1151
The aria from Khovanshchina is from Rimsky-Korsakov’s version of Moussorgsky’s opera. “Forgive me bright celestial vision” is from Pique Dame.
“But this was a dream” (Lassena) is also known as “Ich hatte eins ein schönes Vaterland” (Eduard Lassen).
1172
The original label of Gailhard’s record of “La Paloma” reads:
La Paloma créé par M. Pedro Gailhard en 1863.
There is presumably some error as in 1863 Gailhard was only 15.
1178/9
Erich Leinsdorf died in Zürich on 11 September 1993.
[Dirk Heinrich]
1185
It appears from local sources that Leliva did not sing in Buenos Aires.
1191
The matrix number for track 16 is xP 4300
1205
Elisabeth Ohlhoff was born in 1884, not 1854
1220
Tracks 8: 20-XII-30; 10: 22-V-28; 12, 19: 27-X-30; 13: after 26-IV-28; 15, 16, 17, 18: V-27; 20, 21: 25-XI-30; 22, 23: 5-VII-28. [Dave Mason]
1223
Marie-Thérèse de Ségur, Comtesse de Guerne (1859-1933) was born in Paris and lived most of her life there. She was a friend of Marcel Proust and Reynaldo Hahn. After her divorce from M. de Guerne is said to have shared a house with her brother, which gave rise to some scandal. [J. Nirouët]
1232/3
Leo Schützendorf was born in Cologne on 5 May 1886. [Dirk Heinrich]
1242
Eleonora de Cisneros née Broadfoot (New York 1878-New York 1934) was taught in New York by Mm. Murio-Celli. Whilst she was still a student Jean de Reszke heard her and arranged her début as a Walküre at the Metropolitan Opera in 1900. In 1901 she married Francesco de Cisneros, a Cuban nobleman, and moved to Europe where she studied under Jean de Reszke and Victor Maurel in Paris and Trabadello and Lombardi in Milan. Her European début at the Teatro Regio, Turin was followed by a dozen years of highly successful appearances in Italy; these included the Italian premières of Pique Dame and Electra. She also sang in Lisbon, St. Petersburg and at the Manhattan Opera, New York. In the late 1920s she returned to New York and taught.
1243
Pierre-Aurèle Asselin was born in 1881 at Sainte-Famille, l’Isle d’Orléans, Quebec. He moved to Montreal when he was about 20. There he opened a shop selling fur coats and also sang in churches. In 1916 he gave his first concert and, perhaps as a consequence, he was invited to record for the Columbia company. He remained with Columbia until 1921, but from 1918 to 1920 he recorded for Edison, and in 1929 for Brunswick. In the 1930s he gradually gave up singing, giving himself more to selling furs. On his death in 1964 the business passed to one of his sons. [Dominic Combe]
1244
Burzio was born June 20th 1872. Mazzoleni was born March 12th 1883.
Professor Henig writes: In my notes to this issue, I referred to Eugenia Burzio’s appearance in Leoncavallo’s Goffredo Mameli . The première was at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa on April 27th 1916 and I had thought this was its sole performance. In fact the opera was performed at the Teatro Verdi in Pisa just two weeks later on May 13th. As far as I can ascertain, the entire cast and orchestra were imported from Genoa suggesting there may also have been performances in other Italian cities. I can find no trace of the work after 1916 and it is not even mentioned in Loewenberg’s comprehensive Annals of Opera . The programme for Pisa has the composer as conductor. Other singers, now virtually unknown, were Vida Ferluga, Carmela Alabasio and Emilio Bione; a far cry from the days when Burzio was singing with Zenatello and Amato.
1246
Eugen D'Albert died in 1932
1248
Early pressings of the two pieces from Die Walküre, tracks 4 and 5, were sung by Salomea Kruszelnicka. Later one side was replaced by this 1921 recording of Mary Verriotis, but the catalogue number was retained.
1249
Emilio Perea died in 1946. Mazzoleni sang the title role in Aida and Pacini sang the title role in Rigoletto. [ ]
1253
When the Elgar text was transcribed, “pizzicatto fervently” seemed odd; it is now clear that he said, “pizzicatto firmly”.
1258
We apologise to Malcolm McLean for omitting that he designed the cover.
1260
Granville Jones, violinist, was born in Cymmer, Glamorganshire in 1922. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music and was later Professor of Violin there. He was conductor, director of music and leader of Philomusica. In 1952 he became leader of the Boyd Neel Orchestra. He played in the London Symphony Orchestra and from 1957 to 1959 he was a member of the (New) London String Quartet.
