Caruso (song) Caruso's life. Lucio Dalla told the origin and the meaning of the song in an interview to one of the main Italian newspapers, "Il Corriere della Sera". He stopped by the coastal town of Sorrento and stayed in the Excelsior Vittoria Hotel, coincidentally in the very same room where many years earlier the tenor Enrico Caruso spent some time shortly before dying. Dalla was inspired to write the song after the owners told him about the last days of Caruso and in particular the latter's passion for one of his young female students. Caruso was an acclaimed Italian operatic singer
Enrico Caruso His successful debut at Covent Garden occurred on 14 May 1902, as the Duke of Mantua in Verdi's "Rigoletto". Covent Garden's highest-paid diva, the Australian soprano Nellie Melba, partnered him as Gilda. They would sing together often during the early 1900s. In her memoirs, Melba praised Caruso's voice but considered him to be a less sophisticated musician and interpretive artist than Jean de Reszke—the Met's biggest tenor drawcard prior to Caruso. In 1903, Caruso made his debut with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. The gap between his London and New York engagements had been filled by a series