ENRICO CARUSO
Arts
Born: February 25, 1873
Naples, Italy
Died: August 2, 1921

"He was the answer to a recording man's dream." Fred Gaisberg

Enrico Caruso was one of the most beloved opera singers of all time. His beautiful tenor voice, blended with technical agility and an instinctive sense of drama created a superb artistic whole. Caruso was of a poor family and was the 18th of 20 children. Although he was a musical child who sang Neapolitan folk songs everywhere and joined his parish choir at the age of nine, he received no formal music training until his study with Guglielmo Vergine at age 18. Within three years, in 1894, he made his operatic debut, in Mario Morelli's L'Amico Francesco in Naples at the Teatro Nuovo.

Caruso made his operatic debut at the Teatro Nuovo in Naples in 1894 and performed throughout Italy. He made his debut at London's Covent Garden in 1902 and continued to sing there frequently, appearing in such operas as Carmen and La Boheme. He was the tenor star of every one of the 35 operas he performed in at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, where he made his debut in 1903. Caruso also made some 250 operatic recordings, which reflect his superbly emotional and distinctly Italian style.