Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1921-10-24

While singing in Leipzig once he gave
Heller = suit Of his clothes and told
to 60 about the town and have
good time, Heller accepted: ST
believe was interviewed by m In
terminable number OF journalists,
who found me most accommodating,
and I was admired by the best Of
society more during that
then all the rest Of my life. Ca
russo in the meanwhile stayed It his
and had a real rest"
"verboten"'S But He Smoked.
One Berlin anecdote sounds plaus-
ible. Caruso was singing at the then
Royal, now State, Opera. His first
act done. no lighted a cigarette: Tn.
conscientious Prussian stage hand as
sured him he could not smoke tAeuu
officials could hardly believe that an
officials could liarly believe that an
Italian would try to smoke in the
presence Of a German verboten.
Quoth Caruso, II will smoke or quit
Things began to look serious, when
Caruso was asked II he had any OBJ
lection to having a fireman follow
him to putt out his castaway stubs
None at ALL" he said. But when The
chap appeared he brought with him
a pail Of water. That was too much
for Caruso. The pail was then plac-
ed near by, but out Of the tenor's
sight. The State Opera House still
adorns Inter den Linden. +!
The Evening Post Of. August 20
published q story to the effect that
.Caruso had. an inordinate fondness
for New York: tina, he was v SO
happy a. when attached to the Met
ropohtan. Shortly after hts death
Hamburger Fremdenblatt devot-
ed a long article to his life and per-
sonality, in which it was shown that
Of all this places where he sang none
pleased him better than the Stadithe-
alter in Hamburg. with its perfect
acoustics: ~ 80
lit was in Hamburg that Caruso
liked to be. In the hotel in which
he always stayed he could give his
-chtld-like nature free rein. He felt
that he was ever being spied o
Andgwhen his European manager,
despot and .tyrant in one, arranged
his Continental Jour Caruso always
insisted that of his twenty concerts
allotted to Germany. France. and
Italy three be set aside for his De-
loved Hamburg"
Did He Try Wagner or Not?
The same article states that Caru.
SO never sang a note Of Wagner in his
Me and that the story Of his failure
in an attempt to sing the role Of
Lohengrin in South America is utter
ly 4nfounded. Other papers report
that 3Caruso did try Lohengrin in Lat
in America and met with q hasco,
that tTSaA. lhlished up by his enterprise
dngtsmanalser..s.s The truth should be
easyst6 Eetsat-but it isn't.
"on the other hand, the Basler
Nachrichten reports in cold blood
blood that Caruso was always wor-
ried about his voice and took every
precaution to preserve it: 1T was
the demands that Richard Wagner
made on the human voice, that per-
suaded Caruso never to try to become
a Wagnerian tenor, though he did
sing Lohengrin n with the great
est success"
The same paper tells how Caruso
drew a contract with Heinrich Con-
.ried. It was in 1867. Conreid offer
ed !" him the equivalent Of 10, 5000
marks for each performances. Caruso
said: II love the figure 10; It re-
minds me Of the evening I made my
debut in Naples, when I received 10
lire for my effort
A year later Caruso is reported by
this daily Of Basic to have had $40,-
ooo. on deposit in q certain New York
bank-the name is given quite boldly
when the institution was obliged to
close its doors:
HE had already sung the first
scene as Des Grieux. in 'Manon Les.
caut' when the news reached him
that his bank had failed. He raved
like a mailman. There was no
thought of continuing the opera.
Finally some one hit upon the idea Of
placing a letter In Caruso's hand as
surfing him that men of e had
agreed to make up every cent OF, the
defunct bank. It is a custom with
American banks yer If they know
Caruso was Gained. The curtain
went up and he sang the rest OF his
part with his golden voice unimpair-
ed" "
He Dweat n Marble Halls.
Another Swiss paper with a lusty
imagination states that Caruso's Ital-
ian home, BellosEuardo, on the Arno
between Florence ami EmpolfA once
belonged to the Tuscan family ~ the
Marquis Pucci, that, it takes in thir-
ty-six former estates, that the Pic
ture gallery is built exclusively rof
marble and gold. and that 1t contains,
apart from the choicest private col
lection IN the world, 800 laurel
wreaths. the ribbons attached to
which bear tho names OF the proud
est families of the. Old and the New
World. Here lived the modern King
Midas. Everything he touched turn
ed to gold.
There IL also a remarkable az
true) story concerning Caruso's starr
in life. His voice vas discovered
when he a ten years old. But the
teacher who discovered it gave the
boy cakes and candy for singing
yhile he put the fees in his own
pocket. Then came the time to serve
his voice. changed. Caruso thought
no had lost his voice entirely. But
one Maasiaui had him u the scale,
only to remark: "You ass and triple
IDIOT" Caruso, thinking he was
knocking him for believing that he
had the slightest vocal ability, looked
around for an object to hurl at the
mocker. He found nothing loose, ana
consequently tore down a chandelier.
But he was not 4 good markSnnan.
The chandelier missed Massiani ana
lAnded against = huge mirror. Mas
atAnt then assured him that he did
not mean to rdiculs him, but to con-
graduate, him on having the greatest
unframed voice In the world Npf tens
ors.
Julius Korngold, one Of the leading
musicians and musical critics Of VI
emma, states that Caruso had what no
other tenor had-the tear In his
voice. Korngold contends that 1t was
ct ono Caruso's fortune and misfor.
tune, and that It was most noticeable
when hA mn~ Canio In .stPa &lia cciA