101 Reel-to-Reel Tapes 125: Erich Wolfgang Korngold ~ Die Tote Stadt

Erich Wolfgang Korngold - Die Tote Stadt
7½ ips reel-to-reel tape
front cover detail
detail photo of tape box cover by Styrous®

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I started the Vinyl LP series because I have a collection of over 20,000 vinyl record albums I am selling; each blog entry is about an album from my collection. The 101 Reel-to-Reel Tapes series is an extension of that collection. Inquire for information here.   

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Yesterday was the birthday of Austrian composer and conductor, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, born on May 29, 1897. He was a child prodigy who became one of the most important and influential composers in Hollywood history and a noted pianist and composer of classical music, along with music for Hollywood films, and the first composer of international stature to write Hollywood scores.       
 

I will write about his many accomplishments for his Hollywood films in later posts (so much for that). But I felt his serious work is not as well known, so, I've focused on one of his operas; in this case, Die Tote Stadt.   

 

 

Erich Wolfgang Korngold - Die Tote Stadt
7½ ips reel-to-reel tape
front cover design Paul Schott
  photo of tape box cover by Styrous®

Die tote Stadt (The Dead City), Op. 12, is an opera in three acts set to a libretto by Paul Schott, a collective pseudonym for the composer and his father, Julius Korngold, based on the 1892 novel Bruges-la-Morte by Georges Rodenbach.       

the libretto

Tracklist:

    Die Tote Stadt
A     Act I (Part I)     
B     Act I (Concluded)     
C     Act II (Part I)     
D     Act II (Concluded)     
E     Act III (Part I)     
F     Act III (Concluded)     

Credits

    Baritone Vocals – Benjamin Luxon, Hermann Prey
    Choir – Tölzer Boys Choir*
    Chorus – Bavarian Radio Chorus*
    Chorus Master [Director, Bavarian Radio Chorus] – Heinz Mende
    Chorus Master [Director, Tölzer Boys Choir] – Gerhard Schmidt-Gaden
    Composed By – Erich Wolfgang Korngold
    Conductor – Erich Leinsdorf
    Engineer [Recording Engineer] – Alfons Seebacher
    Libretto By – Paul Schott
    Mezzo-soprano Vocals – Rose Wagemann
    Orchestra – Munich Radio Orchestra*
    Producer – Charles Gerhardt
    Producer [Produced For Radio By] – Theodor Holzinger
    Soprano Vocals – Carol Neblett, Gabriele Fuchs, Patricia Clark
    Tenor Vocals – Anton de Ridder, René Kollo, Willi Brokmeier

Notes
WORLD PREMIERE RECORDING

includes libretto          

           

Label: RCA Red Seal ‎– ARL3-1199
Format: 2 × Reel To Reel 4-track 7-1/2 IPS Stereo Audio  Tape
Box Set
Country: US
Released: 1975
Genre: Classical
Style: Opera, Modern           

     

       

Viewfinder links:        

          

Erich Wolfgang Korngold                    

Hermann Prey            

Georges Rodenbach              

        

Net links:        

        

Erich Wolfgang Korngold Society        

        

         

        

      

YouTube links:     

   

Die Tote Stadt ~    

       Die Tote Stadt (complete) (2 hours, 25 minutes) 

          Die Tote Stadt(complete) (2 hours, 25 minutes) 

     

The opening reviews for Tosca were mixed. One critic described act 2 as overly long and wordy; another, that the rush of action did not permit enough lyricism (really?), to the great detriment of the music. A third called the opera "three hours of noise".    

Ah, but what beautiful noise!

The Renata Tebaldi ~ Tosca, reel-to-reel tape is for sale on eBay     

           

          

Styrous® ~ Wednesday, May 29, 2024 

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101 Reel-to-Reel Tapes 116: Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass ~ Summertime

Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass ~ Summertime

reel-to-reel tape box cover
photo of tape box cover by Styrous®

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I started the Vinyl LP series because I have a collection of over 20,000 vinyl record albums I am selling; each blog entry is about an album from my collection. The 101 Reel-to-Reel Tapes series is an extension of that collection. Inquire for information here.   

~ ~ ~

As with most albums, the top hit on this one, Hurt So Bad, written by Teddy Randazzo, Bobby Weinstein, and Bobby Hart (of the The Monkees), is not my favorite song. That honor goes to the song, Summertime, music by DuBose Heyward, lyrics by George Gershwin. My mom used to sing the song to me when I was little.   

