Notes and Pitching decisions by Richard Bebb

Historic Masters are pleased to announce the fourteenth issue of direct vinyl pressings produced in collaboration with Thorn EMI from 78 rpm metals masters in their archives. The complete HISTORIC MASTERS series now numbers 92 discs comprising 183 sides of which at least 48 have never previously been available in original form.

It is a source of particular pride that we have been able to locate and issue so many otherwise ‘unpublished’ discs. In this one sense at least Historic Masters has been able to outperform some of our distinguished predecessor labels devoted to the reissue of vocal 78s.

Me have all too often drawn attention to the problems associated with continuing production of vinyl 78 rpm discs and do not apologise for doing so yet again. Quite apart from a shortage of technicians willing to work with ancient parts and the deteriorating condition of many of those metals which have survived, there are now very few companies still producing top quality vinyl records on a regular basis.  The Historic Masters’ series of re-pressings from original metals is unlikely to survive the final ending of LP production. Our goal is to make more treasures available for collectors before that day is reached. Thanks to much dedicated research we are now aware of the existence in the Thorn EMI archive of may more fine items.

As mentioned in our last prospectus we were able to make arrangements with our regular manufacturers to ensure the appearance of both this the fourteen issue and a further fifteenth issue which will be available in Spring 1993. Much work is being undertaken to seek to ensure the continuation of Historic Masters beyond this. The remaining uncertainty relates to our customers – the collecting world. Historic Masters has the backing of a dedicated group of collectors who have given us unswerving support. But we are not selling enough to ensure continued production. We recognize that some collectors would prefer us to issue records individually – this is not financially possible. We accept that the matter of choice will always be controversial. We are NOT able to issue items where there are no metals!

Historic Masters needs the support of the collecting world.

On a more positive note. We are once again indebted to our same anonymous donor for an additional record in the fourteenth issue. We are all extremely grateful for this continuing generosity.

Another long standing supporter and subscriber Peter Stroud has compiled a comprehensive catalogue of all Historic Masters since number 1. This scholarly, cross-indexed reference is far superior to the summary lists we have occasionally distributed in the past. Peter Stroud has agreed that we can make available his catalogue and we propose to do this at the same time as the prospectus is issued for the next, fifteenth issue. We shall have to make a small handling charge but this is purely to defray printing costs.

HM 87  - MARIA DE MACCHI (1870 – 1909)
NORHA – Casta Diva (Bellini) – Speed – 79
Ah! bello a oe ritorna – Speed – 79

This pupil of the great soprano Virginia Boccabadati (the teacher of Celestina Boninsegna and many other famous singers) was born in Peruzzaro, Italy, and made her debut as a contralto in Brescia in 1889, only changing to the soprano register in 1892. She became famous throughout Italy, singing at all the great theaters in turn. In 1904 she sang in LUCREZIA BORGIA (alongside Caruso), AIDA, and LES HUGUENOTS at the Metropolitan, New York. The following year she made her only records – eight sides for the Fonotipia Company – all of them extremely rare and much sought after. It is easy to hear the original contralto quality in the unusually dark timbre of her voice, though she has no difficulty with the tessitura, and certainly does not transpose from the usual soprano key. Four years later she died at the age of thirty-nine.

HM 88 – FRANCISCO VIGNAS (1863 – 1933)
AIDA – Celeste Aida (Verdi) – Speed – 83
L’AFRICAINE – 0 Paradiso! (Meyerbeer) – Speed – 86

One of the most thrilling of all dramatic tenors to have made records, Vignas was a Catalan (Vignas was the Italianised version of his name, which was variously spelt as Francisco or Francisco Vignas), and made his debut in Barcelona in 1888 as Lohengin. His great career later took him to almost all the major operatic centers of the world, where he was as well liked for his Wagner as for the Italian classic and verisao roles. When last did the world have a ranking tenor who regularly sang Edgardo, Siegfried, Tristan and Turiddu? Though both these titles appeared in the 1930’s on a Parlophone Historic reissue, it was felt that the superior quiet surfaces that vinyl provides meant that they were well worth including in our series.

