New-York tribune., 1919-03-16
Bv Grenville Vernon

rrrico Csruso, VINO next Saturday
.;.bt celebrates in gala bill the twen-
.r-sfth anniversary of his operatic
sshut was brought to America through
,be foresight of Maurice Grau, and not,
&C has often been asserted, through
that Of Heinrich Conried. Mr.. Caruso.
!. is true, arrived in America under the
conried consulship, and the story went
sbout that Conried had discovered Ca
ruso by asking the Italian bootblacks
of New York who was the greatest
ral;an tenor and receiving from them
tho universal reply, "Enrico Caruso."
This tale is worthy of Munchausen.
sor Caruso had signed contract with
Maurice Grau two seasons before and
arrived in New York according to the
,rov;sions of that contract. Conried,
who knew little about opera and less
about singers, thus reaped the reward
If beinc the successor of one of the
worlds most astute operatic managers.
A brief survey of Mr.. Caruso's career
in New York will be of interest at the
present moment. Up to and including
next Saturday night, the great tenor
will have appeared in $40 performances
of 37 different operas, 20 of those in
italian. of those in French. His
greatest number of performances was
during the season of 1907-'0s, when he
anpeared fifty-one times. He made his
American debut on November %, 1903,
the opening night of the opera season.
The opera was "Rigoletto." His asso-
c;ates were Nine. Sembrich and Signor
seotti. His success was immediate,
though he showed certain defects of
stvle. which he corrected in later years.
Mr.. Krehbiel's review Of his debut was
as follows:
"sRigoletto' is not tenor's opera, as
has been said, but Signor Caruso, the
newcomer, did what he could to make
It 50. He was musically the best Duke
that New York has heard for genera
tion. Nine. Sembrich thus had wor-
thy associate. Signor Caruso has many
of the tiresome Italian vocal affecta-
tions. and when he neglected to cover
his tones, as he always does when he
becomes strenuous, his voice becomes
pallid. But he is generally manly
singer, with voice that is true, of fine
nuality and marvellous endurance"
An attack of tonsillitis hampered
Mr.. Caruso's next appearance as
Radames in "AIda," yet Mr.. krehbiel
wrote: '"No one who loves the art OF
song ought to miss the opportunities
which his presence at the Metropolitan
Opera House affords" He followed
Radames with Cavaradossi in "Tosca,"
Canio in "Pagliacci," Rodolfo in LA
Boheme," Alfredo in <La Traviata"
and Edgardo in "Lucia." In all of
these his success was extraordinary,
and he had become the talk of the
town. On January %, of the same sea-
son, he appeared for the first time as
Nemorino in "L'Elisir d'Amore," with
Nine. Sembrich, Mr.. Scott and Mr..
Rossi.
The Season of 1904-'05
The season of 1904-'05 found Mr..
Caruso one of the chief props of the
institution. He opened the season as
Radames in "AIda," with Nine. Eames,
Miss Edith Walker, Mr.. Scott and Mr.
Plancon.. On November % he made
his first appearance as EMO IN La
Gioconda"; on December as Genaro in
"Lucrezia Borgia,' its only perform
ance Of the year; on February 3 as
Raoul in '"Les Huguenots," and on Feb
ruary as Ricardo in Gun Ballo in
Maschera" He repeated during the sea-
son his performances in Lucia" "Tra-
viata," "Boheme," "LElisir d'Amore," }"
"Pagliacci" and "Rigoletto.'
Mr.. Caruso opened the season OF
19o5-'06 in "Gioconda," and on Ne
vember 20 he added Fernando in Don
izetti's ala Favorita" to his roper
tory. On December 10 he appeared in
another new part, as Elvino in Bellini's
IA Scnnambula," and on January 3
he made his first appearance in French
opera, singing the title part in Faust" :"
The other addition to his repertory
was on February 8 as Lionel in
Marta" He also sang during the
season in "Rigoletto," Lucia" "L'Eli-
sir d'Amore," "Boheme," "Traviata,"
"Tosca," "Aida" and "Pagliacci."
Mr. Caruso appeared in several new
operas during the season of 1906-'07.
On December Giordano's Fedora"
received its frat American perform
snce, Mr.. Caruso singing Loris Ipa-
now, Mr.. Scotti de Siriex and Nine.
Cavalieri Fedora. Despite Mr.. Caruso's
prestige, the opera made no deep i'm
preston and was not revived the fol-
lowing season. On January II he ap-
peared for the first time in New York
az Vageo di Cana in Meyerbeer's
"LAfricaine," singing the part in
Italian, and on January 18 Puccinfs
"Manon Lescaut" was given for the
first time at the Metropolitan, Mr.
caruso singing Des Grieux to the
aanon Of Nine. Cavalieri. On Feb
ruary IL occurred the first perform
ancs at the Metropolitan of "Madama
butterfly" with Miss Farrar in the
title part and Mr. Caruso as Pinker-
ton. In addition to the new operas
sir. Caruso appeared also in "Boheme,'
"frsyiata," Marta" Lucia" "Pagli-