Lauritz Melchior
Total time: (73:03) | ||
16 August 1943 | ||
Ten-inch Sides | ||
1. | PAGLIACCI: Recitar! … Vesti la giubba (Leoncavallo) | 2:32 |
13040-1 | ||
2. | PAGLIACCI: Recitar! … Vesti la giubba (Leoncavallo) | 2:44 |
13040-2 | ||
3. | PAGLIACCI: No, pagliaccio non son (Leoncavallo) | 2:53 |
13041-1 | ||
4. | PAGLIACCI: No, pagliaccio non son (Leoncavallo) | 2:49 |
13041-2 Note: Melchior cracks on the final B-flat and stops singing |
||
5. | TOSCA: E lucevan le stelle (Puccini) | 2:46 |
13042-1 | ||
6. | TOSCA: E lucevan le stelle (Puccini) | 2:47 |
13042-1 | ||
21 August 1943 | ||
Twelve-inch Sides | ||
7. | PAGLIACCI: No, pagliaccio non son (Leoncavallo) | 3:08 |
13065-1 | ||
8. | PAGLIACCI: No, pagliaccio non son (Leoncavallo) | 3:05 |
13065-2 | ||
9. | TOSCA: E lucevan le stelle (Puccini) | 2:54 |
13066-1 | ||
10. | TOSCA: E lucevan le stelle (Puccini) | 2:54 |
13066-2 | ||
31 August 1943 | ||
Twelve-inch Sides | ||
11. | OTELLO: Tu? Indietro! fuggi! … Ora e per sempre addio (Verdi) | 2:37 |
13085-1 | ||
12. | OTELLO: Tu? Indietro! fuggi! … Ora e per sempre addio (Verdi) | 2:40 |
13085-2 | ||
13. | OTELLO: Talor vedeste in mano di Desdemona … Sì, pel ciel marmoreo giuro! (Verdi) | 4:28 |
with Herbert Janssen, baritone 13086-1 |
||
14. | OTELLO: Talor vedeste in mano di Desdemona … Sì, pel ciel marmoreo giuro! (Verdi) | 4:27 |
with Herbert Janssen, baritone 13086-2 |
||
15. | OTELLO: Talor vedeste in mano di Desdemona … Sì, pel ciel marmoreo giuro! (Verdi) | 4:27 |
with Herbert Janssen, baritone 13086-3 |
||
16. | PAGLIACCI: No, pagliaccio non son (Leoncavallo) | 3:03 |
13090-1 | ||
17. | PAGLIACCI: No, pagliaccio non son (Leoncavallo) | 3:00 |
13090-2 | ||
18. | PAGLIACCI: Recitar! … Vesti la giubba (Leoncavallo) | 3:36 |
13091-1 | ||
19. | PAGLIACCI: Recitar! … Vesti la giubba (Leoncavallo) | 3:40 |
13091-2 | ||
20. | PAGLIACCI: Recitar! … Vesti la giubba (Leoncavallo) | 3:45 |
13091-3 | ||
21. | TOSCA: E lucevan le stelle (Puccini) | 2:59 |
13092-1 | ||
22. | TOSCA: E lucevan le stelle (Puccini) | 2:58 |
13092-1 | ||
23. | TOSCA: Recondita armonia (Puccini) | 2:58 |
13093-1 |
Languages: All tracks sung in Italian
Producers: Scott Kessler & Ward Marston
Audio Conservation: Ward Marston and J. Richard Harris
Booklet Coordinator: Mark S. Stehle
Booklet Design: Takeshi Takahashi
Marston would like to thank Carlos Garde for providing us with these test pressings, and Fabian Piscitelli for transporting them from Argentina to the US.
Marston is grateful to the Estate of John Stratton (Stephen Clarke, Executor) for its continuing support.
Lauritz Melchior
(1890-1973)
This CD contains twenty-three recordings made by the great Heldentenor, Lauritz Melchior, recorded in Buenos Aires, Argentina, while he was appearing at the Teatro Colón in 1943. On these discs, none of which were published, Melchior sings multiple takes of six selections from the Italian operatic repertory: Pagliacci, Tosca, and Otello. Baritone Herbert Janssen joins Melchior in the act two finale from Verdi’s Otello. Melchior had sung these operas during the 1920s, but never in the original Italian. It is not known why these selections were chosen to be recorded during his stay in Buenos Aires since he was not performing any of these roles at the Colón. The fact that so many takes were made seems to indicate that Columbia very much wanted to have versions that could be published, and certainly some of them could well have been released. The fact that they were not remains a mystery, but we are fortunate to be able to present this unusual group of recordings almost eighty years after their making. They are all transferred from shellac test pressings preserved by Argentinian collector Carlos Garde, who has graciously provided them to us for this project.