Caruso - Last Recordings 2/9 Rachel, quand du Seigneur

Halévy: La Juive: Act IV: Rachel, quand du Seigneur from 14th September 1920. Caruso had a head cold when he recorded these last 9 September recordings.
More Caruso info on my website: http://www.enricocaruso.dk

Category:

Music

Tags:

• la
• juive
• enrico
• caruso
• opera

[pearlmuth3]

Everyone should know he went to a Rabbi and then studied this role, this was what I read. He wanted the feel of the role, his last. It was also the last role for Tucker he died just two weeks after singing 3 Juives in Spain. It is a tough role and here sung with great beauty, Caruso was not capable of singing poorly! fantastic here.

[tomfroekjaer]

Emil Ledner, Caruso's European manager, writes in his book 'Erinnerungen an Caruso' (Memories of Caruso - not translated into English) that Caruso - before the War - frequently visited synagogues in Germany and Austria to study their singing and integrate their technique in his own.

[meltzerboy]

Caruso also attended synagogues in America, being friends with the famous Cantor Yossele Rosenblatt, as was Schipa, I believe.

[tomfroekjaer]

Yes, that's correct too.

There's the anecdote that upon hearing Rosenblatt sing "Elli Elli" at The New York Public Library for the War Savings Stamp Campaign in 1917, Caruso was so moved that he stepped forward and kissed him.

[tenorismo]

@tomfroekjaer Rosenblatt , if not a cantor. Would have been one of the greatist operatic tenors of the 20th centuary

[tomfroekjaer]

@tenorismo: yes, indeed! Caruso apparently said to him that he was glad, Rosenblatt did not sing opera ! Not sure how Caruso said (what his intention was), but I know Caruso was a great admiror of Rosenblatt.

[31operafan]

@ShawDAMAN Yes, he was ill, but he didn't take it too seriously until it got to its peak later in 1920. This is a great recording nonetheless; I have to agree with you on that.

[31operafan]

(Continued) Caruso also read books on Judaism and even learned to sing in Hebrew. I think that was smart and considerate of him to do that sort of thing. He probably didn't want to come across as anti-Semitic.

[31operafan]

Great recording! I think this was one of the best of his later recordings. I can tell he's having a hard time with his breath control, though. In many of these later recordings, I hear him take several breaths. His constant smoking really started to affect his breath control in the last decade of his life.

Interesting to know that Caruso researched the role of Eleazar by sitting in during synagogue services.

[Operafiend22]

This is a fabulous recording...his sound has so much dimension here. It gives us a glimpse of what a miraculous voice he really had.

[ShawDAMAN]

Beautiful. Hadn't heard this in too long. Maybe, maybe the best version I've heard. =) Caruso despite being apparently ill here(?) sounds great, and we can be grateful for this relatively "recent" recording of him =P

[vurria123]

Yes, regarding the influence of the Sephardic Jewish cantorial singers in Europe on Caruso. This was a major influence during the period of approximately 1912-1915 when Caruso's method seemed to evolve into a new, more flexible direction, to finally integrate the lyric with the declamatory and dramatic - we can hear this in the recordings of 1915 to 1920, including this mythical recording when he was already ill.