how Caruso covered an aria
Enrico Caruso portrait, 1908, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Enrico_Caruso,_1873-1921,_full-length_portrait,_seated,_facing_right_LCCN2005689666.jpg; public domain in the U.S.; no known restrictions on publication. No attribution legally required; credit the Library of Congress.
During a Philadelphia performance of La Bohème, bass Andrés de Segurola suddenly lost his voice before the aria “Vecchia zimarra.” According to singer Frances Alda’s recollection, Enrico Caruso told him to move his lips, turned his back to the audience and sang the part himself. Alda recalled that the audience scarcely noticed the substitution. TIME published the story in 1949 as her retrospective memory. [1, 2]