Norina Semino, cellist, was born near and studied in Turin. She made her concert début at the age of 11. Her career developed in England, France, Germany, Scandinavia and Switzerland. In 1927 she settled in England. She played in the New London Trio, the Harry Isaacs Trio and the Zorian String Quartet and founded her own trio.
1264
From Dr. Roland-François Lack, Department of French, University College, London
Regarding the recording of Flégier’s 1882 song ‘Le Cor’, adapted from Alfred de Vigny’s 1826 poem of that name. I was very interested in your correspondent’s remarks, though – without being in a position to judge the recording from a strictly musical point of view – I feel some defence could be offered for Plançon’s treatment of the song from the viewpoint of French literary history.
Plançon omits a stanza of Flégier’s text; Flégier had omitted eighteen stanzas of Vigny’s. This sequence of adaptations looks much like a process of diminution, a succession of literally reductive readings, but the situation is not so simple.
Flégier’s is the most dramatic revision, omitting six sevenths of Vigny’s poem, while repeating and modifying parts of the text he preserves, producing a version quite different in scale and genre from the original. It reads, in the printed score, as follows:
J’aime le son du cor, le soir, au fond des bois,
Soit qu’il chante les pleurs de la biche aux abois,
Ou l’adieu du chasseur que l’écho faible accueille
Et que le vent du nord porte de feuille en feuille
J’aime le son du cor, le soir, au fond des bois.
Que de fois, seul dans l’ombre à minuit demeuré,
J’ai souri de l’entendre, et plus souvent pleuré.
Car je croyais ouïr de ces bruits prophétiques
Qui précédaient la mort des paladins antiques.
Bien souvent, seul dans l’ombre à minuit demeuré,
J’ai souri de l’entendre, et plus souvent pleuré.
Ames des Chevaliers, revenez-vous encore?
Est-ce vous qui parlez avec la voix du Cor?
Roncevaux! Roncevaux! Dans ta sombre vallée
L’ombre du grand Roland n’est donc pas consolée!
J’aime le son du cor, le soir, au fond des bois,
J’aime le son du cor, le soir, au fond des bois.
The repetitions are as striking as the omissions. Vigny’s first line is given four times (at the opening, once after the first stanza, and twice at the close, after the third), accounting for almost a quarter of the song text. The second stanza is followed immediately by a repeat of its first two lines, with a curious, because so slight, variation in the first three syllables: ‘Que defois, seul dans l’ombre à minuit demeuré’ becomes ‘Bien souvent, seul dans l’ombre à minuit demeuré’. The ‘bien souvent’ is not in Vigny, and might perhaps be intended to avoid the dissonance of repeated ‘que’ sounds (‘anti ques’ followed by ‘ Que de fois’).
In reducing Vigny’s text, Flégier suppresses four stanzas of contemplative scene-setting, and fourteen stanzas of narrative, detailing the agony and death of Roland. Of the narrative he preserves only the resonant names Roland and Roncevaux (and the hint of archaism in the phrase ‘paladins antiques’). The tempo of the setting passes from allegro for the first stanza through andantino for the second to tempo di marcia funebre for the third. The intensification in this last stanza seems intended to share the burden of the past borne by these vestigial elements of narrative, with the funereal pace serving as musical representation of the death of Roland.
With these suppressions the story of Roland’s death is now present only as memory, the memory of France’s legendary past, the ‘noble et tragique histoire’ embodied in the hero’s name and in the name of his death-place. It is also the memory of France’s literary past, of a topic born with the Chanson de Roland, revived first by Vigny’s poem and then by the rediscovery of the Chanson, sustained thereafter by many others (Hugo, Banville, and several Parnassian poets), eventually to die out in the Symbolist period. Verlaine’s ‘Le son du cor s’afflige ver les bois’ (set by Debussy in 1891 and by Charles Loeffler in 1901) explicitly cites Vigny, but Roland is little more than a ghostly presence.
In Plançon’s version he is not even that. By the time he adapts the song, the topic has all but disappeared from poetry, and the singer finds himself, no doubt unwittingly, in accord with the aesthetic elite, for whom, post-Dreyfus, reference to Roland is marked only by nationalism and militarism.
There are no doubt purely practical reasons for the modifications Plançon makes: if I understand the situation correctly, the recording time available with matrixes of the period obliged him to omit one of the three stanzas – as well as the first reprise of the opening line.
