The Recordings of Enrico Caruso 1902-1904
http://medicine-opera.com/2009/01/the-recordings-of-enrico-caruso-1902-1904/
Course Readings: History of Recorded Music | Fall 2019
Course blog for Dr. Stan Renard's Fall 2019 History of Recorded Music course at UT San Antonio.
Wow, talk about a man with a dream! The most interesting point brought up, however, is most artists do not start off as musical legends. As evident with Enrico Caruso, his first recordings were full of mistakes and miscues. However, what truly makes a musical performer great is the passion and vibrancy that gets put into their works.
Sorry, I forgot to put my link again.
https://www.mymusicmasterclass.com/famous-musicians-who-came-back-from-failure-or-adversity/
One of the main points I got from the article is that exactly how Enrico Caruso had many difficulties in the recording processes, he didn’t automatically give up because of frustration. This factor can be seen with a lot of artists today. An artist can write as many songs as they wish, however finding a music studio (or the right equipment) which will help you record it is not only expensive, but time-consuming. Even so, artists will find a way to still publish their songs and let it be heard even if it takes months, days or even years. This effort, is what I believe makes someone into a musician.
Here’s a link which gives advice to musicians in 2019 with a variety of way on how to make their music known.
https://www.musicindustryhowto.com/6-top-ways-to-promote-your-music-that-actually-work/
To me this this is amazing in the fact that he was one of the first people to ever successfully record tracks and even though it has errors, he paved the way for all the artists we know today. In the article it states that even with these errors he made a great financial gain and as a result he went back in and recorded more. This is exactly what we see today with many of the new artists during their careers and proves that he started the lifestyle of recording, dropping albums and going back to record. I have attached an article below that talks about dropping albums today just to compare this article to.
https://www.ascap.com/help/career-development/how-to-record-your-album
It’s incredibly admirring how dediicated Enrico Caruso was to his music and the way he was percieved to his audience. The difficulties he faced trying to find a way to be presented the way he envisioned seem to still be very relevant to atist in todays industry. Through developement and time Caruso was allowed to be heard in the way he aspired to. I have attached a 1904 recording of Enrico Caruso.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t936rzOt3Zc&list=PLBCv03FQYuIcRuJerhpYVFMewJhsSTWte&index=1
While Enrico Caruso had minor issues and miscues when he first began recording his music he evolved over time and got better. Today people are trying to gather all of his recordings and put them onto a disc for easier hearing. These people are having issues with this because of playing speeds. The article I have linked elaborates more as to why this is such a big issue for his recordings.
https://www.nytimes.com/1973/02/25/archives/will-we-ever-hear-all-of-caruso-recordings-all-of-caruso.html
My initial thoughts after reading Neil Kurtzman “The Recordings of Enrico Caruso” was that he was very determined to make him music become shareable. In the beginning when he first recored his music it was in a hotel room in Milan. It was only 1902 and there were mistakes and misconceptions of his first recordings. We now look back on his fist recordings and appreciate his first imperfections. It let’s us see how far he, and the music itself had progressed into something amazing. He eventually got more comfortable when recording music and it shows on his recording of “Qui Sotto il ciel.” When he later perfroms in 1904 at Carengie Hall his voice has matured into something so mmuch better then what he started with when first recording.
Enrico’s story is honestly just a test to his determination and love for music. This article talks about how he made many mistakes in his first pieces, but it doesn’t say how he was in a family with seven children and an alcoholic father. This meant he got a very brief education and only studied music shortly with Vicenzo Lombardi. He made his early money by singing serenades and luckily got picked up by Puccini for a spot in his first Opera. Even though he didn’t have the proper education he never gave up and he became the first recording star in history.
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0142297/bio
The main thing I love about this article is that Enrico’s ability to overcome his set backs. The article however, doesn’t tell us how he got started with his whole career. It is amazing how he grew up poor, one of seven children, and very little education, but still had so much determination. He made multiple debuts in only four weeks before he even became successful.
Check out this link to see how exactly Enrico got started, and all the places before, and after he made it big
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/enrico-caruso-mn0000150808/biography
I think that Enrico Caruso is an interesting and inspirational individual who was dedicated to hiscraft. I love how through such a developmental state of recorded music, Enrico was a shining light of what it meant to push forward with one’s passion and create beautiful music. Just like one of my favorite artist, Dave Grohl, lead singer of one of my favorite bands the Foo Fighters who single handedly played every instrument on the band’s debut album (aside from one guitar solo), both musicians were incredibly talented and should be revered for their musical skills.
