When we think of an opera singer whose powerful voice is capable of breaking a delicate crystal glass, there are not few who visualize Bianca Castafiore. They say that Hergé was inspired by Maria Callas, who was also credited with this 'ability'. But just two years before the chaste opera diva was born, the one who is still considered the greatest today died, whose legend has it that he would fly glasses with his almost impossible records: Enrico Caruso.
Precisely today marks the 150th anniversary of his birth in a family that came to have 21 children, of which only seven managed to survive. His native Naples commemorates the anniversary with the inauguration of a museum dedicated to him in the Royal Palace, next to the Teatro San Carlo, ironically, a sad memory for the tenor.
Considered the oldest lyrical coliseum in the world, a young and excited Caruso who made his successful debut at La Scala in Milan, did not achieve public recognition in his city. What's more, due to the criticism that he garnered in his role as Nemorino in L'elisir d'amore, he decided not to set foot on the San Carlo stage again. And like many of his countrymen, he embarked towards the promised land, America, perhaps singing as he left his long-awaited Italy some of the Neapolitan songs that he immortalized in a multitude of record recordings.
In New York he achieved ultimate stardom. Caruso became the first singer to record his voice. With the recording in 1902 of Vesti la giubba, his great aria, from Ruggero Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, managed to sell a million copies. For the first time in music history.
Two years later, the verista composer would write for him the first theme composed to be recorded, the well-known Mattinata, which was recorded in a Manhattan hotel room with a gramophone and in a single session.
Becoming the main tenor of the Metropolitan House in New York for seventeen seasons, Caruso was not only the tenor with the prodigious voice, but also a paradigm of Italian emigration. The Great Caruso, the great winner. A millionaire thanks to his voice and those more than 250 records he published. And also thanks to Edward Bernays, nephew of Sigmund Freud, who not only invented the concept of "public relations", but put it into practice like no other and turned Caruso into a mass idol.
Although today it is unthinkable for an opera singer, the great tenor of all time smoked two packs of Egyptian cigarettes a day, which soon took its toll on him. He died young, at the zenith of his career, at just 48 years old. Two years ago the centenary of his death was commemorated. Today, the celebration takes us to those 150 of his arrival in the world. Time passes, but Naples is willing to preserve his memory with this new museum that exhibits 2,000 documents and 60 pieces of clothing, posters, manifestos, photographs and, obviously, gramophones so that his voice never ceases to amaze.
