Mattinata

Mattinata was composed in 1904 directly for the Gramophone Company, and is generally described as the first song written expressly for the recording industry rather than for the stage or the salon. Leoncavallo wrote his own words and dedicated the piece to the company. Enrico Caruso recorded it in April 1904 with the composer at the piano — a document that fixed both the tempo and the style of delivery for every tenor since. It lasts barely two minutes, and it has outlasted almost everything Leoncavallo wrote apart from Pagliacci.