Notes for Issue 24

The details of the recordings included on Issue 24

GRAZIELLA PARETO (1889-1971)

“L’hereu riera”/ “Bon cacador” (Traditional) Speed 78rpm

“La Pastoretta”/ “Canco de Nadal” (Traditional) Speed 78rpm

Matrices Bs2250-2 and Bs2251-1. Recorded in Barcelona on 5th Feb. 1926 and issued as DA781

A few issues ago we published two out of the eight sides of the series of Spanish songs recorded by Pareto in 1924, just before the invention of electrical recording. The fact that they had less than a year in the catalogue and that they were only published in Spain has meant that they are of legendary rarity. All but one of the sides appear to be at Hayes, and, in due course, we hope to publish all that are available. This particular record has the further distinction of the accompaniments of Federico Longas, who wrote so many beautiful songs.

PAUL FRANZ (1876-1950)

PARSIFAL (Wagner) Speed 79rpm

“Hagards mes yeux”

Matrix 02616v. Recorded on 7th December 1912 and issued as 032268

Born in Paris in 1876, this admirable tenor made a large number of recordings, very few of which were ever published outside France. He studied with Louis Delaquerriere, after having been refused by the Conservatoire. On the strength of winning a voice competition in 1908, he was engaged by the Paris Opera to sing Lohengrin, arriving in 1909 just as the great careers of Affre and Alvarez were coming to a close. Until his retirement in 1938, he dominated the singing of Wagner in Paris to an extent that has never been achieved since, after which, ironically, he taught at the Conservatoire. The fine performance of the aria from PARSIFAL is a memento of his appearances in the 1914 production at the Paris Opera, which was the first ever given in France.

MARTA FUCHS (1898-1974)

Schwanengesang (Schubert) both sides speed 77rpm

“Aufenthalt” and “In der Ferne”

Matrices ORA2201 and 2202 recorded in Berlin 29th August 1937 and previously unpublished

It is a sobering thought that in the 1930’s, the world’s opera houses had the choice of at least a dozen Brunnhildes and Isoldes of first rate quality. Of all of them, it seems that Marta Fuchs is the most neglected today. Yet it is impossible to think of an indifferent side among the discs that were published in her not very extensive recording career – though she was selected by Bruno Walter to sing Brunnhilde in the complete second act of DIE WALKURE with Lehmann and Melchoir, and made a late appearance in the Hugo Wolf Society. It is therefore a special pleasure to add two completely unknown unpublished Schubert songs to her meagre tally of recordings.

SELMA KURZ (1874-1933)

Die Zauberflote (Mozart)

“O zittre nacht….Zum leiden” speed 78rpm

Matrix Cc4736-4 recorded in London 25th June 1924 and previously unpublished

The recording of the Queen of the Night’s aria from the first act of Die Zauberflote was probably never published because it was made in June 1924, only months away from the advent of the electrical process. Had Kurz not given her consent for its publication, the master would have been destroyed, as they usually were unless permission was given. It is sung a semitone down, a frequent transposition in those days – and even in ours! Oddly enough, in my experience, the much more elaborate aria in the second act is almost never transposed. It is backed by her 1924 recording of the aria from Il Re Pastore which appeared – I believe – only in Germany and Austria on DB 799, the last acoustical disc that she made.

ANTONINA NESHDANOVA (1873-1950)

Ruslan and Ludmilla (Glinka)

Ludmilla’s Aria – “Ah, Destiny” speed 78rpm

Matrix 2718r. Recorded in Moscow 1907 and issued as 2-23140

This great soprano has been represented several times in our series. Here she sings two arias that were central to her repertoire. The limpid beauty of her tone is matched by the wonderful control of the dynamics of her expressive singing. No technical problem ever seems to faze her, and she always sings well within her means. There is an aristocratic reserve in her style that can be just as affecting as that of a more obviously emotional singer. It is a great stroke of luck that so many of her masters still exist in the archive at Hayes.

ALEXANDER ALEXANDROVICH

Orfeo (Gluck)

“Chiamo il mio ben cosi” speed 73rpm

Matrices 2786c and 2770c. Recorded in St. Petersburg April 1913 and issued as 022311 and 022310

Entirely new to our series is this truly wonderful lyric tenor whose records were only published in Russia, and whose art is almost unknown to the collecting world. A long time member of the Maryinski, he was also a famous recitalist and it is good to know that the archive possesses masters for several of his song recordings. Sergei Levik dismisses him as a comprimario capable of singing leading roles in an emergency, but he seems to me to be a singer of the first class, and his companions on his discs (Bronskaya, Sibiriakov, Katulskaya, Zbrujewa etc) would hardly be likely to have made records with a comprimario! He left Russia after the Revolution and published a long autobiography – in Russian – in New York.