the Hospice for the Poor and see a bust of Enrico Caruso, close to a humble building marked with a plaque where the great man was born. Inspire yourself with the talent, determination, hard work and an innate sense of compassion and humor. Enrico Caruso flew from the clutches of poverty to dwell amongst the highest with his rich and melodious voice that was his fame and fortune. The greatest artiste of all times, Enrico Caruso’s life displays the strength behind the success, the power behind the gift and the driving force of passion behind life.