Your correspondent describes the omission of the ‘Ames des chevaliers …’ stanza as ‘depriving the song of sense, spirit, emotional impact’; I’m sure he is right, but those qualities were only in Flégier’s song through the reference to Roland. By 1905, any reference to Roland in poetry will have lost sense, spirit and emotional impact. Plançon’s version may be deficient, but it is, in its time, modern.
1268
Further details of performances by MANUEL UTOR
Barcelona, Teatro de Novedades, February 4th 1903, L'Africana
with Júdice, Gessler, Gnaccarini, Sorgi, Boldu, Oliver
Barcelona, Teatro Tivoli, March 7th 1903, L'Africana
Valencia, Teatro Principal, 16/18/19 April 1903, L'Africana
with Bordalba (Selika), Alabau (Inés), Hediger (Nelusko)
In Valencia, Utor spent the evening fighting the tempi set by the
conductor. This created havoc in the communication between
singers and orchestra.
Barcelona, Teatro del Bosque, August 26th 1907, Aïda
with Júdice, de Achili, Romeu, Conrado, Giralt, Leoni, Oliver
Barcelona, Teatro del Bosque, September 13th 1907, La Favorita
with Júdice, Romeu, Calvo, Baratta
Arbós, Teatro Arbosense, 22nd December 1911, Marina
with Puerto, Sanahuja, Pujol, Riba
Arbós, Teatro Arbosense, 25th December 1911,
Concert, Utor sang ‘Vesti la giubba’ at 4 p.m.
Arbós, Teatro Arbosense, 25th December 1911 at 9.15 p.m.,
Cavalleria Rusticana
with Puerto, Hernandez
François Nouvion
1269
On 30th May 1951 Tom Jenkins gave a recital at the Wigmore Hall. “Mr. Jenkins, who has won a wide reputation in the sphere of light music, demonstrated his ability to present works of substance.” A violin sonata by von Einem was “admirably performed”. In Vitali’s Chaconne, the reviewer would have preferred “fewer variations of pace”. Beethoven’s Sonata Op.31 No.3 had “a touch of superficiality though the work in itself is not one of Beethoven’s more profound utterances”. In Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto (with piano) and Ravel’s Tzigane, “a dazzling performance”, he revealed himself “as a highly accomplished violinist (and) a thorough musician.” [Denham Ford]
1281
Bice Silvestri was the daughter of the distinguished bass Alessandro Silvestri (1851-1922).
1294
La Fiesta was shot at the Manhattan Opera House. The orchestra was conducted by Herman Heller. Co-stars of Anna Case were Eduardo Cansino and Elisa Cansino, father and aunt of Rita Heyworth, né Margarita Cansino. It was a short in the Vitaphone programme which featured Don Juan. The première was on 6 August 1926 in New York.
1295
The announcer states clearly and unambiguously that the concert is conducted by Bernstein. Nevertheless, it has been suggested that the first work was not conducted by him. An American in Paris was recorded 6 XII 47
1303
LX 308/9/10 were recorded 31 III 28 [Dave Mason]
1309
The last track is Prelude and Fugue in c minor, WTC Book I No.2, BWV 847, not Prelude and Fugue in G major, WTC Book II No.15, BWV 884, as listed. [Charles Carranza]
1316
Augusto Scampini was born at Garlasco near Pavia, not Barcelona [J. Mongour]
1318
Caro Roma né Carrie Northey (Oakland, California 10th September 1866-Oakland, California 22nd September 1937) appeared in San Francisco as a child prodigy before studying at the New England Conservatory, Boston. Her debut was at the Castle Square Opera Company, Boston. She then sang at the Tivoli Opera, San Fransisco for eight years. She toured in Canada, the United States and England. Her last appearance was in Mexicana in New York in 1906. She was known for her salon-style inspirational songs and imitations of black folksongs of which she composed around 300. She probably visited London several times around 1900. [Paul Cleary and ]
According to a footnote in Kutsch und Riemens-Großes Sängerlexikon A. del Campo was a pseudonym of Alberto de Bassini.
Apostolu sings ‘O gero demos’ from the title role of Marco Botsaris by Pavlos Carrer
1322
Tracks 18 to 21 are from a broadcast from the Camden Theatre, London on 18 IX 49. The orchestra, chorus and conductor are as stated. [Mark Ricaldone]
1323
Prof. de Villiers got to know Boninsegna around 1935. He was in Milan and simply opened a telephone directory, found her name in it and rang asking if he might call.
She was about five foot ten, stoutly built, but not fat and with well cared for snow-white hair.
