PITY THE POOR SINGER

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2123, 15 April 1914, Page 8

PITY THE POOR SINGER

COMESSIONS OF CARUSO,

; B Caruso, . tho most remarkable tenor a t-ke world 'iias. ever known, who foso j' e from being a Neapolitan fruit-seller to a Jq prince of song, l-s Jioi an onsy person ir. interview*. Ilecciitty, hoiccver, tho g tenor after aiuck persuasion allowed'the 5e New York "Theatre" un interview, aiid E _ % rather loniarkablo encit pro's ed, Aftef ■ it discoursing ott his estate in Italy, a suh■\i jeefc brought up by tho presence of soma t 0 photographs or his 2ioi.no in tho bills of i e UVsca-ny, ho related that his sons wcro 5 « at school in Englasid jwoparing to be a . English soldiers. Then in opening his 10 correspondence he caino acros-3 n, "iioro-. [j5 scoise" which samo fortune-teller had i e ,sent him, and.one prognostication f'Oin ; j. tho hand of "fato" put him in a sad Jγ rejketivo mood. . 5- ."Soßi-etimes, yott'knwr, lam in great need of sympathy," said Caruso. "You' the' Napoleon of song, as the 3 | palmist •says--tlKs idol of opera^goers — w the darling of two hemispheres; , "' gs■,y claimed the intervjewc) , . r "That is ;all very well. JBat the re- : ]j sppnsibilityl Thatis tho terrible- thing !j ,v. I'Jjo responsibility tosvitrds the pufilie, I j. and tho obligation, to coin© up to ox-1 i 0 pectations, always J . I ha-vo no freedom, t, i ha; r o no life of my own: I belong to 10 tho MetroiKtlitan Opera House and , to i a the pubiic. I have" not even tho right iu to,catch. a cold, ■'Caruso a cold! Bβ' y has been rdiftking ■ too much, or smok,o ing too iuuch j end tho other day ho' it walked up tio. Avonno with a very " pretty woman I' I h&yo no right to be 11 human. It makes mo ill to think of it 1; jf I am worse off than any. prisoner! I ,t a-ffi Caruso 1" • ; e In what a woeful, plaintive little tono ■ to tho name came this time from those j if -lips that led Blade- it so tri--6 uinphauily before! the gre-atest tenor i. of tho world was at that moment nos thing but a big, overgrown, Latin child •, that wanted to bo pitied', s "But, Signer, you have your Btle t compensations which shpuld help you to is feel pretty comfortable' at times,, eveu e though tho wsight of famo be heavy." ■1. "Yes, . . . and no. . . ."' ;- ".What is the thing in jDur'life that J you aro most thankful i'ori"' s "My early poverty!" eattje the un* i hesitating reply. "Without it evcr|--t thijifi would havo been so different! If i I had not been poor I would have waiH- - ed to take my. pick among the tilings of--1 i'ored me; I would never have accepted f sill the insignificant little ■engagements 3 nt three hundred lires a month and less t in all the insignificant little- opera com- ! panics where 1 have sung in Italy-. I 1 would not havo gained itoarly s-o much - experience and widened my repertoire i so that, later, I co-uW hold my own and • command my, prico m tho great com- ■ panics. Often my told me to • reject a certain offer, because, ho sakl, > there ivss Hetjiing in it. _ But for nio ' there wa-8 expcriofieo ill it, and also a , new overcoat and a, pair of shoes, i When you' have been mending and- patchi ing your soles with, pieces of cardboard • for borne time yon appreciate a new pair i of shoes!" All this was said smilingly, simply, ; contentedly. Caruso is big onrmgli a , . man to stand by his obscure- origan with- : out a tract- of embarrassment. Hβ is : sentimental enough to find a gentle ptea- ' sure in recalling those bygone days that ■ were so different! Surely, ho (locs not try to forgot, el" to swke ottws forget, the days of Naples, when ho was push' ing a eart of fruits and vegetables through tho narrow streets, and shouting the picturesque cries of tho NcapoJj* tan street vendors; "Poaa d'ori. - . ." or "E-oco framboli —cerigi-'-uliyi—'Mela . . .1" For there is where ho was "discovered." Tho extraordinary mellowness and resoisanco of tho high note on which he finished his cries brought tears into tho eyes of dark wqtocii in bright- rags, just as,- later, it lifted him onto the pismaclo of operatic fame. "It frightens we," Caruso continued in his .-pcss-miistic mood, "to think of t-lve other side of tho mountain. You sco, }»y career is a very high mountain, but I have been climbing it for a loaig time already. Sometime I must reach tho top, »nd thca thero is no moro climbing . . . then thefo is the inevitable descent I Ah, that is the awful thins:!" "But whenever you ar-o weary of climbing, or tfhen you feel that you have reached tho summit, you are free to re- * tire to your beautiful Villa do Sigaa, I away from tho iconoclastic cruelty of ' the masses, whose hisses did not spare , Mario when ho sang 'Roineo' for the , lust time in Paris, There is no neces- , sily. for you to continue singing when < Uie mountain top is j/assed." "No, I am not free to retire when I ', wish I Not for they next four years I And the thought wakes me up at night ; that perhaps . . . who knows? . . . the j summit nrn.v be reached fecfore I am , free. So now I try to -climb slowly, I strc-il off to tiso right and to tlio left. ... It is not gay . . ." J Caruso voßis abruptly,' and with tho * Spontaneity tliat is one of tho character- j "sties of his race, ho changed tho sub- ■. • il l'-Ct, A