Here’s the link to my source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foo_Fighters_(album)
It’s so interesting to me how he started off recording these songs in a hotel room, only doing one take, and making many many mistakes but yet he ended up being such a great artist. I mean I’ve never even heard of this guy but it sounds like he certainly made an impact in his time. He made one house debut and then they kept him as a tenor for 17 years, that’s so cool. It’s crazy how far this guy came.
https://youtu.be/T6eyr9O4xro
I found this video of him singing as “Canio in Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci” because I was really curious to hear his voice and I was super impressed. Hope this is the right video since it’s very old!
Enrico Caruso is the perfect example of a musician who never gave up on his passion, despite the fact that there were obvious mistakes in his initial recording. This man deserves plenty of praise because he had to edit his recordings every time he did a new one, which is quite a tough task. Recording music and making it sound beautiful is a hard process, but Caruso’ story proves that it is definitely possible.
Below is a link to a video of Enrico Caruso’s last performance in 1920.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIPDUGi5XbA
It was very apparent that Enrico Caruso was determined to record and make history by making his music accessible. Although not every recording was perfection, he continued to record and share his beautiful tenor voice with the world. According to the article, as the recording technology improved, his recording did too, no longer as restricted by the technology. Attached is a recording he did in 1910, Siciliana (“O Lola”).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrCspaI1OcA
The development of Enrico Caruso is a prime example of what music artists strive for. His determination to not only improve himself but also his comfort level of recording shows that he wanted to produce the best music he possibly could. Caruso’s strong determination paired with his “once in a lifetime voice” easily made him an unforgettable music artist
https://www.diarci.com/2016/05/18/caruso/
What I admired most about Enrico was the fact that even after he recorded his first song in 1902 with quite a few flaws, he went back and fixed the mistakes on his second recording. Through all the mistakes he encountered in recording his music he kept striving to do better and in the end, as we can clearly see with his prestigious record, it resulted in an absolutely brilliant artists who had a passion for music. Enrico is a brilliant example of someone who cared about the sound of his music that he produced.
It’s sort of magical to think how one man can inspire so many people with his voice and passion. Below is my link that explains this further:
Here is the link:
https://www.npr.org/2010/05/17/126833090/enrico-caruso-and-confessions-of-an-operaholic
It’s incredible how Enrico Caruso basically began the recording industry and became a famous operatic tenor. The article doesn’t mention how he was born into a poor family and while he loved to sing and joined his parish choir, he wasn’t able to receive any formal music training until he was 18. But then he started performing in operas and became widely known. It was very admirable that while his first recordings were filled with mistakes, he still released them, and he decided not to give up. He was determined to make his music sound good, and kept recording. Because he decided to keep going and improve himself, he became a great artist.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Enrico-Caruso
Enrico Caruso was a very popular artist who went on to sell lots of discs. One thing that stood out over the reading and in this article was his love of music. He was well known for his way of shaping his music into what he wants it to be, so that it would entertain all who listened. He continued his journey with music until September of 1920, he later passed away on August 2, 1921.
http://www.loc.gov/jukebox/artists/detail/id/1085/
This is the link
I thought Enrico was so passionate about his performances that he ultimately influenced the music industry till this day. The link below gives a brief explanation of his poor childhood and how he lacked an education. It also talks about how he began to formally study music at 18 and within 3 years he made his operatic debut. After 4 years of experience he landed impressive roles such as in the premiere Fedora. I believe his sense of not giving up may have derived from being born into a poor family and lacking an education. Regarding his upbringing, I think he wanted more himself so he kept going. Essentially he became a sensation because he practiced and perfected his passion for performing.
If you’d like to read more about him visit the link provided.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Enrico-Caruso
Enrico Caruso was a man of many amazing things but he was especially determined to reach his goals in music and recordings. His determination pushed him to make these beautiful songs that at first were not so beautiful sounding. Caruso’s first recording was in 1902 in his own hotel room in Milan, Italy. He soon made his Met debut which was extraordinarily unique because he became the house tenor for the next seventeen years. I didn’t fully understand what a house tenor was so I linked a website below that explains a little more about what Enrico Curso did for those several years.
https://www.operaphila.org/your-visit/attending-a-performance/opera-101/
Caruso has passed the testimony of time, as all great artists have done as the grain of sand dwindles into emptiness and success is no more. That’s the problem with listening to old artists; its the time period that acts as a subjective taboo. But, with Caruso, a glimpse into the recording process of yonder is presented and pondered in curiosity. What amazes me is how initial recording were done in only one take, and in a hotel room nonetheless, where noise and pollution were probably prevalent. Likewise, while listening to recordings of Caruso’s work, you are bound to find a miscue of some type of problem. And this can be contributed to such noise and pollution as well as the process itself. Just imagine it’s the 1900’s (literally), you are an opera singer who’s on the brink of stardom, and the only way to record your music is on a wax cylinder that only has ONE take, and oh yeah, you are also in a public hotel room. Also, take into consideration that this was opera music, a genre of music that rely’s on gusto and power, and tenderness and sweetness, a very loud and bashful affair. I can personally attest that opera music is a difficult task to conquer, as a sophomore, I sung an opera piece during a show in the fall.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9lYu3pv-m8 Here is a link to check out a good performance of the song Tutti Accusan Le Donne from Cosi fan tutte. This was the one and only opera song I had to learn, yet in my short lived experience with opera, I will testify that Caruso was not an amateur.
