"Core 'ngrato" (Neapolitan:[ˈkɔːrəŋˈɡrɑːtə]; "Ungrateful Heart"), also known by the first words "Catarì, Catarì" (short and dialectal form for Caterina, a female first name), is a 1911 Neapolitan song by emigrant American composer Salvatore Cardillo with lyrics by Riccardo Cordiferro (real name Alessandro Sisca).[1]
It was adopted by Enrico Caruso but it is not known whether he commissioned Cardillo and Sisca to write it.[2] It is the only well-known standard Neapolitan song to have been written in America.[3]
In the song, Catarì's lover reproaches the girl for thoughtlessly and heartlessly rejecting his abiding love for her; he implores her not to forget that he has given her his heart and that his soul is in torment; and he says he has confessed his feelings to a priest, who advised him to let her go.
The song's title comes from the heartfelt passage, Core, core 'ngrato, te haie pigliato 'a vita mia! Tutt' è passato, e nun nce pienze cchiù!, which approximates in English to "Ungrateful heart, you have stolen my life! It's all over and you don't think about it any more!".
1937 - Tino Rossi (78 rpm) with the title Catarì! Catarì! (Columbia Records – BF 39); 1963 album Chansons de mes films (Songs from my movies) (Columbia Records – FSX 146)
1943 - Carlo Buti (78 rpm) (Columbia Records - D 13001); album A life for the song vol. 1 (TIMA Club)
2016 - Jonas Kaufmann with the title Catarì, Catarì in the double album Dolce vita (Sweet life) (Sony Classical – 88875183631)
xxxx - Sam Le Cuisinier Troubadour with Pierre Spiers Trio (EP) with the title Catari (Century – 6934)
References
^Joseph Sciorra, “Diasporic Musings on Veracity and Uncertainties of ‘Core ‘ngrato’,” Neapolitan Postcards: The Canzone Napoletana as Transnational Subject, Ed. Goffredo Plastino and Joseph Sciorra. (Lanham, MD: The Scarecrow Press, 2016), 115-150.
^Kati's Story: Recollections of Two Worlds - Page 84 Catherine Veres - 2009 "Core 'ngrato, a Neapolitan song written in 1911 for Enrico Caruso by Salvatore Cardillo (1874 - 1947)"
^Mary J. Phillips-Matz Rosa Ponselle: American diva 1997 - Page 54 "Marziale's brother wrote the lyrics to the classic Neapolitan song «Core 'ngrato» with its passionate plea to «Catarì, Catarì»".
