During his career, Enrico Caruso made nearly 260 recordings and made millions of dollars from the sale of his 78 rpm records. While Caruso sang at many of the world's great opera houses including La Scala in Milan and Covent Garden in London, he is best known as the leading male singer at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City for seventeen years. Conductor Arturo Toscanini, who conducted some of the operas that Caruso sang in at the Met, considered him one of the greatest artists he had ever worked with.
Caruso was baptized in the Church of San Giovanni e Paolo on February 26, 1873, having been born in Naples, Italy, one day earlier. He began his career in Naples in 1894. The first major role that he created was Loris in Giordano's Fedora, at the Teatro Lirico in Milan, on November 17, 1898. At that same theater, on November 6, 1902, he created the role of Maurizio in Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur.
In 1903, with the help of his agent, the banker Pasquale Simonelli, he went to New York City, and, on November 23 of that year, he made his debut with the Metropolitan Opera as the Duke of Mantua in Verdi's Rigoletto. The following year Caruso began his lifelong association with the Victor Talking-Machine Company; his star relationships with both the Metropolitan and Victor would last until 1920. Caruso himself commissioned Tiffany & Co. to produce a 24 kt. gold medal with his profile, as a memento (PER RICORDO) for his friends of his Metropolitan performances.
Caruso was one of the first star vocalists to make numerous recordings. He and the disc phonograph did much to promote each other in the first two decades of the 20th century. His 1902 recording of Vesti la giubba from Leoncavallo's Pagliacci was the world's first gramophone record to sell a million copies. Many of Caruso's recordings have remained in print since their original issue a century ago.
On December 10, 1910, he starred at the Met as Dick Johnson in the world premiere of Puccini's La Fanciulla del West. His last performance at the Met was as Eléazar in Halévy's La Juive on December 24, 1920.
Caruso died in 1921, from what is thought to be complications of pleurisy, apparently not diagnosed in time to save him. He was 48. He is buried in Naples.
Caruso was portrayed by Mario Lanza in a highly fictionalized Hollywood motion picture, The Great Caruso, in 1951.
In 1987, he was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
'O sole mio
Enrico Caruso Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
N'aria serena doppo na tempesta
Pe' ll'aria fresca para gia' na festa
Che bella cosa na jurnata 'e sole
Ma n'atu sole
Cchiu' bello, oi ne'
'O sole mio
'O sole, 'o sole mio
Sta nfronte a te
Sta nfronte a te
Quanno fa notte e 'o sole se ne scenne
Me vene quase na malincunia
Sotta 'a fenesta toia restarria
Quanno fa notte e 'o sole se ne scenne
Ma n'atu sole
Cchiu' bello, oi ne'
'O sole mio
Sta nfronte a te!
'O sole, 'o sole mio
Sta nfronte a te
Sta nfronte a te
Enrico Caruso's song O Sole Mio is a beautiful and romantic song that talks about the beauty of a sunny day. The first paragraph talks about how beautiful a sunny day is after a stormy day, the fresh air indicates that it's time to celebrate. The repetitive phrase "Che bella cosa na jurnata 'e sole" emphasizes the beauty of the day. The second paragraph talks about how the singer's heart warms even more when he sees another sun, which is the person he loves, hence "Cchiu' bello, oi ne' / 'O sole mio / Sta nfronte a te."
The third paragraph talks about the sadness of the singer when the night falls and the sun sets. He feels melancholic and almost like he is in a trance. He wishes to stay under the window of the person he loves, hence "Sotta 'a fenesta toia restarria." All these phrases describe the beauty and emotional connection that the singer feels towards the sun and his lover.
Overall, Enrico Caruso's "O Sole Mio" is a love song that uses the metaphorical sun to describe the beauty of a lover. The idea of the sun can be interpreted in many ways by the listener, but it is clear that the song is about the deep emotional connection one can experience when they are deeply in love.
Line by Line Meaning
Che bella cosa na jurnata 'e sole
What a beautiful thing a sunny day is
N'aria serena doppo na tempesta
The air is calm after a storm
Pe' ll'aria fresca para gia' na festa
With the fresh air, it already feels like a celebration
Che bella cosa na jurnata 'e sole
What a beautiful thing a sunny day is
Ma n'atu sole
But another sun
Cchiu' bello, oi ne'
More beautiful, don't you think?