It’s inspiring to see someone who was slow to have a comfortable voice during recording processes, but then own it over the course of a few years. It’s unfortunate that he has passed so young, but his recordings stood the test of time, even with the recordings back then being as delicate as they were. The article never mentions that he was born to a poor family in Naples, and rose through with his intelligence and determination. It’s crazy to think that this man had memorized 500 songs, but that’s the determination that makes a man popular and well received.
Forgot my link
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/enrico-caruso-mn0000150808/biography
Enrico Caruso was an opera singer with so much emotion and dedication towards his work. This man evolved, from a beginner making errors, to soon become a legendary tenor who practiced to get his power and story through his listeners. On the link below is the recording transition span of years 1902, 1904, and 1907 of the selection “Vesti la Giubba”. The video portrays how devoted Enrico Caruso was to perform his opus to the crowds of people and how the little changes take him a long way in his singing.
https://youtu.be/RL7wdUPXpiM
One of the most interesting aspects of this piece is how troublesome and difficult to navigate music recording was back in the very early 1900s. Today, many musicians and artists can easily rent a studio and have an experienced professional manipulate the recorded sound the way the artist wants it. The artists back in 1902, did not have this luxury. This is proven by Enrico Caruso’s constant struggle to record his voice decently and to perform as he would without thinking about a recording machine. The following link is a YouTube video with the remastered audio of Enrico Caruso’s rendition of “Amor Ti Vieta” from “Fedora.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXrf3OQz3ek
I have high praise for Enrico Caruso for always making sure he focused on his fans and not only his music. I also have a lot of respect for Enrico because he never gave up through the hardships he faced and stayed determine to keep achieve the career he knew he deserved. He had to work twice as hard as others for his music, but that didn’t stop him from gaining success.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Enrico-Caruso
This article discusses many of Enrico Caruso recorded musical pieces. Caruso was one of the first artists to record and distribute music. The writer owns many of Caruso’s recordings and listens to them in chronological order while explaining the changes in the quality and sound of the recordings. He also gives information of Caruso’s career development as well as explaining the success of specific recordings. I found it fascinating to read about how Enrico Caruso developed confidence with recording and how the tones of each recorded piece changed as he recorded more and more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t936rzOt3Zc
It is a privilege to be able to listen to Caruso’s recording of ‘Una Furtiva Lagrima’ thanks to the recording technology of the time.
I was truly amazed when reading about his creative process during the recording process. Enrico Caruso is truly a pioneer in the recording process. I was amazed by how many recordings he had as well as the impact he made on his audience. I found this article that said he had a collection totaling 507 recordings.
https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/music-history-composers-and-performers-biographies/enrico-caruso#C
It was really cool to see how Enrico Caruso struggled to record music and how he persisted and then grew as a musician. The article shows the struggle to and determination he had with his upbringing to him making it big. Here is a article on Enrico’s life and his work https://www.britannica.com/biography/Enrico-Caruso
I found Enrico Caruso’s work ethic to be interesting. Throughout the article we are able to see how he started out recording in a hotel room in Milan and progressed into being the most famous artist of his era. Although the beginning of his career he had miscues and error of styles within his recordings, he still progressed throughout his time and became a well-known artist. Even though he died in 1921 his music did not go with him, he is still very relevant within the world of opera. The link below gives you the opportunity to understand what made Caruso stand out more than other artists of his time .
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2001/10/25/enrico-caruso-a-singer-as-big-as-all-opera/1bedf843-1491-4881-8574-489a108b4a29/?noredirect=on
It’s quite inspiring how Enrico Caruso was among the first people to actually start the recording process knowing the difficulties that could uprise. What grabbed my attention was the fact that his first recording session was in a hotel room. It’s surprising how many vocal artists nowadays actually produce their own songs and or albums on their own without a studio. Due to my background knowledge from doing assignment one, I see that many of the beloved albums or tracks that we all know and love have actually been produced inside a bedroom or kitchen.
If you’re interested in knowing more albums that were created at vocal artists’ homes then check this article out:
https://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2012/01/10-great-albums-recorded-at-home.html
Amazing story, I think I speak on behalf of many other people today when I say that we take audio recording and transmitting for granted, I mean I never really think of the slow painstaking work someone had to go through just to record little snip-its with very little clarity, It is very inspiring to see how far we have come as humanity and just makes me excited for the future. The link below is a deeper dive into the technicality involved, I thought it was pretty interesting.
https://electronics.howstuffworks.com/analog-digital.htm
After reading the article, I found it very fascinating that Caruso’s first recordings were produced in one take. This was very interesting to me since nowadays, it can take an artist hundreds of takes to produce their work. Therefore, knowing that it only took Caruso one take to produce his work, I went and listened to his first-ever recording. After listening to his recordings on youtube, I was truly amazed at how the recording came out.