Summertime is from the 1934 opera, Porgy & Bess, which was based on the book by Heyward.  Summertime is sung in the opera by the character, Clara as a lullaby. to sooth a baby to sleep. It is slow and mournful but filled with emotion promising a brighter future. Heyward’s inspiration for the lyrics was the southern folk spiritual-lullaby All My Trials.     

The song as interpreted by Alpert sounds nothing like the original version. His is almost primal and even erotic. The song has been covered by many others (link below to the song on YouTube).   

Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass ~ Summertime
reel-to-reel tape box back cover
photo of tape box cover by Styrous®


Summertime lyrics

Summertime,
An’ the livin' is easy
Fish are jumpin'
An’ the cotton is high.

Oh yo’ daddy's rich
An’ yo’ mamma's good lookin'
So hush little baby
Don' yo’ cry.

One of these mornin’s
You're goin’ to rise up singin’
Then you'll spread yo’ wings
An’ you'll take the sky.

But till that mornin’
There's a-nothin’ can harm you
With daddy an’ mammy standin’ by.

Repeat first two verses

Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass ~ Summertime

reel-to-reel tape box spine

photo by Styrous®

In 1965, the Tijuana Brass were one of the highest paid touring/recording acts. In 1966, they sold over 13 million records, outselling The Beatles! Also in 1966, The Guiness Book Of World Records reported they set a new record by placing five albums simultaneously on the Top 20 of the Billboard Pop LP Chart, an accomplishment that has never been duplicated! In April of 1966, four of those albums were in the Top 10 simultaneously. They won six Grammy Awards, had fifteen Gold albums, fourteen of which went Platinum. I hear you saying, "The Tijuana Brass?"! 

Yes!

Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass ~ Summertime

reel-to-reel tape box spine

photo by Styrous®

Alpert brought a refreshing tonality to the sounds of the sixties. It was a pop music alternative to the other types of mostly guitar based rock music that were defining the era. He was very important in giving instrumental music a place on the musical landscape, so to speak, and popularizing the trumpet. A second aspect was the way he attacked each note. The attacks were always clean and well defined yet delicate.   

In an interview by Gary James with bass guitarist, Pat Senatore, Senatore said Alpert used multiple overdubs to give the trumpet(s) more of a section sound. 

Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass ~ Summertime

reel-to-reel tape 

photo by Styrous®

Though some adopted a prototypical physical appearance, no one in Alpert's band was actually Hispanic. Alpert used to tell his audiences that his group consisted of "Four lasagnas, two bagels, and an American cheese": John Pisano (electric guitar); Lou Pagani (piano); Nick Ceroli (drums); Pat Senatore (bass guitar); Tonni Kalash (trumpet); Herb Alpert (trumpet and vocal); and Bob Edmondson (trombone).  

Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass ~ Summertime

reel-to-reel tape label detail

detail photo by Styrous®

Tracklist:

Side 1:

Hurt So Bad     2:20
Catch A Falling Star     3:00
Martha My Dear     2:07
If You Could Read My Mind     2:39
Darlin'     2:50

Side 2:

Summertime     2:10
Jerusalem     2:33
The Nicest Things Happen     3:12
Montezuma's Revenge     2:41
Strike Up The Band     2:33

Credits:

Producer – Herb Alpert, Jerry Moss

Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass ‎– Summertime
Label: A&M Records ‎– OR-4314
Format: 7½ ips reel-to-reel tape
Country: US
Released: 1971
Genre: Jazz, Latin
Style: Easy Listening, Latin Jazz

Net links:

Summertime on YouTube:  

    

Herb Alpert        

Anne Brown, soprano Introduction and Summertime from the opera    

Ella Fitzgerald     

Frank Sinatra           

Thanks, mom 

Styrous® ~ Thursday, January 7, 2016 

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101 Reel-to-Reel Tapes 108: Renata Tebaldi ~ Tosca

Renata Tebaldi - Tosca
7½ ips reel-to-reel tape box
front cover
photo of tape box cover by Styrous®

~ ~ ~

I started the Vinyl LP series because I have a collection of over 20,000 vinyl record albums I am selling; each blog entry is about an album from my collection. The 101 Reel-to-Reel Tapes series is an extension of that collection. Inquire for information here.   