'O sole mio
My sun
Sta nfronte a te
Is in front of you
'O sole, 'o sole mio
My sun, my sun
Sta nfronte a te
Is in front of you
Sta nfronte a te
Is in front of you
Quanno fa notte e 'o sole se ne scenne
When night falls and the sun goes down
Me vene quase na malincunia
A feeling of melancholy comes over me
Sotta 'a fenesta toia restarria
I would linger beneath your window
Quanno fa notte e 'o sole se ne scenne
When night falls and the sun goes down
Ma n'atu sole
But another sun
Cchiu' bello, oi ne'
More beautiful, don't you think?
'O sole mio
My sun
Sta nfronte a te!
Is in front of you!
'O sole, 'o sole mio
My sun, my sun
Sta nfronte a te
Is in front of you
Sta nfronte a te
Is in front of you
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Tratore, Songtrust Ave, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Eduardo Di Capua, Afredo Mazzucchi, Giovanni Capurro
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@cjosborne9430
@@johnschroeter9743 That is the key! That is what I did not expect! (My musical background is about average; trumpet in school band and played around with my sister's violin, my dad's guitar, my uncle's accordion, and noodled through simple tunes on the family pianos (every home had one).
I am a writer and researcher (and learn much along the way) and I had set myself a task of objectively comparing tenors Lanza (my FIL's favorite) with Pavarotti (my Italian BIL's favorite) and later added Juan Diego Flórez (my opera loving spouse's favorite tenor).
I had not listened to enough specific operatic tenors to have a favorite. I just "like everything." I also noted that Lanza was American, Pavarotti was Italian and Flórez was Peruvian a wide range over the globe.
I started with Lanza and Pavarotti's versions of "O Sole Mio" and was then going to "Nessun dorma," comparing each tenors modulation, pronunciation, range and whatever else clearly separate the two versions. After Lanza and Pavarotti, I put on an Enrico Caruso version of "Oh Sole Mio" (as a "palette" (ear) cleanser, anticipating that it would sound "old and scratchy" and provide a great contrast in sound). WOW!!!! Caruso was amazing! I started to cry. Tears were running down and that was it. I was done! I had found a tenor who "had it all." I began looking for everything from Caruso on YouTube. His voice is absolutely captivating! Stunning! Like nothing I've ever heard before.
My FIL had appreciated Caruso but changed his preference to Lanza since Lanza was "modern" (and closer to my FIL's age) and he watched him live on TV. (Nothing like that is possible with Caruso who died in 1921.)
My (born in Italy) BIL had always preferred Pavarotti (one of the first opera stars he followed) for his energy and his "rich rounded" sound (and Pavarotti's engaging attitude with his self-deprecating humor).
But, I became an (unintended) Caruso fan on first hearing him! His voice is the ONLY voice that brought me to (involuntary) tears. And, it's the sound, not the words (since my Italian is almost non-existent).
The notion of Enrico Caruso, that amazing man, dying a horrific death at age 48, his entire body writhing in pain and filled with infection is heart-breaking. Medicine was primitive in the USA in 1921 but medicine in Naples was nothing short of faith healers at that time (and, in his case, worse than nothing).
We are fortunate that Caruso recorded as much as he did. I expect he had NO idea that he would be making an impact, through those recordings, and bringing tears, over 100 years later. And that is key; the involuntary crying that comes from deep in the soul. Caruso's voice does that.
@davidhanson9949
The light was fading away
At the Inn of Earth's End,
When Man sat down to play
At cards with his grizzly friend.
Death won trick after trick,
Till all of a sudden Man
Turned one with a flick:
"That's mine," Death began,
But, seeing he had no choice,
Let it go with a groan;
For the trick was Caruso's voice
Safe on the gramophone.
-Lord Dunsany
"The Lost Trick"
@bettymcdowall6944
My grandfather stood outside an opera house so many decades ago. He said Caruso's voice was so powerful that you could hear it outside !
@tobiasmaier5935
Informacōes fascinantes.Muito obrigado.🌹🌿🌹🌿🌹🌿🌼🌿🌼🌿🌼🌿
@leflaneur8922
Beautiful. Thank you for sharing
@SiSi-Elz
🌬🤍💜🤍
@Peakerenc-bb1du
Who cares? Everybody in my entire neighborhood can hear my wife screaming at me all the time!
@elvirafeher4254
@@Peakerenc-bb1du hahaha, good one. Has anyone ever yelled back at her to shut her pie hole?
@andrewvarsey
My dad cried when I found this song for him, and so I cried too. Caruso, one of the best tenors.... for all time
@Heart2HeartBooks
And who is the best then?
@johntsoukas8723
Not one of the best,but the one universally recognized among tenors as THE BEST EVER.
@keithh7066
@@johntsoukas8723 "Universally recognized" by WHOM?!?!?!?! Pavarotti was the BEST RECORDED voice ever, hands down.