Here is a youtube link of Caruso’s first recording https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJ3LqImW9Nw
Enrico Caruso’s methodology of one-take recording in a hotel room seems unfathomable in today’s times and technology. Yet, there are many of today’s top artists who started small, on a beloved social media platform. The video streaming service, YouTube, has been responsible for the ‘breakthrough’ of top chart artist such as The Weeknd, Ed Sheeran, and Shawn Mendes. While these artists did not record in a hotel room, they did not work In a proper studio, much like Enrico Caruso. This goes to show that despite our technological advancements in recording studios, artists will continue create music on their own accords, and prosper because of it.
https://vocal.media/beat/musicians-who-became-famous-through-youtube
Wow this was really inspiring. Enrico Caruso really dedicated himslef to his music as he had to make many attempts before he reached his final product. It shows his determination and passion he had for his music.
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0142297/bio
It is interesting how far the music industry has come. In the time when artists like Enrico Caruso were alive the music industry was still in its infancy. Compare that to today and a drastic change has occurred not just in the technology used to record, but also the perfectionism artists and record labels have. It is important to have a track sounding flawless. Compared to Caruso’s time, errors in a record did not seem to be a big deal. Despite this, it is fair to say today’s technologies have improved dramatically alleviating a lot pressures from the artist, producers, etc. to create a great sounding track.
Here is the link talking about the evolution of recording technologies:
https://www.nrgrecording.com/post/the-evolution-of-recording
What I enjoyed learning about Enrico Caruso was that he received no music training as a child, only when he got older. He was able to make a successful opera debut within three years, which to me demonstrates the sheer talent he had. He seemed to constantly want to improve on his faults.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Enrico-Caruso
I never really considered the role unfamiliarity with the recording equipment could have on an artist until reading this article. It must have been even more strange and intimidating for Caruso who was dealing with the earliest of recording technologies. His early recordings were likely frustrating for him, considering the technology of the time could not possibly reflect how he heard himself, or how other people heard him.
https://youtu.be/7UR8ppYHIb8
What a fascinating individual. It isn’t any surprise as to why there a re many people in the world trying to find his recording and remaster it for the world to hear his fascinating work. What blew my mind is that he was self taught in his early years but then eventually received help from other musicians.
I love how Enrico improved his singing techniques as the technology of recording was improving as well. Enrico’s voice style changed from being sweet and soft, to having power. He went from having a ton of miscuses and mistakes, to being perfection after experiencing the recording process for awhile. I was curious on what he sounded like when singing ‘Qui sotto il ciel,” and provided a video/audio of the song. Enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5mitVVzaJE
As a review of the discography of the acclaimed operatic tenor, Enrico Caruso, I was not impressed with its approach or execution. Because this article was only a brief view on 3 years of Caruso’s career, the historical associations (most of which sound like fluffed-up facts found on wikipedia) made with the improving quality of his vocal performance in recording don’t lead to a thematic conclusion by the end of the writing. The article mostly services the effort of making judgements about the quality of Caruso’s performances, but these are not expanded beyond general comments about the author’s determination of it being good or bad (“poorly done,”got it right”), without explaining these judgements with justification based in a musical evaluation of the performance. I did, however, think the quote, “He sings with complete security no longer intimidated by the recording process.” is a very valuable conclusion about the collection addressed, and gives a glimpse to a more mature review style.
I would recommend this review of the famed Austro-British soprano, Elisabeth Schwartzkopf, as an example of a better review style:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/elisabeth-schwarzkopf-the-complete-recitals-1952-1974-review-1451426369
“The Recordings of Enrico Caruso” is a really important article due to the fact that it shows why recordings are so important. It shows how a person’s artistry is built on progression and wanting to be better at your craft while being able to put out art for people. It also shows the progression of technology and recording methods used by the artist through 1902 – 1904. This isn’t very much time in-between but there are noticeable differences in methods he used that showed progression throughout his recordings. It also makes me think of how now we can hear the artist in realtime because of how fast and efficient the technology is and how the recording is easier for an artist to do just about anywhere.
