“I funerali di Enrico Caruso a Napoli” by Ferruccio Corradetti 1921

“I funerali di Enrico Caruso a Napoli” by Ferruccio Corradetti 1921
Fercor e Compagnia (Recitation and dramatic group in Italian) Click on CC for English titles

English Closed Captioning exists for this video. Use the CC button to turn it on.

A fellow phonograph collector, Marco Gilardetti, offered to provide a transcription and then an English translation (used for the closed captioning) for this recording.

This is another unique and strange OKeh record. It was often mistaken as a recording the actual funeral of Enrico Caruso over the years. However, this recording was in reality recorded in New York August 23, 1921. This recitation has crowds sounds, Chopin's funeral march music, speeches, and liturgical singing in the 2nd half. I don’t think it was made with the intention of fooling people into thinking it was the actual funeral, but it is an interesting and rather odd record.

The actual death of Caruso was August 2, 1921 at the Grand Hotel Vesuvio, Naples, Italy. The actual funeral was August 4, 1921. So this was put together some weeks after his actual death and funeral and I am sure was meant for the Italian community in New York and the United States.

Here is a link to some video clips that include a newsreel that shows parts of the funeral and a portion of one of his silent movies:
   • Enrico Caruso - Various Movie Clips  

Caruso’s illness and death (from Wikipedia):
Caruso died at the hotel shortly after nine in the morning local time, on 2 August 1921. He was 48. The Bastianellis attributed the likely cause of death to peritonitis arising from a burst subphrenic abscess. The King of Italy, Victor Emmanuel III, opened the Royal Basilica of the Church of San Francesco di Paola for Caruso's funeral, which was attended by thousands of people. His embalmed body was preserved in a glass sarcophagus at Del Pianto Cemetery in Naples for mourners to view. In 1929, Dorothy Caruso had his remains sealed permanently in an ornate stone tomb.

DAHR Links:
Part 1: https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.ph...
Part 2: https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.ph...

Wikipedia Link for Ferruccio Corradetti:
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrucc...

DAHR Discography for Ferruccio Corradetti:
https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.ph...

Wikipedia Link for Enrico Caruso:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enrico_...