In the decades spanning the turn of the twentieth century Italian opera singing underwent a profound transformation and became ‘modern’. I explore the formative elements of this modernity and its long-term effects on the way we sing today through the paradigmatic case of the tenor Enrico Caruso. I frame Caruso’s vocal evolution within the rise of verismo opera, comparing selected recordings, reviews and the rules and aesthetic prescriptions contained in vocal treatises to show how his new vocalism differed from that of the old bel canto. To set Caruso’s achievement in context I also analyse recordings of two other tenors of the era: Giovanni Zenatello and Alessandro Bonci.

中文翻译：

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“现代”声乐的诞生：Enrico Caruso 的典型案例

在跨越 20 世纪之交的几十年里，意大利歌剧演唱经历了深刻的转变并变得“现代”。我通过男高音恩里科·卡鲁索（Enrico Caruso）的典型案例来探索这种现代性的形成元素及其对我们今天唱歌方式的长期影响。我将 Caruso 的声乐演变置于真实感歌剧，比较选定的录音、评论以及声乐论文中包含的规则和美学规定，以展示他的新歌声与旧歌声有何不同美声唱法。为了将卡鲁索的成就放在背景中，我还分析了那个时代另外两个男高音的录音：乔瓦尼·泽纳泰罗和亚历山德罗·邦奇。