Joseph Schmidt

To hear Joseph Schmidt's singing today, on any of the 80-plus songs and arias that he left behind to posterity, is to encounter one of the most glorious and tragic stories in the annals of music. Schmidt, one of the most celebrated tenors of the 1920s and 1930s, once dubbed "the Jewish Caruso," captivated audiences in Germany and throughout Europe with his singing for a decade -- he was unable to appear on the operatic stage, however, as a result of his diminutive stature, not even five feet in height (he was called "the pocket Caruso" on one American tour). Worse still, from ...