From the way they wrote their arias she felt that Ponchielli, Donizetti and Verdi expected the chest tone. She felt that through insufficient training and general lack of culture the Italian art of singing had deteriorated; in many cases singers knew only their own roles and sometimes had no idea of the plot. "Was it true that often the great female singers did not provide for their old age?" "I can only speak for myself; I have always invested my money carefully, so that I own several large properties in this street. I stopped singing when I realised that as a woman I could not create an illusion on the stage any longer. I have never regretted my decision."
On being asked how her voice was, Boninsegna sat at the piano and sang "O patria mia" magnificently, including the high note. Boninsegna openly acknowledged that she was not versatile in the manner of Destinn or Farrar, but she knew intimately the world of Italian opera. Without any pretence she said that she had no success with Tosca, a part that might have been written for her.
Information from 'Musici en Mense' by Prof. Dr. Con. G. S. de Villiers, kindly translated from Afrikaans and sent by Mr. Pieter Ferreira.
1330
Waldemar Liachowsky was born in Stolptsy, Russia, in 1874. He emigrated to Berlin as a young man, received his academic and musical education there, and studied piano with Artur Schnabel. His first big break came as accompanist for Mischa Elman, one of the early child prodigies to come out of Russia. He travelled to America with Elman and accompanied him at his debut in Carnegie Hall in 1908 and in many recitals to come. Liachowsky became a prominent accompanist for numerous famous violinists, including Maud Powell, Fritz Kreisler, Jascha Heifetz, as well as for Liedersingers. He even accompanied Albert Einstein who was an amateur violinist. He married the Lieder singer Paula Nivell, with whom he appeared on the concertstage. They had two sons, Henry and Rudolph, whom he sent out of Nazi Germany to safety in the U.S. Liachowsky himself emigrated to the U.S. in 1937, changed his name to Lea, and continued his musical career, coaching and accompanying young violinists and singers. He died in New York in 1958. - Rudolph Lea
1337
Precise dating of German recordings around 1918 is rarely possible. Péter Fülöp-Mahler Discography has c.1915 and c.1921 for tracks 2 and 1 respectively. The earlier date was followed for the title of the album. We now incline to the view that both discs were made c.1921.
The name of Jascha Horenstein appears in the track listing as the conductor of Kindertotenlieder. This is correct. Unfortunately the booklet contains a note about George Szell. The correct note follows:
JASCHA HORENSTEIN [Kiev 1899-London 1973] At the age of six the family moved to Königsberg and at eleven to Vienna, his mother was Austrian. He studied philosophy and music; music theory with Joseph Marx and composition with Franz Schreker. In 1920 he followed Schreker to Berlin, where he conducted choral societies and became assistant to Wilhelm Furtwängler. His made his début as a conductor with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra in 1923. From 1925 to 1928 he was a guest conductor with the Berlin Philharmonic and Blüthner Orchestras. In 1928 he moved to the Düsseldorf Opera, giving Wozzek there in 1930, Berg supervising. He left Germany in 1933 and from then until 1937 worked in Belgium, France, Palestine, Poland, Russia, Scandinavia and the Antipodes. In 1940 he went to America where he conducted the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and widely throughout both Americas. In Paris he conducted Wozzek in 1950 and Z Mrtvého Domu (The House of the Dead-Janáček) in 1951, and in New York, Doktor Faustus (Busoni) in 1964; all three local premières. He conducted opera with notable success in West Berlin and Covent Garden. His performances of Bruckner and Mahler were widely respected and the current popularity of the latter composer in this country owes not a little to his advocacy.
1350
"In June (1908) the German (Lyrophon) company claimed credit for being the first business to record the celebrated opera singer, Francisco d'Andrade."
- Frank Andrews [For the Record-No.18]
1356
Flagstad sings Dem Unendlichen, not Die Allmacht.
1357
It has been suggested that the name Diane van Demmelen, handwritten on the label, should read Diane van Dommelen. [S. Bee]n suggested1357
1360
Track 8 is not "Robert! Robert! toi que j'aime" from Act IV, but the recitative and aria from Act III "Robert! Robert!" . . . " Quand je quittai la Normandie". [D. Wilson and L. Hooper]
1362
Track 21. Op.3 No.1 appears in a book of Henschel’s songs published in 1905, the text is by G.H. von der Oder
Mein müdes Auge flieht der Schlaf,
seit ich ihr Angesicht gesehn,
seit ihres Auges Blick mich traf,
möcht ich vor Lust und Leid vergehn!
O, dürfte ich ihr sagen doch
Das Wort so traut, so woniglich,
Und flüstern leis: ich liebe dich! [Dave Mason]
1377
1st line, back of booklet should read: original six disc issue