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February 2023 marks the 150th birthday of Enrico Caruso. I cannot let this month pass without paying tribute to a man who is such an important cornerstone of opera and recorded vocal art. This presents a bit of a challenge. Obviously, I never had the opportunity to hear him in the flesh, and consequently my relationship with the great tenor is via the phonograph. Although I could simply honor Caruso through a retrospective of his recordings, a life and career such as this cannot be glossed over. A comment I sometimes hear from young tenors (and one that greatly irritates me) is, “Caruso? He wasn’t so great.” The comment that pains me even more is, “Caruso? Who is THAT?”. In hopes of educating those unfamiliar with Caruso, my tribute will contain analyses of his recordings as well as a retrospective of his fascinating life and career. YouTube’s space limits compel me to feature this retrospective in four parts over the course of four weeks. Here is part one. He was born Errico (the Neapolitan co
