Film (Video): The Great Caruso Answer Page
A. Kelley - kak7@psu.edu
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The Great Caruso (1951) 26 Questions
This film is based (very roughly!) on a biography of Enrico Caruso written by his widow, who must have been about 70 when the film was made in 1951-it is very flattering of him and very idealized. Caruso had a unique, wonderful voice-he's considered the greatest tenor, ever. Home town boy (for us!) Mario Lanza, who stars in the film, was no Caruso, but he was pretty good, nonetheless. And he was certainly a good deal better looking than Caruso-at least when he made this film! He later got very fat, and the last film he made had him dubbing the singing while another actor played the role. This film made him famous. Like Caruso, Mario Lanza had worked at other jobs (mainly as a truck driver) while studying singing. Unfortunately, his life was even shorter than that of Caruso, who died at 48. Lanza died of a heart attack before he was 40.
Opera came into existence at the courts in Italy during the 1600s. At first, it was performed privately for rich and powerful patrons such as princes and popes. During the 1700s and 1800s, it went commercial and proliferated in many newly built theaters in the big cities of Europe, but especially in Italy. There it was extremely popular with all social classes. In addition to possessing a famous opera house, Naples became a center of a type of Victorian pop music-tuneful ballads belted out by strong-voiced tenors.
There isn't really much to say about Caruso. He had a marvelous tenor voice that was unique in tone and power, and he was apparently an extremely nice, kind-hearted person, which is rare among opera singers. He married an American socialite whose family opposed the marriage. He did a great deal of charity work and worked for the war effort and died aged 48 at the height of his fame. The film spins this out with arias sung quite beautifully by Mario Lanza.
1. Mario Lanza was born and raised in
a) New York, NY b) Naples, Italy c) Philadelphia, PA d) Trenton, NJ
2. It was in Naples that Caruso was born in
a) 1859 b) 1868 c) 1873 d) 1882
3. When Caruso is discovered in Naples, he is singing a fast and cheerful Neapolitan song called
a) Santa Lucía b) Cor'ngrato c) La danza d) Funicule funicula
From the time he was a child Caruso had a strong, clear voice, and he studied with the local priest and sang in the church choir. The Carusos were poor; his mother had over twelve children, but only Enrico survived childhood.
4. His mother died when he was singing in a church procession when he was about what age?
a) 5 b) 10 c) 15 d) 20
5. Enrico didn't immediately become a professional singer; for a time he was apprenticed to a
a) butcher b) baker c) tanner d) candle maker
The film says he joined the opera after upsetting his boss, the baker, who is his girl friend's father. This may or may not be true; he did work as a baker, but persons connected with the opera suggested he audition, and he was accepted in the chorus and quickly progressed to starring roles, since his voice had unusual power.
6. The first time we see him on stage he is an Egyptian soldier in the chorus of Verdi's
a) Manon b) Tancredo c) Aida d) Don Giovanni
7. Next, he has a small role in Tosca, and the next time we see him he has a starring role as Turridú, a Sicilian peasant, in the opera
a) I Pagliacci b) Cavalleria rusticana c) Louise d) Il Tabarro
8. By the time he is in La Gioconda, his name appears ABOVE the title of the opera-he's a star and the audience is full of women with tiaras; he returns to Naples in a simply awful flashy hat, but leaves almost immediately (with his friend, a barber) when he finds that
a) his father is dead b) his fiancé married another c) his town is flooded
d) the priest has been transferred
9. Now he has to conquer the audience at Covent Garden Theatre in
a) Paris b) New York c) Edinburgh d) London
10. He is snubbed by the soprano Mario Selka as a vulgar Neapolitan (the real Caruso was pudgy and not as good looking as Mario Lanza). He is very successful with the public and collects another friend as manager, a former singer at the Naples opera whose name is
a) Alberto Isola b) Luigi Raimondi c) Alfredo Brazzi d) Aldo Respigliosi
11. In London we hear him singing "La Donna è mobile" from Verdi's
a) Don Carlo b) Aida c) Rigoletto d) Il Trovatore
12. Now he arrives at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Shortly before he arrived, the tenor Jean de Rezske, who was extremely popular, retired. The Met patrons are upset at losing de Rezske and not too welcoming to Caruso, but the soprano Louise Heggar makes him very welcome and praises his singing of Radames' aria from Aida, which is called
a) "Una furtiva lagrima" b) "Questa o quella" c) "M'appari" d) "Celeste Aida"
13. Unfortunately, Caruso makes a terrible faux pas-he refers to Heggar's protector as her father! The man, the millionaire Park Benjamin, is furious and plans to spoil Caruso's reception by the press. Caruso goes to Heggar's house to apologize and is received by a girl who turns out to be a) Benjamin's daughter b) called Dorothy c) still at school d) all the above
14. Dorothy is not an opera fan, so Caruso sings a popular song for her:
a) "Ue Marí" b) "Come back to Sorriento" c) "Catari, Catari" d) "Ay Ay Ay"
