Enrico Caruso sings "Vesti la giubba," a famous aria from Pagliacci.

Composer is Ruggiero Leoncavallo.

This is the most famous of the three versions recorded by Caruso. Two versions have piano accompaniment (one from 1902, one from 1904). The first one features Salvatore Cottone at the piano--that earliest version was recorded in Milan on November 30, 1902. There is also the 1904 version made in New York City.

We are hearing the version (from 1907) with orchestra accompaniment.

Recitar! Mentre preso dal delirio!
Non so più quel che dico
e quel che faccio!
Eppur è d'uopo sforzati!
Bah! Sei tu forse un uom?
Tu sei Pagliaccio!

Vesti la giubba
Ela faccia infarina.
La gente paga e rider vuole qua.
E se Arlecchin t'invola Colombina,
ridi, Pagliaccio, e ognun applaudirà!
Tramuta in lazzi
lo spasmo ed il pianto;
in una smorfia il singhiozzo
e'l dolor! Ah!
Ridi, Pagliaccio,
sul tuo amore infranto.
Ridi del duol che t'avvelena il cor.

To act, with my heart saddened with sorrow.
I know not what I'm saying or what I'm doing.
Yet I must face it.
Courage, my heart!
You are not a man;
you're but a jester!

On with the motley,
the paint and the powder.
The people pay you and want their laugh, you know.
If Harlequin your Columbine has stolen,
laugh, Punchinello! The world will cry 'Bravo!'
Go hide with laughter
your tears and your sorrow,
sing and be merry, playing your part.
Laugh, Punchinello,
for the love that is ended.
Laugh for the sorrow that is eating your heart.

Caruso, born in Naples, lived from February 25, 1873, to August 2, 1921. He created the role of Loris in Umberto Giordano's Fedora on November 17, 1898.

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 provided by Salvator Cottone.

Gaisberg (either Fred or his brother Will) wrote "Carusso" on early wax blanks.

Gaisberg set up his primitive recording apparatus in a Grand Hotel room. A horn was suspended from the ceiling--Caruso sang into it. Sound waves generated by his singing vibrated a needle connected to the narrow end of the horn. The needle cut a groove in a wax disc rotating somewhere between 73 and 82 revolutions per minute.

Caruso had other Milan sessions. The next (again for Gramophone & Typewriter Company) was in late 1902, ten numbers captured. Umberto Giordano and Francesca Cilea accompany their own compositions on the piano as Caruso sings. Additional titles were recorded a day or two later (in December 1902).

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

Caruso brought status to the gramophone because his voice recorded well. Before 1902, recording officials had difficulty convincing celebrities to make records since the final product was crude. Some did make recordings in 1902 (they include Plançon, Van Rooy, Calvé, Scotti, Bispham, and Renaud). But Caruso's success inspired many others.

With the first Caruso discs available in the summer of 1902, the gramophone was seen as more than a toy--that is one way to view Caruso's contribution to the infant industry. Lovers of opera 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.

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

On April 19, 1903, Caruso made 7 recordings in Milan for the Anglo-Italian Commerce Company, pianist unknown (these have opening announcements). The discs have blue Zonophone labels.

In late October 1903, three more titles were recorded in Milan and issued by Pathé on both cylinder and disc (two titles--"Tu Non Mi Vuoi Più Bene" backed by Tosca's "E Lucean Le Stelle"--were issued on a 14-inch disc).

Caruso cut two titles--“Mattinata” and “Pearl Fishers”--for the Gramophone & Typewriter Company during his last Milan session. Thereafter he recorded only for the Victor Talking Machine Company.

Caruso's records helped make him a star in opera houses, and his success in opera houses helped record sales. Victor discs brought wealth and fame to the artist. Caruso's name brought prestige to the company.

On September 16, 1920, the ailing tenor visited a studio (Trinity Church at Camden, New Jersey) for the last time. In 1921 he was diagnosed with purulent pleurisy and empyema.

Enrico Caruso "Vesti la giubba" Pagliacci aria = 1907 orchestra version, most famous of 3 versions

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