RARE 1st RECORDING OF AN OPERA IN ENGLISH PAGLIACCI by LEONCAVALLO 1927 12LPs
£
20
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26
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Description
RARE 1st RECORDING OF AN OPERA IN ENGLISH PAGLIACCI by LEONCAVALLO 1927 12LPs
The first ever electric recording of an opera sung in English. Very rare original discs.
Principals, Chorus & Orchestra of the British National Opera Company
Conductor: Eugene Goossens Snr.
Recorded in the Scala Theatre, London, 1927.
Released as Columbia 4347-4358 12 10" 80RPM discs in album.
Duration 62'13"
CAST:
Miriam Licette- Nedda/Columbine
Frank Mullings - Canio/Punchinello
Harold Williams - Tonio/Taddeo
Heddle Nash - Peppe/Harlequin
Dennis Noble - Silvio
A world-renowned recording and a groundbreaking technological achievement. The British National Sound Archive dated this recording to 1927, probably early spring. (Consider: the first commercial recordings made with microphones ('electric' recordings) were released in 1925.)
This recording was made entirely on location at the Scala Theatre, London, with full cast, chorus and orchestra, and released across 24 sides of 10" 80rpm discs - the first electric opera recording in history in the English language.
Of the cast members it is perhaps Heddle Nash whose name is still well known, with many reissues of his recordings available on CD. The soprano Miriam Licette made her stage debut in Rome in 1911 in Madame Butterfly and went on to become a mainstay of the London opera companies of the era, both with the BNO and Covent Garden. Frank Mullings was later to become Professor of Singing at the Royal Manchester College of Music. Australian Harold Williams made a number of recordings for Columbia, including the title role in a 1930 recording of Mendelssohn's Elijah that we've restored for CD release on Divine Art Historic Sound in March 2005. Dennis Noble's 1923 opera debut was in the Silvio character he plays here - he also went on to make many fine and renowned recordings
THE DISC ARE IN GOOD ORDER AS IS THE BOOK
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