Emmy Destinn & Enrico Caruso - Sento Una Forza Indomita (1914)

Emmy Destinn and Enrico Caruso sing "Sento Una Forza Indomita" from Il Guarany (The Guarany) by Antônio Carlos Gomes.

Recorded April 20, 1914.

Destinn also used the name Ema Destinova.

This opera is based on the novel O Guarani by José de Alencar.

Its libretto, in Italian rather than Gomes' native Portuguese, was written by Antonio

Caruso lived from February 25, 1873, to August 2, 1921.

He was born in Naples, and at the end of his life he returned to Naples, hoping to recover from illness but instead dying there. He did not live in Naples during his adult life. Caruso purchased the Villa Bellosguardo, a palatial country house near Florence, in 1904. Caruso's real home during his years of greatest fame was a suite at Manhattan's Knickerbocker Hotel.

The tenor made more than 260 recordings for the Victor Talking Machine Company. A sensation in opera houses and on concert stages, he is still famous because his records were incredibly popular during his own life and remained popular long after the tenor's death. Many singers of the twentieth century said they learned much while listening to Caruso's voice.

He was loved as the lead tenor in "warhorse" works--that is, in operas that stand the test of time, being produced often. But he also took risks, gambling on newly created roles (with no guarantee that the new opera would succeed) and also helping revive forgotten operas. He excelled in Italian and French role. His voice was not suited for Mozart or Wagner.

He created interesting roles--that is, he was first to sing those roles in new operas. On December 10, 1910, Caruso created the role of Dick Johnson in the world premiere of La fanciulla del West. Puccini, the composer, wrote with Caruso's voice specifically in mind.

Earlier, Caruso created the role of Loris in Umberto Giordano's Fedora, at the Teatro Lirico, Milan, on November 17, 1898. At that same theater, on November 6, 1902, he created the role of Maurizio in Francesco Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur.

In March 1902, he created the main tenor part in Germania by Alberto Franchetti.

A month later, 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.