Enrico Caruso 'O Lola' Siciliana Cavalleria Rusticana = rare Zonophone disc (April 19, 1903) piano

Enrico Caruso sings "O Lola ch'ai di latti la cammisa"--or Siciliana-- from Mascagni's first (and best) opera, which is titled Cavalleria Rusticana.

This was issued on light blue label Zonophone X-1556.

Caruso's one and only Zonophone session took place in Milan on April 19, 1903.

Piano accompanist is unknown.

Several months earlier (on November 30, 1902--accompanied by Salvatore Cottone at the piano). the tenor recorded this same aria and others for the G & T company. The earlier 1902 Siciliana has no opening spoken announcement.

Is Caruso making the opening spoken announcement? It is a male Italian voice, and the singer was close enough to the horn to make the announcement. But that doesn't mean Caruso makes the announcement. In fact, the SAME voice is heard at the start of recordings made when Caruso was not in that studio.

The opera Cavalleria Rusticana has a 19th century setting--a Sicilian village on Easter morning.

Turiddu, a young villager, has returned from military service to find that while he was gone, his fiancée, Lola, has married Alfio, a carter.

Seeking consolation and revenge, Turiddu has seduced Santuzza, a young woman in the village.

As the opera begins, Lola, overcome by her jealousy of Santuzza, has begun an adulterous affair with Turiddu.

Offstage, Turiddu is heard singing The Siciliana: "O Lola, lovely as the spring's bright blooms." The curtain rises on the main square of the village.

O Lola ch’ai di latti la cammisa
Si bianca e russa comu la cirasa,
Quannu t’affacci fai la vucca a risa,
Biato cui ti dà lu primu vasu!
Ntra la porta tua lu sangu è sparsu,
E nun me mporta si ce muoru accisu…
E s’iddu muoru e vaju mparadisu
Si nun ce truovo a ttia, mancu ce trasu.

O Lola, white and red as the cherry--
In your nightdress white as milk.
When you appear at the window, you smile.
Happy is he who gave you your first kiss!
The mark of blood is over your door.
But I care not if I am killed.
If through you I die and go to Paradise,
It will not be Paradise for me unless you are there.
Ah! ah! ah! ah!

Enrico Caruso's first recording session was in a hotel room in Milan on April 11, 1902.

One month earlier, Caruso enjoyed a triumph in the premiere of Franchetti’s Germania. This success led to the tenor making records.

On April 11, 1902, Caruso was paid by the Gramophone & Typewriter Company’s Fred Gaisberg to sing ten numbers into a recording horn in a Milan hotel room. The fee was 100 pounds sterling. The tenor sang to piano accompaniment. Gaisberg (either Fred or his brother Will) wrote “Carusso” on early wax blanks.

As time passed, people looked back and viewed this session as giving birth to a new era.

Before 1902, opera recordings aroused little enthusiasm since voices on discs and cylinders were distant, often drowned out by surface noise. Early opera recordings gave little satisfaction.

Caruso helped make the gramophone respected because his voice--a superb one--recorded well. Before 1902, recording officials had difficulty convincing celebrities to make records since the final product was crude. Some celebrities did make recordings in 1902 (Plançon, Van Rooy, Calvé, Scotti, Bispham, Renaud)--partly to earn large fees for little work, partly to satisfy curiosity about how they sound. But Caruso’s success inspired many others.

With the first Caruso discs available in the summer of 1902, the gramophone was suddenly more than a toy--that was Caruso’s contribution to the infant industry. Lovers of great singing realized that recording devices could capture and preserve great singing. Caruso’s voice on his early discs came across clearly enough to be satisfying, Caruso’s interpretations compelling.

Caruso had other Milan sessions. The next one (again for the Gramophone & Typewriter Company) was on November 30, 1902, with some titles recorded a day or two later (in December 1902).

Will Gaisberg (Fred’s brother--Fred himself was touring, making records in exotic locations) produced most of the Milan recordings of the November-December sessions. B.G. Royal recorded four of the recordings, and these have "-R" embossed next to the matrix numbers, indicating Royal as producer.

On April 19,1903, Caruso made seven recordings in Milan for the Anglo-Italian Commerce Company. As I wrote earlier, these were released as Pathe disc, Pathe cylidners, and Zonophone discs.

In late October 1903, three more titles were recorded in Milan. There were issued by Pathe on both cylinder and disc--and on Zonophone discs.

Next, Caruso cut two titles for the Gramophone & Typewriter Company--the last Milan session.

Thereafter Caruso recorded only for the Victor Talking Machine Company.

Enrico Caruso "O Lola" Siciliana Cavalleria Rusticana = rare Zonophone disc (April 19, 1903) piano