"Core 'ngrato" (; "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 Canzone napoletana (), sometimes referred to as Neapolitan song ( nap, canzona napulitana ), is a generic term for a traditional form of music sung in the Neapolitan language, ordinarily for the male voice singing solo, although well represented b ...

by emigrant American composer

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 encompa ...

with lyrics by Riccardo Cordiferro (real name Alessandro Sisca). It was adopted by

Enrico Caruso Enrico Caruso (, , ; 25 February 1873 – 2 August 1921) was an Italian operatic first lyrical tenor then dramatic tenor. He sang to great acclaim at the major opera houses of Europe and the Americas, appearing in a wide variety of roles (74) ...

but it is not known whether he commissioned Cardillo and Sisca to write it. It is the only well-known standard Neapolitan song to have been written in America.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»". 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!". The song was sung in the season three finale of ''The Sopranos'' by

Dominic Chianese Dominic Chianese (; born February 24, 1931) is an American actor, singer, and musician. He is best known for his roles as Corrado "Junior" Soprano on the HBO series ''The Sopranos'' (1999–2007), Johnny Ola in ''The Godfather Part II'' (197 ...

in character as Corrado "Junior" Soprano Jr.

Cover

*xxxx -

(78 rpm) ( Disco "Grammofono" – D.B. 142); 1960 album ''Addio mia bella Napoli'' (Goodbye my beautiful Naples) (

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also Aris ...

– LM 20080) *1937 -

Tino Rossi Constantin "Tino" Rossi (29 April 1907 – 26 September 1983) was a French singer and film actor of Corsican origin. Born in Ajaccio, Corsica, Rossi was gifted with a voice well suited for opera. He became a tenor in the French cabaret style. ...

(78 rpm) with the title ''Catarì! Catarì!'' (

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

– BF 39); 1963 album ''Chansons de mes films'' (Songs from my movies) (

– FSX 146) *1943 -

Carlo Buti Carlo Buti (14 November 1902 – 16 November 1963) was an Italian interpreter of popular and folk music. He was known as "the Golden Voice of Italy", and was possibly the first superstar of Italian music in the twentieth century. He recorded 1574 so ...

(78 rpm) (Columbia Records - D 13001); album ''A life for the song vol. 1'' (TIMA Club) *1951 -

Claudio Villa Claudio Villa (born Claudio Pica; 1 January 1926 – 7 February 1987) was an Italian singer and actor. Biography Tenor Claudio Villa was born Claudio Pica in the Trastevere quarter of Rome in 1926. He recorded over 3000 songs, sold 45 millio ...

(78 rpm) (

Parlophon Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a German–British record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 192 ...

– TT 9513); album ''Claudio Villa'' (

– PMDQ. 8008) *1952 -

Roberto Murolo Roberto Murolo (19 January 1912 – 13 March 2003) was an Italian musician. Career Born in Naples, Italy as the son of poet Ernesto Murolo and Lia Cavalli, Murolo showed a began singing and playing the guitar as a child. Murolo won the Itali ...

(78 rpm) (

durium Durium is a highly durable synthetic resin developed in 1929. It was used in phonograph records, as well as in the casting process for metallic type and in the aeronautics industry. Origin It is a resorcinol-formaldehyde resin, the result of ...

, AI 9908); 1963 album ''Napoletana from 1909 to 1915'' (

, ms AI 77074) *1953 -

Giuseppe Di Stefano Giuseppe Di Stefano (24 July 19213 March 2008) was an Italian operatic tenor who sang professionally from the mid-1940s until the early 1990s. Called Pippo by both fans and friends, he was known as the "Golden voice" or "The most beautiful voic ...

(78 rpm) (

His Master's Voice His Master's Voice (HMV) was the name of a major British record label created in 1901 by The Gramophone Co. Ltd. The phrase was coined in the late 1890s from the title of a painting by English artist Francis Barraud, which depicted a Jack Russ ...

– D.A.2043); album ''Neapolitan Songs'' (

– BLP 1052) *1955 - Mario Del Monaco (78 rpm) (

London Records London Recordings (or London Records and London Music Stream) is a British record label that marketed records in the United States, Canada, and Latin America for Decca Records from 1947 to 1980 before becoming semi-independent. The London nam ...

– P.18214); album ''Italian Song Recital'' (

– LM 20080) *1955 -

Tito Schipa Tito Schipa (; born Raffaele Attilio Amedeo Schipa; 2 January 1889 in Lecce16 December 1965) was an Italian lyric tenor A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice ...

album ''Chansons napolitaines'' (Neapolitan songs) ( Vogue Durium – DVM 90005) *1957 -

Beniamino Gigli Beniamino Gigli ( , ; 20 March 1890 – 30 November 1957) was an Italian opera singer (lyric tenor). He is widely regarded as one of the greatest tenors of his generation. Early life Gigli was born in Recanati, in the Marche, the son of a shoem ...

album na sera 'e maggio'' (One evening in May) (

La Voce del Padrone La voce del padrone was the Italian label for the His Master's Voice recording house. The house belonged to The Gramophone Company Ltd., of Hayes (Middlesex, United Kingdom) which owned several labels in Italy, like Columbia, Marconiphone, Angel ...