Here’s a link to a video of an artist recording his album outside in a forest
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yk9ir1LlMNk
I think it is important to realize that even though Caruso’s first recordings were slaughtered; it was the very beginning of something people have never heard before allowing those initial recordings to be such a great success. To the people of the time they didn’t really care how great the musicality was, but that they could hear something over and over again that happened days, months, even years after the original piece was played. Also what I found interesting was that the recording industry in some way shaped and or fine tuned Caruso’s voice to sound better. In the article, it explains how he changed pieces to sound better on recordings and how his voice was changed from sweetness to power, and from a vibrato heavy tone to a trumpet like tone, depending on the aria that was being recorded. Enrico Caruso truly set the standard for recordings and what could be made out of the industry.
This link expands the impact Caruso had on operatic tenors:
https://www.diarci.com/2016/05/18/caruso/
Enrico Caruso was one of the first people to ever record music from a Phonograph. Started out with his first recording session of a song in a hotel room. Even though there were errors in some of his songs he helped pave the road for being able to record music. His music became more and more recognized which made him not just a historical success, but a financial success as well.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Enrico-Caruso
Being a pioneer in the field is easier said than done, Enrico Caruso’s success led to a great change in the music industry. Due to his push of boundaries future musicians are able to perfect and enhance their ability to record music. Recording music now days has become a multistep process which takes finesse in order to produce a final product. This new over extended process for the recording of music has made producing music more difficult than it should be, therefore slowing down creative output in musicians.
To further understand my point it is important that you look over this article: https://ehomerecordingstudio.com/how-to-record-a-song/
Please let me know what you think in form of a reply, thanks !!
I believe that it is very admirable how much Enrico Caruso improved his work over the time of his music career. A part that was very interesting to me would be how on his first recordings, he recorded them each in one take, thus the end result having error. I think it is interesting because nowadays music is released with the final drafts being so perfectly recorded, showing no human error. It is almost inhuman how over time, Caruso perfected his craft without the help of technology or anything- which is very hard and not many recording artists could achieve this.
http://www.loc.gov/jukebox/artists/detail/id/1085/
You have to have the same motivation as this man, Enrico Caruso made himself into something that no one could think of. The thing that caught my attention was him making his first recording in a hotel room in the year of 1902, his recordings had plenty of miscues and errors, but that didn’t stop him from perfecting his craft at all. Later on he become a big success and scored big role in the premiere of Franchetti’s Germania, and thats why i said he came from nothing and made a name for himself.
This link will let you listen to one of his recordings he made on the Zonophone disc in 1903 which was the year after he made his first recording and it didn’t come out well.
https://youtu.be/hX93Z27GXyI
Enrico Caruso is one of the early day “heroes” in the history of recorded music. He would take his talent of singing and combine it with his hard working habits in order to create recordings in the early 1900s. Each time he did not like something about his latest project, he would fix it. This pattern continued until perfection in his eyes was ultimately achieved. His process or trail and error eventually lead to his future success in not only the music world, but he was also very famous as a performance. I think if it wasn’t for musical pioneers such as Enrico Caruso, the music recording industry wouldn’t be as advanced as it is right now. As my website I have attached my favorite recording of Enrico Caruso
This article did a great job showing the steps and processes that Enrico Caruso took to try to successfully record music. I love that even after all the hard work that he still continued to pursue a dream of his which was not very easy. After years of hard work he was able to successfully record an artistic piece of music being one of the first especially for plays. He worked with a lot of different people to have different perspectives and I think that was a key to his success.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Enrico-Caruso
The earliest recordings of Enrico Caruso are the ones I actually prefer as opposed to the later pieces. The “one-take” style filled with inconsistencies in my view exemplify the young, poor musician’s life perfectly. A life filled with struggle and persistence, the early recordings convey his passion in a way that the later more famous works don’t get across quite as well. Mistakes are what makes us human, and listening to the human element in his one-take’s make the experience honest and relatable, something that is admired in retrospect after the artist’s later successes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enrico_Caruso
I find it so inspiring to learn about how Enrico Caruso overcame so many issues during his first recordings to become one of the most successful recording artists of his time. I enjoyed reading that even though he had difficulties with his voice and recordings during his first go around, he re recorded those troubled tracks to make them even better. That kind of ambition and heart in his music is something all artist should have. I have included a link to some of Enrico’s most famous songs for y’all to listen to, as I wanted to hear what the famous songs were.
https://www.loc.gov/audio/?fa=location%3Anew+york%7Ccontributor%3Aenrico+caruso
Enrico Caruso’s music career was perfected and sharpened with each and every passing year. As the technology allowed him more room to develop, I believe that it translated into his performances because he grew more confident with his style and the freedom that allowed him explore creatively. There’s even a purity to his earliest recordings, where he only had basically one take, one shot to express himself and his work. Below I attached a link to one of his popular songs mentioned in the article, Questo o Quella, since I was interested in hearing his talent.
https://youtu.be/UUg0i3zTuwE
Enrico Caruso was from an un-wealthy family in Italy who loved to sing and eventually became known as one of the greatest opera singers of his time and even now. Caruso was known for his powerful and emotional voice. His voice wasn’t always powerful and full of emotion; he practiced and improved his voice over the years. As his voice and technology improved, he would also re-record his songs. There are several records of the same song, and each one sounds better than the previous one.
https://www.npr.org/2010/05/17/126833090/enrico-caruso-and-confessions-of-an-operaholic
I loved how dedicated he was to the music industry and how he had many mistakes with recording his first record. He still attempted it with most odds against him due to the technology of the time. i dug more into the life of Enrico and found that he was one of 7 siblings he had. Most of his life he grew up poor and had never really been classically trained in music. I found this biography going more in depth about his life and how he defied many odds to become successful in life.
