As I started driving the classical station was playing classical Christmas songs, and at that point one started of “O Holy Night” in Italian and it was gorgeous. It’s always been one of my two favorites of the older traditional Christmas songs, the other being “Silent Night”, and the person singing was incredible. It was obviously a very old recording, and I listened to the whole thing, finding his precision and facility to hit high notes quite impressive.
“O Holy Night” was composed by Adolphe Adam in 1847 to a French poem “Minuit, chrétiens” by Placide Cappeau (1808-1877). The poet was also a wine merchant and wrote the poem for a parish priest. After Adolphe Adam made the song it became a Christmas standard, with an operatic aspect always inherent in the piece.
At the end the announcer mentioned who I suspected it was, the great Enrico Caruso being the one who sang this gorgeous rendition. It was the only Christmas song he ever recorded, back on 2/23/16. Born on 2/25/1873 he started performing in 1895, and performed worldwide for the next 25 years. He was one of the first truly world famous singers and he embraced the new medium of recording, realizing how important it was to reach as many people as possible. Unfortunately ill health began in 1920, stopping his singing permanently and he would pass away on 8/2/21. He was only 48.
It’s a pity he never sang “O Holy Night” in English, since he would have done it beautifully. He recorded it at the Victor Records studios in Camden, New Jersey, making it all the more ironic that they didn’t go for an English version as well on that day.
Here is “O Holy Night” sung by the great Enrico Caruso. You can’t top Mr. Caruso.