Caruso, Carmen and The San Francisco Earthquake 1906

[31operafan]

I'm glad he escaped that earthquake. It must've been really scary for him, especially since he didn't understand much English (I think he had just started learning it). The photo of T.R. was a good alternative to asking for help, since he did not yet have the right words to communicate his situation with English speakers. :) Although he didn't have much education, he was pretty smart and clever when it comes to solving problems like that.

[alber6161]

Stunning his final '' io t'amo''

[ShawDAMAN]

Great recording of course and I liked the description excerpts, very enjoyable, thanks =)

[GermanOperaSinger]

Caruso recorded 3 renditions of the 'flower song', one in 1905 and two (in French and Italian) on the same day in 1909. This Italian rendition is better than his French one, in my opinion. He had a signed photo of Teddy Roosevelt which he used as a boarding pass to get on the ship that took him off the island!

[tomfroekjaer]

Yes, you are right about the recordings, Theo. Both French and Italian was recorded on the same day .

So it wasn't that he wasn't comfortable with his French... And yes! The signed photo of Roosevelt was his boarding pass !

I was fascinated by the wording of the program description. A different world! The credibility of the performers was apparently very important - decent, character, etc. They gracefully skipped the fact that his father aside from being a mechanic also was an alcoholic :-)

[GermanOperaSinger]

His French, although not as good as it would be compared to a native French tenor, was incredible if you consider his Italian tenor 'successors'. Gigli, Schipa, Martinelli almost sang exclusively in Italian and used translated librettos when singing French repertoire. Lauri Vopli may be an exception as he was highly educated, but Caruso, he was a Neapolitan peasant! Not bad, eh? =) I still prefer Caruso's Italian renditions to his French; he is able to convey more feeling in his native language.

[tomfroekjaer]

Yes, Caruso was a "Neapolitan peasant" - by modern standards almost illiterate (less than two years of formal schooling). His mother taught him Italian (the Neapolitan dialect being quite different from Italian). Yet, he ended up speaking/singing at least 5 other languages - including Russian. - And how !

[LordMgls]

I love the other original version in French.

But this is still very nice -- it is Caruso!

Thank you for the nice info. Just by curiosity, where did you find it?

[LordMgls]

No need of the source. I've already read the website :-)

[tomfroekjaer]

... Overlooked that one :-)

[tomfroekjaer]

I guess he didn't think his French was good enough at the time (1909). There's link under More info to the website where I found most of the information. Cheers, Tom

[tomfroekjaer]

My comment about him not being comfortable with the French language was not correct ....

He recorded both an Italian and a French version on the same day (pointed out by GermanOperaSinger). - So tomorrow is THE day, eh? This time I'm sure you want Denmark to win over Sweden !

[CurzonRoad]

Another great, historic presentation!

Thank you!

Doug --