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0142297/bio
I found very interesting the disparity between Caruso’s artistic and financial success. It’s a trend that you can still see in modern music today, and the narrative of the artist putting out subpar or industry inspired works in order to gain the money and clout to be more independent (Such as rerecording botched takes of the same song) is very familiar to me. One of my favorite bands, Switchfoot, did this in the early 2000’s with a track called “Dare You to Move,” which was released in 2000 and made popular by the film “A Walk to Remember,” but rerecorded and rereleased on 2003’s “The Beautiful Letdown.”
https://www.jesusfreakhideout.com/interviews/Switchfoot2.asp
Fascinating work Enrico Caruso did! I feel like nowadays people in the recording industry take for granted the fact they’re able to have redo’s in recordings. Reading about how Caruso had to one take everything during his period of time is astonishing to hear. And you can even hear within the recording how overtime he became comfortable with his artistry and recording. Below I’ve attached my favorite song out of the many listed in the article by Caruso as an example.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrCspaI1OcA
When Enrico Caruso started his recording process he was in a hotel and recorded 10 songs that were full of errors. Once he started producing songs with the Victor Company, the content he made became better. He then signed with the Victor Company, and worked with them to produce the rest of his songs. Throughout the entire process, Caruso found the sound he was looking for.
I think that it’s pretty interesting that the initial recordings of “Celeste Aida” were a success and they did not have to do multiple recordings. Enrico Caruso basically made the recording industry, which led to him becoming the most famous artist in the world. I also think that it is interesting that in “Questa o quella” that he sings pure lyrical without being intimidated.
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0142297/bio
I thought it was really interesting to see that the author of the article had been collecting recordings for longer than Caruso had actually lived. After looking up how Caruso died, it was a shame to discover that he had only been 48, and even more so to know that the death itself was essentially caused by an unhygienic doctor. Initially he continued to perform while sick and enduring immense pain, which I thought was pretty admirable and indicative of a man dedicated to his work. Here’s a detailed article about the last, sick year of his life – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25877665
I was extremely impressed on how a guy can go from creating their music at a small hotel room to a huge impact to music history during his time. It proves that dedication and hard work really pays off. Here is a link to one of Enrico Caruso’s songs titled “O Sole Mio”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1QJwHWvgP8
Reading this article left me with nothing but respect for Enrico Caruso. One thing that really stood out to me was that he is known as the creator of the Music Industry which is a huge honor to have. Furthermore, I also listened to his recordings and genuinely liked the sound of it. His voice seems soothing in a weird way but he keeps it at a high pitch which is really impressive. Although, some of his early recordings have errors you can’t help but admire his voice. Personally, I like music a lot and it makes me upset that i’m just now learning about Mr. Caruso, he’s such an inspiration and should be more famed.
Below I provided a link to one of his recordings which I personally thought was nice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1QJwHWvgP8
Artists have come a long way in recording their music. While some attempt to record music multiple times until perfection, others prefer quantity over quality. This was not the case for Enrico Caruso. As technology advance so did his music. One of them most interesting things that the article mentions is that his first recording session was in a hotel room and with one take. His recordings had many mistakes bur his vocals still stood out. As time progressed, Caruso learned to evolve with his music and became a succesful artist.
While reading the article, I couldn’t help but to listen to his music, so here’s a digitally remastered version of 1904 version of E lucevan le stelle by Enrico Caruso.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TjEoAXzJ9E&list=PLBCv03FQYuIcRuJerhpYVFMewJhsSTWte&index=3
Reading this article left me with nothing but respect for Enrico Caruso. One thing that really stood out to me was that he is known as the creator of the Music Industry which is a huge honor to have. Furthermore, I also listened to his recordings and genuinely liked the sound of it. His voice seems soothing in a weird way but he keeps it at a high pitch which is really impressive. Although, some of his early recordings have errors you can’t help but admire his voice. Personally, I like music a lot and it makes me upset that i’m just now learning about Mr. Caruso, he’s such an inspiration and should be more famed.