- QALP 10186) *1958 - Rinus Van Essen (single) with the title ''Catari, Catari'' text by De Vos, (CNR – UH 9773) *1959 -

Franco Corelli Franco Corelli (8 April 1921 – 29 October 2003) was an Italian tenor who had a major international opera career between 1951 and 1976. Associated in particular with the spinto and dramatic tenor roles of the Italian repertory, he was cel ...

(EP) (

Angel Records Angel Records was a record label founded by EMI in 1953. It specialised in classical music, but included an occasional operetta or Broadway score. and one Peter Sellers comedy disc. The famous Recording Angel trademark was used by the Gramophon ...

- AA-4014); album ''Neapolitan Songs'' (

- ANG. 35852) *1961 -

Luciano Tajoli Luciano Tajoli (17 April 1920 – 3 August 1996) was an Italian singer and actor. Music festival Luciano Tajoli participated several times (1961, 1962, 1963, and 1970) in the Sanremo Music Festival, winning in 1961 with the song Al di là.Mar ...

(

Odeon Records Odeon Records is a record label founded in 1903 by Max Straus and Heinrich Zuntz of the International Talking Machine Company in Berlin, Germany. The label's name and logo come from the Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe in Paris. History Straus an ...

- MSOQ 5290); 1963 album ''Luciano Tajoli'' (

- MOCQ 5010) *1965 - Burt Blanca (single) (Hebra Records - 329); album ''Burt Blanca and The King Creole's – Vol. 3'' (Epn – EPN 3220) *1967 - The Maze (single) in English with title ''Catari Catari'' text by G. Fields (

MGM Records MGM Records was a record label founded by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio in 1946 for the purpose of releasing soundtrack recordings (later LP albums) of their musical films. It transitioned into a pop music label that continued into the ...

– MGM 1368) *1985 -

Luciano Pavarotti Luciano Pavarotti (, , ; 12 October 19356 September 2007) was an Italian operatic tenor who during the late part of his career crossed over into popular music, eventually becoming one of the most acclaimed tenors of all time. He made numerou ...

album ''Napoli: Tre voci un'anima Vol. 1'' (Naples: Three voices one soul) (G & G Records – TGGK 72) *1977 - Giancarlo Pica (single) (Dig-It International Records – DG 1147) *1978 -

José Carreras Josep Maria Carreras Coll (; born 5 December 1946), better known as José Carreras (, ), is a Spanish operatic tenor who is particularly known for his performances in the operas of Donizetti, Verdi and Puccini. Born in Barcelona, he made his de ...

(single) (

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters i ...

– 422 936-2); album ''José Carreras'' (

– 95 00 584) *1996 - Mina ''Naples'' (PDU – PMA 790) *2005 -

Renata Tebaldi Renata Tebaldi ( , ; 1 February 1922 – 19 December 2004) was an Italian lirico-spinto soprano popular in the post-war period, and especially prominent as one of the stars of La Scala, San Carlo and, especially, the Metropolitan Opera. O ...

''Arie da opere-III e canzone'' (Arias from operas-III and song) (Hobby & Work Hobby & Work Publishing – ORT004) *2006 -

Plácido Domingo José Plácido Domingo Embil (born 21 January 1941) is a Spanish opera singer, conductor, and arts administrator. He has recorded over a hundred complete operas and is well known for his versatility, regularly performing in Italian, French, ...

album ''Italia, ti amo'' (Italy, I love you) (

Deutsche Grammophon Deutsche Grammophon (; DGG) is a German classical music record label that was the precursor of the corporation PolyGram. Headquartered in Berlin Friedrichshain, it is now part of Universal Music Group (UMG) since its merger with the UMG family of ...

– 00289 477 6086), released in Germany and Ukraine *2016 -

Il Volo Il Volo (; Italian for "The Flight") is an Italian operatic pop trio, consisting of baritone Gianluca Ginoble, and tenors Piero Barone and Ignazio Boschetto. They describe their music as "popera". Having won the Sanremo Music Festival 2015, the ...

with

''Notte magica'' (Magic night) (

Sony Masterworks Sony Music Masterworks (Sony Masterworks) is a record label, the result of a restructuring of Sony Music's classical music division. Before the acquisition of Bertelsmann's shares in the former Sony BMG, the label was known as Sony BMG Masterwor ...

– 0889853519620) *2016 -

Jonas Kaufmann Jonas Kaufmann (born 10 July 1969) is a German operatic tenor. He is best known for the versatility of his repertoire, performing a variety of opera roles in multiple languages in recitalTommasini, Anthony (21 February 2014)"A Tenor Finds Energy ...

with the title ''Catarì, Catarì'' in the double album ''Dolce vita'' (Sweet life) (

Sony Classical Sony Classical is an American record label founded in 1924 as Columbia Masterworks Records, a subsidiary of Columbia Records. In 1980, the Columbia Masterworks label was renamed as CBS Masterworks Records. The CBS Records Group was acquired by S ...

– 88875183631) *xxxx - Sam Le Cuisinier Troubadour with Pierre Spiers Trio (EP) with the title ''Catari'' (Century – 6934)

References

{{authority control 1911 songs Neapolitan songs