~ ~ ~

Tosca (Italian pronunciation: [ˈtoska]) is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900. The work, based on Victorien Sardou's 1887 French-language dramatic play, La Tosca, is a melodramatic piece set in Rome in June 1800, with the Kingdom of Naples' control of Rome threatened by Napoleon's invasion of Italy. It contains depictions of torture, murder and suicide, as well as some of Puccini's best-known lyrical arias.

Puccini had seen the play, La Tosca, at least twice, in Milan and Turin. On 7 May 1889 he wrote to his publisher, Giulio Ricordi, begging him to get Sardou's permission for the work to be made into an opera: "I see in this Tosca the opera I need, with no overblown proportions, no elaborate spectacle, nor will it call for the usual excessive amount of music (so much for that)."  

Originally, the libretto, by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, was written for composer, Alberto Franchetti. One story goes that Franchetti was too busy with other projects at the time so passed it on to his friend Puccini. Another version is that Franchetti waived his rights to the opera because he felt that Puccini would make a better job of it - this is believed to have been stated by the Franchetti family. By some accounts, Ricordi convinced Franchetti that the work was too violent to be successfully staged, thus, passing the opportunity to set it to music on to Puccini.

Renata Tebaldi - Tosca

7½ ips reel-to-reel tape box
back cover
photo of tape box back cover by Styrous®

As with any work of music, there is at least one piece that is my absolute favorite. The finale of Act 1 is what does it for me. The villian, chief of police, Baron Scarpia, sings of his lust for the heroine, Tosca. He privately gloats as he reveals his intentions to possess Tosca and execute her lover, Cavaradossi. A procession enters the church singing the Te Deum while a bell tolls and a cannon fires. Scarpia joins the chorus in the prayer and executes an incredible duet with the religious congregation that builds to a goosebump inducing, dramatic climax with Scarpia exclaiming 'Tosca, you make me forget even God!." It is a stunning mix of erotica and religion!  Tosca - Act 1, Finale on YouTube.   

Renata Tebaldi - Tosca

7½ ips reel-to-reel tape box with libretto
photo by Styrous®

Renata Tebaldi - Tosca
2 7½ ips reel-to-reel tapes in box 
photo by Styrous®

Musically, Tosca is structured as a through-composed work, with arias, recitative, choruses and other elements musically woven into a seamless whole. Puccini used Wagnerian leitmotifs (short musical statements) to identify characters, objects and ideas. While critics have frequently dismissed the opera as a facile melodrama with confusions of plot, musicologist Joseph Kerman famously called it a "shabby little shocker", the power of its score and the inventiveness of its orchestration have been widely acknowledged.        

Renata Tebaldi - Tosca
7½ ips reel-to-reel tape
reel 1 
photo by Styrous®

Renata Tebaldi - Tosca
7½ ips reel-to-reel tape
reel 2 
photo by Styrous®

Tebaldi was born Renata Ersilia Clotilde Tebaldi in Pesaro on February 1, 1922. She was the daughter of a cellist, Teobaldo Tebaldi, and Giuseppina Barbieri, a nurse. Her parents separated before her birth and Tebaldi grew up with her mother in the home of her maternal grandparents in Langhirano. She was stricken with polio at the age of three. When she was thirteen her mother sent her for piano lessons with Giuseppina Passani in Parma, who took the initiative that Tebaldi study voice with Italo Brancucci, a singing teacher at the conservatory of Parma. She was admitted to the conservatory at the age of 17, taking lessons with Brancucci and Ettore Campogalliani, and later transferred to Liceo musicale Rossini in Pesaro taking lessons with Carmen Melis, and on her suggestion with Giuseppe Pais.

Tebaldi made her stage debut as Elena in Boito's Mefistofele in Rovigo in 1944. Her breakthrough came in 1946, when she auditioned for Arturo Toscanini. who called her "voce d'angelo" (angel voice). She made her American debut in 1950 as Aïda at the San Francisco Opera; her Metropolitan Opera debut took place on January 31, 1955, as Desdemona opposite Mario del Monaco in Otello. She made her last appearance at the Met once again as Desdemona in Otello on January 8, 1973. By the end of her career, Tebaldi had sung in 1,262 performances, 1,048 complete operas, and 214 concerts. She retired from the stage in 1973 and from the concert hall in 1976.       

