Saturday, December 24, 2011

This Day in History December 24, 1920

Time for a little culture today. It was on this date in 1920 that Enrico Caruso gave his last performance.  It was at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in the opera La Juive.  It was his 607th performance there.


Now, some of you may not be familiar with Caruso, but know that he was one of the greatest operatic tenors who lived.  He was the original "tenor," in my opinion.  He was also one of the first musicians to record his voice on a gramophone. 


His physical demise began to wreak havoc on his career just a couple weeks before this final performance.  On December 11, 1920, he suffered a throat hemorrhage during a performance, and his performance was cancelled after Act 1.  Even though he was unwell, he did give three more performances, finishing with his final performance--this date in 1920.


He died August 2, 1921 in Italy after complications due to purulent pleurisy and emphysema.  I will leave a definition of this medical connection with the other links.


Here are some informational links for more information:
http://blog.thebuttonmonger.com/2011/09/enrico-caruso.html
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/97583/Enrico-Caruso
http://medicaldb.blogspot.com/2011/01/purulent-pleurisy-pleural-empyema.html



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