HM 89 – LEO SLEZAK (1873-1946) / ELSA BLAND (1880-1935)
DIE KONIGIN VON SABA – Komost du wieder endich
(Goldoark) Speed – 78 IL TR0VAT0RE – Miserere (Verdi) – Speed – 74

The career of Leo Slezak is too well known for it to be necessary to rehearse it again here. Suffice it to say that many of his best recordings come from the various versions he made of the arias and duets from Goldaark’s opera. However, Elsa Bland is much less well known. Born in 1880, she was a pupil of the great Marianne Brandt and made her debut in 1903 in Oliutz. By 1905 she was appearing as a guest in Vienna, and sang later all over Germany, in South America and at La Scala, Milan.

Controversially, I suggest that the duet from DIE KONIGIN VON SABA is sung, for some reason, up a semitone on the version printed in my Italian edition of the score. I recognize that this is highly unusual and involves Bland singing a high C instead of a B natural. But, not only does it sound infinitely better in the higher key, the next matrix number is the duet from Act 2 of UN BALL0 IN MASCHERA sung by the same artists. In my experience, this is music that no one ever transposes, and it plays accurately in score pitch at 78. If you do not agree, then lower the speed by 4.5 revolutions.

HM 90 – ELENA RUSZKOHSKA (1877 – 1948)
STABAT HATER – Inflaanatus (Rossini) – Speed – 78
LA F0RZA DEL DESTIN0 – Pace, pace nio Dio (Verdi) – Speed – 78

Born in Lwow in Poland, this great dramatic soprano made her debut there in 1899. It was not until 1902 that she sought wider horizons in Warsaw and Cracow, and only achieved international status in 1907 when she sang at La Scala, Milan for the first time. The following year she made a group of records there for the Gramophone Company (costly of duets and ensembles) that are of amazing beauty and dramatic fire. It is a great stroke of luck that the masters of two of her solo records exist as, without hesitation, I would call them glories of the gramophone, known so far only to a handful of collectors. Her attack in the ‘Inflaanatus’ equals that in Florence Austral’s great version, but she plays her trump card by including a third high C (which Rossini allowed Clara Novello to interpolate at the world premiere) to end the piece in an even core brilliant fashion. The interpolated B natural at the end of ‘Pace, pace’ may well not carry Verdi’s authority, but the note is so centrally placed and thrillingly beautiful that I swear he would have applauded it!

With the outbreak of the First World War, she returned to Poland – later making records for Syrena, and, electrically, for Odeon. It can only be the shortness of her career on the international stages that accounts for her comparative obscurity, for, without doubt, this was a great singer.

HM 91 – FY0D0R CHALIAPIN (1873-1938)
THE PRISONER – (Rubinstein) – Speed – 79
A WORD OF FAREWELL (Slonov) – Speed – 79

Yet more unpublished treasures from the archives at Hayes are to be found here – both recorded as ten inch sides in St. Petersburg on January 12th 1914. Chaliapin made two recordings of the Slonov song, neither of which was published. He remade both titles in the April of that same year, but, though ‘The Prisoner’ was published, neither of these later matrices has survived. Chaliapin is in magnificent voice on these recordings (when was he not?), and the further good news is that more unpublished titles from the January 12th 1914 session will be available in future issues.

HM 92 – ELISABETH PETRENKO  (1880 – 1951)
ALEXANDER M. BRAGIN  (1881 – 1955)
THE DEMON – Do not swear, but love ae (Rubinstein)  Speed – 77 SAMSON ET DALILA – Aaour, viens a’aider (Saint-Saens) (R)  Speed – 75

Elisabeth Petrenko was a ranking contralto at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, where she made her debut in 1905. She later sang with the great ensembles, led by Chaliapin and assembled by Diaghilev, that introduced much of Russian opera to Western European audiences. She is joined in the duet between the Demon and the Angel in the first act of Rubinstein’s opera by Alexander Bragin, a bass baritone whose career began in 1899 at the Kiev Opera. He joined the Mariinsky Theatre in the same year that Petrenko made her debut there, later singing in Moscow as well.

The pink labels of this issue will alert our regular subscribers to the fact that, once again, we are indebted to our anonymous donor for this welcome addition to our series.