Below I provided a link to one of his recordings which I personally thought was nice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1QJwHWvgP8
I’m not a musician myself, so I have almost no clue on what artist’s biggest challenges are while recording music. In the article, it talks about Caruso’s first recording session and the errors he had made in it, such as only doing one take. Later when it talks about how much of an improvement he had made in his October 1903 recording after his voice was “fully developed” and had a better understanding of recording. This made me question what challenges other staring musicians had. Which also had to do with the recording process.
https://music.stackexchange.com/questions/29318/i-want-to-record-but-am-nervous-about-it-why-how-to-get-ready
Caruso’s achievement is something no other artist can do. It’s hard to think of the music industry without music recordings in the present. He initiated something extraordinary which caused a huge shift in the music world as we know it. Caruso’s dedication to perfect his music and artistry extends the idea of what it takes to be a top tier artist. Back then you really had to be good to succeed in the music industry, unlike the present where anyone can become a mumble rappers and rap about drugs and money.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Enrico-Caruso
I love this story!!! I am a firm believer that who you are in the moment of triumph is the person you cultivated and polished to achieve the final goal. No single person in this world has been able to become great without putting in the effort of growing in their own abilities. If you look at the sports industry much like Enrico Caruso initial mistakes and miscues, many famous athletes have improved to become recognized. Micheal Jordan 1.9 Billion dollar retired basket ball player for NBA did not make his high school varsity team. But as did Enrico Caruso did, Micheal Jordan worked hard in his dedication to become the best. This man is now the most respected man of the NBA due to the fact that he took his mistakes and learned from them with a positive attitude taking his teams to victory.
Please take a moment to look at Micheal Jordan’s similar story of mistakes and triumphs that mimic Enrico Caruso.
https://www.notablebiographies.com/Jo-Ki/Jordan-Michael.html
Enrico Caruso is the ideal case of an artist who never abandoned his enthusiasm and determination, in spite of the evident obstacles that occurred during his very first recording. This man merits a lot of acclaim and fame since he literally required to alter his a work each time he went into recording a brand new one. In my opinion, that is a very hard task to endure, and I can imagine the pain that goes into rerecording your hard work. To record music and make it sound wonderful is a hard procedure yet Caruso’s hard work and determination demonstrates that it is unquestionably conceivable. Below is a link to his famous recording ‘O sole mio, considered to be one of the best recordings of the song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1QJwHWvgP8
In a time where music is perfect easily, Enrico Caruso worked to make his music perfect in 1902. His recordings would not sound how he wanted, but he stayed resilient and kept going. This is what lead to sound recordings being prominent. Its incredible seeing the beginning of sound recording.
Here’s an article to sound recording.
https://charm.rhul.ac.uk/history/p20_4_1.html
I believe that passion is the answer for why we do what we do- which is no different with Enrico Caruso, who began his career by recording his first album in a hotel room. Although there may be errors, the first ten songs released by Caruso show him in his truest form- a simple man doing what he loves, in the most humble form. By doing what he loved, it then allowed him to become the first most successful artist in the world, showing others after him just how following your passion can lead to success. Caruso is the vintage version of an independent artist, who first began by recording themselves singing in their room.
https://thehub.musiciansfriend.com/tech-tips/10-steps-to-success-for-independent-music-artists
Despite the massive downturns of recording music, Enrico Caruso pioneered a major are of the music industry. His involvement was integral to how not only listening to music was like, but how music in general would evolve in genres. His recordings were able to bring a new form of listening to the world because of his innovation.
It is interesting to see how music was recorded then vs now. At the dawn of recording, everything was done in one take because of the lack of resources. Throughout recording history, we see the major changes that led to different ways of recording and different styles due to new opportunities. This article provides a timeline on the development of music recording into what it is today.
It is quite remarkable to realize the difficulty and vast differences present when musical recording in our present day is compared to that of the past, in this case the early 20th century. Unlike today’s recording studios, it was all or nothing. Do-overs, it seems, was costly and rarely a occurrence. I also found it to be quite interesting and telling that in 1902, Caruso made ten recordings just in a hotel room in Milan, Italy. You have to also think of the historical contexts. Milan in 1902 was far less technological than the United States, which even they were still new to the sound recordings. The article, while focusing on Caruso and his recordings, does also provide the chronology of the music recordings by showing how it developed as the years went by (also as Caruso experienced no difficulties in the US).
