Enrico Caruso premiered works by Puccini and Mascagni and Giordano and Cilea, and single-handedly helped turn the nascent technology of audio recording into a popular phenomenon; above is a rare recording of “No, non chiuder gli occhi vaghi” from Franchetti’s Germania. Starting with a handful of recordings in 1902-03, he went on to sell thousands upon thousands of records in an era when only thousands of people owned record players.