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Next in our little exhibit, we direct your attention to Percy Grainger,
the spectacularly eccentric Australian pianist and composer. In one version
of his will, Grainger stated: "I direct that my flesh be removed
from my bones and the flesh destroyed. I give and bequeath my skeleton
to the University of Melbourne, Carlton N.3., Victoria, Australia, for
preservation and possible display in the Grainger Museum." (Don't
visit the museum to see this - Grainger never got his wish.)
But some seemingly bizarre burials have to do with cultural differences, not eccentricity. This was the case with the great tenor Enrico Caruso, who died in Naples in 1921. It apparently struck no one as odd, in that time and place, to have his embalmed body placed on public display, much as Lenin would be a few years later. In the same spirit of respect, Caruso's friends arranged for him to be dressed in a new suit of clothes every year. It was all too much for Caruso's American widow, who managed to have the mausoleum sealed in 1927.
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