Nellie Melba Special Issue

Historic Masters has already released boxed sets of recordings by Adelina Patti and Francesco Tamagno. The third of the ‘big three’ whom the Gramophone Company was so anxious to entice to record was the great Australian soprano, Nellie Melba; already by 1904 a dominant force at Covent Garden.

As with the other two, perseverance paid, but on a similar condition: as with Patti and Tamagno, Melba’s first records were not made in the studio but rather in her own London home. It is thanks to the preservation in the Deutsche Grammophon archive of the very first shells of many of the earliest Melba recordings that Historic Masters is now able to release this important set.

The new box includes eight double sided recordings by Nellie Melba all dating from 1904 – fourteen from the original first shells. As a bonus there are two more titles from so-called copy shells made by the Gramophone Company back in 1904. An explanation of the term ‘copy shells’ is contained in the technical note included in the boxed set. Of the sixteen recordings, three have never been previously published in their original 78rpm form.”a somewhat imperious quality” Read More about this Special Issue or purchase Melba Issue Online