15. The tiers of influential critics and wealthy patrons at the Met are known as the
a) upper crust b) connoisseurs c) Diamond Horshoe d) Main Line
16. Although the public applauds the performance, the critics don't like Caruso.
The main argument seems to be that de Rezske was
a) tall b) elderly c) a gentleman d) all the above
17. Caruso, on the other hand, is a) short b) young c) a peasant d) all the above
[This sequence is made up for the movie-in actuality, Caruso was a hit with everyone from the very beginning of his appearance in New York.]
Caruso is ready to leave New York, but Benjamin's valet tells him he has quit
because his boss insulted him when he was defending Caruso. Caruso hires the man as valet for himself!
18. He agrees to sing that night. Benjamin thought de Rezske would sing, but the older singer comes to the Benjamins' box and says he will see the opera with them. De Rezske is
a) very distinguished looking b) extremely tall c) very thin d) all the above
19. Caruso sings the role of the poverty stricken poet Rodolfo, who tells the heroine, the seamstress Mimi, that her little hand is icy..."Che gelida mannina." The opera takes place in Paris among poets, artists, bohemians, and is called
a) La Traviata b) Tosca c) La Bohème d) La Valli
20. The first person to cheer Caruso is de Rezske-he is accepted by the Diamond Horshoe too. When he leaves the opera he sings "La Mattinata" for the people at the stage door, who
a) are starving b) are working at night c) couldn't get tickets for the show
d) all Italians
Now Caruso tours the world and is acclaimed everywhere; in Paris we hear him singing the "Miserere" from Il Trovatore, in Berlin, the Quartet from Rigoletto, in Madrid, "E lucevan le stelle" from Tosca, and in Rio de Janeiro, the toast from Cavalleria Rusticana.
21. Back at the Met once again he arrives in a car with his entourage of Neapolitan buddies and finds that Dorothy
a) has grown up b) is beautiful c) is willing to marry him d) all the above
22. Park Benjamin is not pleased. He obliges Dorothy to act as hostess at his reception when she had promised to go to hear Caruso when he is singing for war bonds an appropriate song about a clown who must go on the stage even though his heart is breaking-it is "Vesti la Giubba" from a) Cavalleria Rusticana b) Così fan tutte c) La Cenerentola d) I Pagliacci
23. After that, he sings the Bach/Gounod "Ave María" at midnight mass at
a) Holy Trinity Church b) St. Patrick's Cathedral c) St. Paul's d) St. Peter's
When he gets back to his hotel, Dorothy is waiting for him. They marry and the marriage makes headlines all over the world. Alas, Mr. Benjamin will not receive them.
24. While Caruso is singing in the Sextet from Lucía di Lammermoor, he receives the news that
a) Mr. Benjamin is dead b) his father is dead c) his daughter has been born
d) he has cancer
25. Caruso is one of the first singers to have enormous recording success; listening to a record of him singing "Because" for his little daughter, he has an attack of coughing. He has just returned from a concert tour of a) Australia b) Canada c) Europe d) the Far East
26. Caruso insists on singing in Flotow's opera Martha that evening, and we hear him sing the famous aria "M'appari"; after singing he is exhausted but is adamant that he will finish the opera. As the curtain falls a) he collapses b) he loses consciousness
c) before a doctor can arrive he is dead d) all the above