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Enrico Caruso, b. Naples, Italy, Feb. 25,
1873, is considered one of the greatest operatic tenors of
all time. He made his debut in Naples in 1894 and immediately
received invitations to sing all over Italy. After hearing
his Nemorino in L'Elisir d'Amore, the conductor Toscanini
said, "This Neapolitan will make the whole world talk
about him." Caruso created the leading tenor roles in
Giordano's Fedora (1898), Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur, and
Puccini's La Fanciulla del West (1910). After appearing (1902)
with Nellie Melba in Monte Carlo, Caruso went on to an international
career, appearing at Covent Garden in 1902 and at the Metropolitan
Opera, where he sang over 600 performances in nearly 40 operas
between 1903 and 1920.
Caruso possessed a sumptuously beautiful voice, which he refined
until he was equally at home in verismo or bel canto repertory.
Despite his stocky figure, he was considered a good actor,
especially as Eleazar in Halevy's La Juive.
Caruso began to record (1902) during the infancy of the phonograph
and continued until his death, earning enormous royalties.
During a performance of L'Elisir d'Amore at the Brooklyn Academy
in 1920, he began coughing blood. His last performance, sung
while mortally ill, was in La Juive at the Metropolitan on
Christmas Eve, 1920. After an operation that was supposed
to cure him, Caruso returned to Naples, where he died on Aug.
2, 1921. He was mourned throughout the world with an affection
afforded few other opera stars.
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