Salvatore Cardillo
Salvatore Cardillo (20 February 1874 – 5 February 1947) was an Italian-American composer. Born in Naples, he studied piano and composition in Italy before emigrating in 1903 to the United States as a university graduate. His career encompassed songwriting and movie music. He died in New York. Cardillo's richly scored and still popular 1911 romance Core 'ngrato (Ungrateful Heart) — also known by its lyric Catarì, Catarì, pecchè me dici sti parole amare — was written in America to a text in Neapolitan by Alessandro Sisca (Riccardo Cordiferro); it is in fact the only famous Neapolitan song by an Italian-American immigrant. The song's first exponent was the operatic tenor Enrico Caruso, but it is not clear whether he commissioned it. Franco Corelli, Luciano Pavarotti, Giuseppe di Stefano, José Carreras and, more recently, Roberto Alagna and Jonas Kaufmann are among the tenors to have included Core 'ngrato in their repertories. The composer also wrote the songs Barcarola, to a text by Edoardo San Giovanni, and Oi luna (O Silvery Moon), to a text by Riccardo Cordiferro. These were published in 1921 as "Two Neapolitan Songs" by G. Schirmer Inc. in New York. |
Birth and Death Data: Born Naples (city and commune in Campania, Italy), Died February 5, 1947 (New York City (most populous city in the United States) )
Date Range of DAHR Recordings: 1911 - 1949
Roles Represented in DAHR: composer
= Recordings are available for online listening.
= Recordings were issued from this master. No recordings issued from other masters.
Recordings
| Company | Matrix No. | Size | First Recording Date | Title | Primary Performer | Description | Role | Audio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Victor | C-11274 | 12-in. | 11/19/1911 | Core 'ngrato | Enrico Caruso | Tenor vocal solo, with orchestra | composer | |
| Victor | B-22648 | 10-in. | 3/21/1919 | Oi luna | Giuseppe De Luca | Baritone vocal solo, with orchestra | composer | |
| Victor | CAVE-012840 | 10-in. | 7/4/1939 | Catari | Antonio Marranti ; Gianna Pederzini | Mezzo-soprano vocal solo, with orchestra | composer | |
| Victor | BS-018894 | 10-in. | 3/1/1938 | Core 'ngrato | Enrico Caruso Jr. | Tenor vocal solo, with piano | composer | |
| Victor | D9RC-1731 | 12-in. | 5/5/1949 | Core 'ngrato | Constantine Callinicos ; Mario Lanza ; RCA Victor Orchestra | Tenor vocal solo, with orchestra | composer | |
| Columbia | 49522 | 12-in. | 10/2/1918 | Core 'ngrato | Riccardo Stracciari | Baritone vocal solo, with orchestra | composer | |
| Columbia | 44993 | 10-in. | either 1916 or 1917 | Core 'ngrato | Roberto Rotondo | Male vocal solo, with orchestra | composer | |
| Brunswick | X9916-X9917 | 12-in. | 2/14/1923 | Core‘ngrato | Giuseppe Danise | Baritone vocal solo, with orchestra | composer | |
| Brunswick | X9948-X9949 | 12-in. | 2/19/1923 | Core ’ngrato | Giacomo Lauri-Volpi | Male vocal solo, with orchestra | composer | |
| Brunswick | XE23052-XE23053 | 12-in. | 5/9/1927 | Core’ngrato | Giuseppe Danise | Baritone vocal solo, with orchestra | composer | |
| Columbia (U.K.) | CB5843 | 10-in. | 1/31/1934 | Core 'ngrato | Enzo De Muro Lomanto | Male vocal solo, with orchestra | composer | |
| Columbia (U.K.) | CL6423 | 10-in. | 10/23/1937 | Catarì! Catarì! | Marcel Carivan ; Tino Rossi | Male vocal solo, with instrumental ensemble | composer |
Citation
Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "Cardillo, Salvatore," accessed January 8, 2026, http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/107508.
Cardillo, Salvatore. (2026). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved January 8, 2026, from http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/107508.
"Cardillo, Salvatore." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2026. Web. 8 January 2026.
DAHR Persistent Identifier
External Sources
Wikipedia: Salvatore Cardillo
Discogs: Salvatore Cardillo
IMSLP: Salvatore Cardillo
RISM: Salvatore Cardillo
IMDb: Salvatore Cardillo
Linked Open Data Sources
LCNAR: Cardillo, S. (Salvatore) - https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n97054517
Wikidata: Salvatore Cardillo - https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q1997116
VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/29728687
MusicBrainz: Salvatore Cardillo - https://musicbrainz.org/artist/0af2eeaf-8c41-4bfd-b968-0ace36ea1f96
Wikipedia content provided under the terms of the Creative Commons BY-SA license
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