Once again I found an interest in this article. Enrico Caruso was a man who tried multiple times, and failed multiple times. But his determination to keep working at his recordings, fixing the little things, like if he felt something wasn’t right he’d work on it until it was right. Him along with the musical pioneers helped pave the way for past, present, and future artists.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTNt7gTmZR8
Enrico Caruso was a revolutionary man who had a vision and would not quit until he got what he desired. Because of that he is/ was so famous that almost 100 years later people still know his name. It is especially amazing because the medium of music he performs is opera music, and people nowadays will go out of their way to find and learn about him. Known for not only his music but his work ethic. Caruso help shape the modern era of the music industry.
http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/e/enrico-caruso/
What’s impressive about Caruso is the fact that he was hand-picked by Emile Berliner (the inventor of flat disc record and the gramophone) and his company, Gramophone and Typewriter Company to record 10 acoustic records in 1902. At this point in his career he was only 29 and although he only got paid 100 pounds of sterling for these recordings it brought his voice to the masses. Because these first acoustic recordings were made in a time before mixing and production technology they were done in one take which as noted in the article had errors, but this is still pretty impressive in and of itself. The article did not mention why he changed his singing style from having a “sweetness to the voice in this aria that was later replaced by power.” I was unable to find any information on this but I would hypothesize that it was due to the clarity of more powerful vocals when being recorded as well as his “intimidation of the recording process.” Again, there is no information to back up my hypothesis but I also feel like he became a much better opera singer after the recordings because he could hear how others heard him to critique himself and fix what he deemed were flaws in his performance.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enrico_Caruso
(sorry my website did not load)
I feel as if it is hard to find artists like Enrico Caruso. He put so much effort into his songs and even fixed the smallest mistakes. He never gave up on trying to be the best performer he could possibly be. He started a new standard of singers for centuries of generations to come in the future.
More about Enrico Caruso: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0142297/bio
Enrico caruso was known as one of the first “idols” in which his popularity awoke the recording industry to what it would become. This new interest in recording led to the invention of many new methods and instruments of recording . His goal towards perfection had a major impact in the recording legacy and the drive we have had for a better method of recording.
https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc849763/m1/11/
The tenacity Enrico Caruso had to record music and to keep recording even though some of that earlier music had so many flaws, shows how dedicated he was to making sure the music got recorded and was able to be shared. With this endurance came the realization that the operatic music and instruments could be recorded and he was one to make sure is was a perfect as he could get it in that moment. What an impressive man to set the cultural standards on the recording industry.
My article talks about his life and his first recordings:
http://courses.gregoryweinstein.com/historyofrecording/records/enrico-carusos-vesti-la-giubba/
Enrico Caruso is the perfect example of a person that doesn’t give up his goals because of the difficulties that he faced. In fact, those difficulties made him even better as he progressively perfected his art. He was never tired to restart his recording until he finds it perfect. Being the best artist of his period, Enrico Caruso was a real icon, and I don’t think we are going to have somebody else with that much dedication and love for this work than Caruso because he is unique in its genre. Neil Kurtzman only focused on two years of Enrico Caruso’s career in his article which really shows us how much we have to say about this amazing man.
Here is my favorite song of Enrico Caruso, I have no clues of what he’s saying but I really love it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dy6u8VnttIA
I thought this post was interesting in the sense that it shows how artists responded to the music industry with the introduction of recorded voices. Hearing about how Caruso was a talented artist, but still faced difficulty with the recording process put a lot of the development of the music industry into perspective. Eventually, Caruso was able to fully articulate his voice on many records later on. It’s also interesting to hear just how flawed the original recording process was.
Here is an interesting link I found that gives more information on the life of Enrico Caruso.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Enrico-Caruso
Reading about Enrico Caruso’s development over time through his music was very interesting. It’s the same way people get better at any practice, with repetition and time. And on top of that, being one of the most people to record their voices in the early 20th century, shows his determination and passion. Not many were doing this but he was set out on doing it, even if it meant putting out recordings with mistakes.
Everyone knows (or should know) that music has evolved in major ways over a relatively short period of time. Back then, recording was expensive, so artists had to get it done on their first take. The link I included is for a website that shows a brief timeline of the evolution the recording industry has taken, since the beginning.
https://charm.rhul.ac.uk/history/p20_4_1.html
You know many times I find myself making music and wondering an I any good? This article helped me realize that it’s not about being good it’s about being persistent. Well, talent does help a bit but in the end persistence is key. I once watch a string of YouTube videos that helped me develop some habits as an artist. I went ahead and linked the video down below and I hope you enjoy giving it a watch. Making music should be obsessive because if you love it that much it wont actually seem that way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmlSzQ-sOSs
It’s honestly amazing to to read that Enrico Caruso started out recording in a hotel room, and also made mistakes in his recordings and work. Yet he kept improving through out his career and became one of the most famous musical artist of the early 20th century. I also enjoyed reading about his certain style and how he grow as a musician.
Here’s another short but sweet article about Enrico Caruso
Its amazing how the writer not only talks about Enrico’s development as an artist but also his development as a recording artist which at the time period was brand new. At the time recording (1902) devices were still being developed and didn’t have the best playback quality. By 1920 Enrico would make many recordings of different arias that when played in sequential order you can hear the development of the recording devices. Enrico was the perfect person selected to be on of the first early recording artists.