Officials preparing to fill a canister with records of famous opera singers and instrumental pieces on Dec. 24, 1907. (Urnes de l'Opéra - 1907)
Posted on 02/16/2009 10:38:46 PM PST by Cincinna
a group of bewhiskered men gathered in the bowels of the Paris Opera to launch a project which, by definition, they could never see to fruition. First, 24 carefully-wrapped wax records were placed inside two lead and iron containers. These were then sealed and locked away in a small storage room, with instructions that they remain undisturbed for 100 years.
The man behind this musical time-capsule was Alfred Clark, a New Yorker who headed the London-based Gramophone Company and provided the records. And, in truth, once the ceremony was over, he had achieved his primary objective of drawing attention to his company and to the new flat disc records that it was promoting to compete with better known cylinder records.
"I know of no other case where a commercial firm has obtained so much free publicity as we have," he wrote to a colleague two days later.
The Paris Opera displayed a more elevated sense of history. Through this selection of opera arias and instrumental pieces, it announced, future generations could discover the musical taste and the quality of sound recording of the early 20th century.
French officials also predicted radical changes in recording technology. So, in 1912, when they added 24 records and two more containers to the trove, they included a new hand-cranked gramophone, along with instructions on how it worked and a score of spare stylus needles.
The 100 years were up more than a year ago and, after lengthy examination, cleaning and digitizing of the records, EMI, the heir to the Gramophone Company, is reissuing them in three CD's. The collection will be released in France later this month as "Les Urnes de l'Opéra" and in the United States in early April with the English subtitle, "Treasures from the Paris Opera Vaults."
(Excerpt) Read more at iht.com ...
The arts will never be the same.
>I’m sure all true opera lovers are thrilled, excited and generally wetting their pants in anticipation of “An Inconvenient Truth”, <
Does everyone burst into flames in the last scene while singing the requisite high C’s??
One hopes.
That is really good, interesting composition. I had never heard it before!
It reminds me of Rachmaninoff. It’s a little discordant for me but still enough of a melody to follow. Thanks for the link!
Now that’s music. Ahhh....
The late great Steve Goodman!
Doc Severinson was supposed to conduct the Phoenix Symphony one time but he got sick and had to cancel. Instead, they got Bill Conti to conduct. He was VERY interesting and a great conductor. Although, we did have to hear “The Theme from Rocky” several times. He had some very funny stories.
I find Conti underrated as a composer. He’s capable of great stuff—his theme for the miniseries NORTH AND SOUTH and his (derivative but fun) score for THE RIGHT STUFF are terrific. He scored an IMAX movie about the Grand Canyon that was the best score I’ve heard for an IMAX movie, just magnificent along with the visuals of the camera swooping through the canyon.
Wagner is one of my top favorites ! I have tons of preludes and overtures on SACD — which is pure listening joy. I also have the complete ‘Ring’ cycle (Met/Levine) which I may have listened to only once or twice.
Mussorgsky — eh. Most Russians, other than Tchaikovsky, were known for only one or two pieces that made them famous. As for 20th century composers, I think most were short on talent, long on ‘experimentation’. New Age does music did not equal high quality.
Well Mussorgsky died fairly young. ‘Boris Godunov’ is titanic enough for him to be regarded as a great composer. There are plenty of great 20th century composers. Ives, Stravinsky and Bartok wrote some great music.
He’s so perfect. I used to play Cello... I performed this piece... I must have listened to this 50 times!
“I think what will surprise a lot of modern opera listeners will be the size of the voices. We have grown so accustomed to every role being sung by powerhouse voices - I think we will hear a much different type of voice at the turn of the last century.”
I speak as a collector of antique records over the past 40 years. The opera singers were little different 100 years ago than they are today. There were plenty of powerhouse singers then, besides Caruso. They needed power to project their voices from a stage without amplification. All recordings prior to 1925 were acoustic, depending on the singer’s voice alone to vibrate the recording needle - for that reason many of the early singers hired were those whose voices best favored the primitive recording technology of the time.
They got me. I want all three CD's...
Of course, arguing opera can be far more heated than arguing politics ;-)
I, too, have been collecting vintage recordings for quite a long time.
Have a great day!
Thanks for the heads up on “THE REST IS NOISE: LISTENING TO THE 20TH CENTURY by Alex Ross.”
Ah! Mahler! One of the great musical geniuses of all time.
Not for wooses, mind you.
OMG! This will rival “Nixon in China” as an operatic landmark.
I’m waiting (with baited breath) for “Bushed... the Opera”.
These folks are nuts.
I read this story last night. Fascinating! Thanks for the ping! : )
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