The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1911-04-02
CARUSO FEARS TO
APPEAR ON STAGE
Great Tenor Under the Influence
of Fortune-Teller Who Pre-
diets Mortal Injury.
BY Leased Wire to The Tribune.

BY Leased Wire to The Tribune,
NEW YORK. April lit is super
stition. not tonsilitis, which is keeping
Caruso away from the Metropolitan
opera house stage. There is nothing
the matter with the voice, but the
owner is suffering from severe attack
of fear which. according to psycholo-
gists, is more deadly than colds or sore
throats.
1t is stated on high authority that
Caruso refused to sing because he has
been told by a fortune-t teller he is to
meet with some injury, possibly fatal,
on the stage in an opera in which shoot
ing or stabbing occurs.
Curiously enough the most popular
operas in which the tenor appears in
the present repertoire depict either
shooting or stabbing of the leading
characters and it is generally the tenor
who is killed.
Since early in February the great
tenor has been missing from the casts
at the Metropolitan. Gloom settled
both on the audience and on the box
office. but he remains adamant He
refuses to be shot or stabbed or to stab
another,
Since the prophecy. "Tosca," one
of the best drawing operas, has been
sung without Cariso and it has been
sung very seldom AS Mario Cavara-
dossi, the hero, Caruso has to stand
against the prison wall and be shot at
by a company of soldiers The scene is
thrilling enough, even when one knows
the soldiers are the bcst.natured supers,
eagerly waiting to get through their
evening s work and retire to little
Italian cafe on Eighth avenue. and that
they are enthusiastic admirers of Ca.
russo.
Another part in which Caruso has de-
lighted so manY audiences is that Of
Canio in 'Pagliacci "
He. never may be heard again in this
role. if the tenor insists on singing
where Il knife is used to stab one of
the characters, Though Canio does
the stabbing. killing his wife and her
lover in the last act, the fateful
prophecy might be thought to work
even in this case.
Madame Butterfly" with the pitt
full death scene of the poor little hero
inc; Rigiolitto' where 'Gilda meets
her fate. and even "Cavaleria Rusti-
cana has knife play in it, though
work for the evening is over. He waits
only the signal of the gunshot.
The great novelty Of the operate
Golden West" The composer. an ar
dent admirer of Caruso wrote the
tenor's part especially for his great
voice, If the persistent rumors are
correct, Caruso will not sing 'John-
son" again, it is bad enough to be
shot at, but you don I want to have n
halter around your neck, too. And the
imminent possibility of being hanged,
even from n papier mache tree, does not
appcal to the tenor,
CarUso S phenomenal success on the
stage. his unrivaled voice have not
been able to save him from much dis
tress, from threats of blackmoil and
worse, from continual lawsuits and
Black Hand plots. that would mako
even the bravcst man inclined to super
stition and would unnerve and pros
trate a man physically more strong
than Caruso. He has been threatened
who had deadly weapons concealed
about them and annoyed in many ways
which would excite vivid magma
tion TO believe tho worst possible.
On his latest appearance in Munich, |
when he was singing in 'Boheme,
after he had been greeted with wild !
by the audience, he was |
struck on the head by an iron bar
which was used to shift the scenery. He |
was rendered unconscious but recovered |
quickly, The accident resulted in his
fprbidding any shifting of scenes when
he is on the stage, and this clause is
included in his new contract for Vienna.
where he will sing in the spring.
Though he has the gayest and iolliest
tho events of the last few
years. which become exaggerated out of
MI proportions as the fatigue of n long
operate season begins TO tell on him.
together with the words of very care
less prophet have evidently influenced
him in retiring from public view and
hearing. at least for q time.