Subject: Re: Caruso anecdote (was Arias Transposed)
From: Jessica
To: VOCALIST <vocalist>
Send reply to: VOCALIST <vocalist>

on 2/5/00 5:40 AM, Peter Louis van Dijk at Plvdijk-at-iafrica.com wrote:
> I recently heard a programme about Caruso. The cast for this particular
> production had a lot of fun with each other and were constantly playing
> tricks on each other, also on stage. Just before this aria, the bass turned
> to Caruso and whispered that he had lost his voice and couldn't sing. So
> Caruso told him to mouth the words while he (Caruso) turned his back to the
> audience ( he's supposed to be comforting Mimi anyway) and sang the
> aria.Naturally the bass smilingly acknowledged the thunderous applause,
> much to everybody's delight on stage!

I recently read a film script about Caruso's life and meteoric rise to
success. The story you mention above was a scene was included in the
script, though not in the context of a prank, but as a serious moment where
the other singer was stricken ill and Caruso pinch hit from the wings and
saved the day. The other singer (at least in the script version) was
Antonio Scotti. And, in the script, after singing the aria in the lower
range, Caruso felt his voice was "stretched" and the script implies this
event was a precursor to some of Caruso's health problems coming to the
surface, ie: his lung infection was exacerbated by the extreme exercise and
it was then that it was officially diagnosed, already in rather advanced
stages.

The script clearly takes some creative license, but it's pretty good and I
think will be an interesting film when it comes out.

Best,
Jessica