'The Life & Times of Enrico Caruso' Draws Standing-Room-Only Crowd to Garibaldi-Meucci Museum

The first Terza Domenica Heritage Series event of 2010 took place on Sunday, January 17 at 1 p.m., when Cavaliere Ufficiale Aldo Mancusi will present "The Life & Times of Enrico Caruso."

Mancusi will be sharing stories of Caruso's life as well as some of his extensive collection of rare Caruso video, memorabilia and original recordings. He will also be bringing his 1910 Victor wind-up phonograph, so don't miss this rare opportunity to hear "the world's greatest tenor" the way he was intended to be heard-played on the cutting-edge technology of his day.

Enrico Caruso was born in Naples, Italy on February 25, 1873, and sang to great acclaim at the major opera houses of Europe and North and South America. His operatic career, spanning the years 1895 to 1920, was cut short by a serious illness which killed him on August 2, 1921. Almost a century later he remains famous, and has been a great influence on all subsequent Italian tenors. While Caruso sang at most of the world's foremost opera theaters- including La Scala in Milan, the Royal Opera House in London and Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires-he is best known for being lead tenor of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, where he appeared over 800 times in 18 consecutive seasons. In addition to the unique quality of his voice, Caruso's global success is credited to his sharp business sense, and to his enthusiastic use of the cutting-edge technology of his time-commercial sound recording. Caruso made more than 260 recordings in America for the Victor Talking Machine Company (later RCA Victor) over a 16-year period, and earned millions of dollars in royalties from the sales of the resulting 78-rpm discs. Caruso also appeared in a number of newsreels, a short experimental film made by Thomas Edison, and two commercial motion pictures.

Listening to some of those recordings as a young boy sparked a lifelong passion in Aldo Mancusi that led him to found the Enrico Caruso Museum of America. The seed for the museum was planted when Aldo's father, Everisto, came to America from Italy in 1920. As Everisto's love for Italian opera grew so did his collection of recordings, which eventually numbered 300 records. Aldo continued to build on his father's collection, and in 1990 he donated his private collection and space to create the Enrico Caruso Museum of America in Brooklyn. (He was awarded the title Cavaliere Ufficiale for his efforts). The museum is maintained by contributions and grants from the National Italian-American Foundation, the Sons of Italy and the Brooklyn Arts Council as well as memberships of museum patrons and the sale of books, records and opera mementos. The museum is registered with the New York State Education Department, and offers programs for all ages and ethnicities, especially for students and seniors.

Thousands of people have visited the museum to see rare books, records, letters, photos and mementos of Caruso and his family, and to watch Caruso video screened in the museum's 20 seat mini theater, with chairs and décor from the Old Met. On January 17 Cav. Uff. Mancusi will bring some choice tidbits of his Caruso memorabilia, along with his great knowledge of and passion for the man-and his 1910 Victor wind-up phonograph-to share with us at the Garibaldi-Meucci Museum.

Admission is $5, members are free. Seating is limited.

Regular museum hours are 1 p.m.-5 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday. Admission is $5 per person, members and children under 10 are free. Call ahead for groups of 10 or more. The first floor of the museum is wheelchair accessible. At press time, program funding has been provided through the Order Sons of Italy in America; by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council; the Office of the Staten Island Borough President, Richmond County Savings Foundation; Northfield Bank Foundation, and by grants allocated by New York State Senator Diane Savino and New York City Council members Vincent Ignizio and James Oddo. The Garibaldi-Meucci Museum is owned and operated by the Order Sons of Italy in America.

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