Is there any opera singer more famous than Enrico Caruso? Not only is he considered one of the greatest tenors of all time but was the most popular vocalist of any musical genre in the early 20th century. Although he died in 1921, Caruso made over 250 recordings and was one of the first artists to embrace the early techniques of recorded music.

The Internet Archive’s 78 RPM collection has obtained a ton of Caruso recordings and placed them in two parts. This is not just an online album but a truckload of music. Part one has 96 tracks. Part two is less unwieldy with 30 tracks. The sound ranges from awful (”Adorables Tourments” of 1908) to quite good (”Vienie Dur Mar” of 1919) considering these were taken from very old 78rpm acetate disks. Of special interest is the recording of “Vesti La Giubba” which was the first record to sell a million copies. Predictably most of these tracks are opera arias but there are a few old popular standards (”Dreams of Long Ago” 1912) and Italian classics (”O Sole Mio” 1916).

Both collections are in 128kbps either by separate tracks or album zip. The bitrate doesn’t mean much since, as stated before, these are very old and scratchy recordings with the earliest being from 1902! Nonetheless, despite the primitive sound, it is easy to see why Caruso was and is so revered.

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Collected Works Part 1
Collected Works Part 2