In his teens, Carreras studied at the Conservatori Superior de Música del Liceu. He made his debut at the Liceu as Flavio in Norma, coming to the attention of the famous soprano Montserrat Caballé, who sang the title role. She invited him to sing in a production of Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia, his first major breakthrough.
Carreras also sang with Caballé in his 1971 London stage debut at age 24, a concert performance of Maria Stuarda. In subsequent years, the two singers sang in more than fifteen different operas together.
In 1972, he made his American debut as Pinkerton in Madame Butterfly. In 1974, he made his debut at the Vienna State Opera as the Duke of Mantua, as Alfredo in La Traviata at the Royal Opera House and as Cavaradossi in Tosca at the Metropolitan Opera. The following year, Carreras made his debut at La Scala as Riccardo in Un Ballo in Maschera. By the age of 28, Carreras had sung the lead tenor in twenty-four different operas. During the 1970s, Carreras's collaborations with fiery Hungarian soprano Sylvia Sass - both on stage and in the recording studio - were among the highlights of his amazing career.
In 1987, at the height of his career, Carreras was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and was given a 1 in 10 chance of survival. After enduring almost a year of treatment including radiation, chemotherapy, and an autologous bone marrow transplant, he was able to resume his singing career.
In 1988, he founded the José Carreras International Leukaemia Foundation, a charity which gives financial support to leukemia research and the registration of bone marrow donors. Since 1995, he has presented a yearly live televised benefit gala concert in Leipzig to raise funds for the foundation. Over 62 million euros have been raised by this event. Star guests in the 2006 gala will be Udo Jürgens, Paul Young, Robin Gibb, Peter Maffay, Udo Lindenberg, Rosenstolz, Evelin, Klaus Meine, Ben, Annett Louisan, Stefan Gwildis and Nina Hagen, accompanied by the Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg under the direction of Scott Lawton.
In 1990, hundreds of millions of people around the world watched The Three Tenors (Carreras, Plácido Domingo, and Luciano Pavarotti) give a concert at the opening of the World Cup in Rome. It was originally conceived to raise money for Carreras' foundation and also as a way for his colleagues, Domingo and Pavarotti, to welcome their colleague back to the world of opera.
In addition to opera, Carreras has also performed lighter genres such as Zarzuela. He also recorded West Side Story with conductor Leonard Bernstein.
Carreras is mostly admired for his Verdi and Puccini roles.
MEMORY
José Carreras Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Not a sound from the pavement
Has the moon lost her memory
She is smiling alone
In the lamplight
The withered leaves collect at my feet
And the wind begins to moan
Memory
I can smile happy your days
Life was beautiful then
I remember the time I knew what happiness was
Let the memory live again
Every street lamp seems to beat
A fatalistic warning
Someone mutters and the street lamp gutters
And soon it will be morning
Daylight
I must wait for the sunrise
I must think of a new life
And I mustn't give in
When the dawn comes
Tonight will be a memory too
And a new day will begin
Burnt out ends of smoky days
The still cold smell of morning
A street lamp dies, another night is over
Another day is dawning
Touch me,
It is so easy to leave me
All alone with the memory
Of my days in the sun
If you touch me,
You'll understand what happiness is
Look, a new day has begun...
The first verse of José Carrera's song "Memory" sets the scene of a solitary person walking at midnight through a deserted pavement, whilst the moon is shining alone in the streetlights. The withered leaves and the sound of the wind moaning create a melancholic atmosphere. The chorus laments the character's loneliness, emphasizing the fact that the only thing this person has left is the memory. This memory provides a temporary solace from the realization that they are alone. The second verse mentions the streetlamps warning of the inevitable dawn that will come. The dawn represents a new start, and the character wants to think about a new life and not let the dawn's arrival pull them down. The final verse of this song sees the streetlamps dying, with the scent of the morning still present, and with the promise of a new day beginning.
Line by Line Meaning
Midnight
It's late at night
Not a sound from the pavement
It's very quiet outside
Has the moon lost her memory
The moon is not as bright as it used to be
She is smiling alone
The moon is shining all by itself
In the lamplight
The light from the street lamps
The withered leaves collect at my feet
The dead leaves are piling up on the ground next to me
And the wind begins to moan
The wind is howling
Memory
Thinking about the past
All alone in the moonlight
By myself, with only the moon as my company
I can smile happy your days
I can remember the happy times we shared
Life was beautiful then
Things were great in the past
I remember the time I knew what happiness was
I remember when I was truly happy
Let the memory live again
I want to relive those memories
Every street lamp seems to beat
The street lamps are flickering
A fatalistic warning
It's a sign of bad things to come
Someone mutters and the street lamp gutters
Someone is talking and the street lamp is making noise
And soon it will be morning
It will be morning soon
Daylight
It's now morning
I must wait for the sunrise
I have to wait for the sun to come up
I must think of a new life
I need to start fresh
And I mustn't give in
I can't give up
When the dawn comes
When the sun starts to come up
Tonight will be a memory too
Tonight will also become a memory
And a new day will begin
And a new day will start
Burnt out ends of smoky days
The end of the bad times
The still cold smell of morning
It's still chilly outside
A street lamp dies, another night is over
Another night is ending
Another day is dawning
A new day is starting
Touch me,
Please come closer
It is so easy to leave me
It's easy for people to walk away from me
All alone with the memory
I'm only left with my memories
Of my days in the sun
Of the happy memories from my past
If you touch me,
If you come closer to me
You'll understand what happiness is
You'll see how happy I used to be
Look, a new day has begun...
A new day is starting
Writer(s): Andrew Lloyd Webber, Trevor Nunn, T. S. Eliot
Contributed by Savannah B. Suggest a correction in the comments below.