Enrico Caruso singing fees into a range of investments. Biographer Michael Scott writes that by the end of the war in 1918, Caruso's annual income tax bill amounted to $154,000. Prior to World War I, Caruso had been romantically linked to an Italian soprano, Ada Giachetti, who was a few years older than he was. Though already married, Giachetti bore Caruso four sons during their liaison, which lasted from 1897 to 1908. Two survived infancy: Rodolfo Caruso (1898-1951) and singer/actor Enrico Caruso, Jr. (1904-1987). Ada had left her husband, manufacturer Gino Botti, and an existing son to cohabit with the tenor. Information
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