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Accordingly, when Enrico Caruso ( 1873 – 1921 ) — the most emulated Mediterranean tenor of the 20th century — made his acclaimed New York Metropolitan Opera debut in November 1903, one of the specific vocal attributes for which he was praised by music reviewers was the absence of a disruptive vibrato from his singing.

The scholarly critic William James Henderson wrote in The Sun newspaper, for example, that Caruso " has a pure tenor voice and is without the typical Italian bleat ".

Caruso's gramophone recordings support Henderson's assessment.

( Other prominent Mediterranean tenors of the late 19th century to early 20th century who, like Caruso, did not " bleat " were Angelo Masini, Francesco Tamagno, Francesco Marconi, Francisco Viñas, Emilio De Marchi, Giuseppe Borgatti and Giovanni Zenatello, while the phenomenon was rare among French, German, Russian and Anglo-Saxon tenors of the same period — see Scott.