Of course, there was the legendary rivalry, real or staged for publicity, between her and diva extraordinaire, Maria Callas. 

Renata Tebaldi died on December 19, 2004, at her home, in San Marino. She is buried in the family chapel at Mattaleto cemetery (Langhirano); she was 82.   

the libretto

Tosca - Act 1, Finale on YouTube   

The opening reviews for Tosca were mixed. One critic described act 2 as overly long and wordy; another, that the rush of action did not permit enough lyricism (really?), to the great detriment of the music. A third called the opera "three hours of noise".    

Ah, but what beautiful noise!

The Renata Tebaldi ~ Tosca, reel-to-reel tape is for sale on eBay     

Styrous® ~ Sunday, October 4, 2015 

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101 Reel-to-Reel Tapes 107: Renata Tebaldi is Aida

Renata Tebaldi - Aida
7½ ips reel-to-reel tape box
front cover
photo of tape box cover by Styrous®

~ ~ ~

I started the Vinyl LP series because I have a collection of over 20,000 vinyl record albums I am selling; each blog entry is about an album from my collection. The 101 Reel-to-Reel Tapes series is an extension of that collection. Inquire for information here.   

~ ~ ~

Renata Tebaldi was an Italian lirico-spinto soprano popular in the post-World War II period. Among the most beloved opera singers, she has been said to have possessed one of the most beautiful voices of the 20th century which was focused primarily on the verismo roles of the lyric and dramatic repertoires. And what opera could possibly be more dramatic than the grandest of all grand operas, Aida?   

Renata Tebaldi - Aida
7½ ips reel-to-reel tape box
back cover
photo of tape box back cover by Styrous®

Aida was the first opera I saw live; it had elephants and Leontyne Price in 1958 at the beginning of her career (link to more on Price in Aida below). l was spoiled right from the first! And as usual, I have a favorite part; Act one, scene 2 does it for me in this opera. There are two links below to this on YouTube; the costuming and dancing in part one is stunning and not to be missed.   

Renata Tebaldi - Aida
7½ ips reel-to-reel tape box
back cover detail
detail photo by Styrous®

Aida (Italian: [aˈiːda]), sometimes spelled Aïda, is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario attributed to French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette. However, Verdi biographer Mary Jane Phillips-Matz has argued that the scenario was actually written by Temistocle Solera. Aida was first performed at the Khedivial Opera House in Cairo on 24 December 1871, conducted by Giovanni Bottesini. Now, how appropriate is THAT!

Contrary to popular belief, the opera was not written to celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, for which Verdi had been invited to write an inaugural hymn, but had declined. Metastasio's libretto La Nitteti (1756) was a major source of the plot.      

Renata Tebaldi - Aida
7½ ips reel-to-reel tape box spine
detail photo by Styrous®

Verdi originally chose to write a brief orchestral prelude instead of a full overture for the opera. He then composed an overture of the "potpourri" variety to replace the original prelude. However, in the end he decided not to have the overture performed because of its—his own words—"pretentious insipidity". This overture, never used today, was given a rare broadcast performance by Arturo Toscanini and the NBC Symphony Orchestra on 30 March 1940, but was never commercially issued.  

Renata Tebaldi - Aida
7½ ips reel-to-reel tape box with libretto
photo by Styrous®

Synopsis

Antecedent: The Egyptians have captured and enslaved Aida, an Ethiopian princess. An Egyptian military commander, Radamès, struggles to choose between his love for her and his loyalty to the Pharaoh. To complicate the story further, the Pharaoh's daughter Amneris is in love with Radamès, although he does not return her feelings. 

Renata Tebaldi - Aida
7½ ips reel-to-reel tape box
photo by Styrous®

Renata Tebaldi was born on February 1, 1922, in Langhirano, Italy. Her major breakthrough came in 1946, when she auditioned for Arturo Toscanini. Toscanini called her "voce d'angelo" (angel voice). Toscanini encouraged her to sing the role of Aida and invited her to rehearse the role in his studio. She was of the opinion that the role of Aida was reserved for a dramatic soprano, but Toscanini convinced her and she made her role debut at La Scala in 1950 alongside Mario del Monaco and Fedora Barbieri in a performance conducted by Antonino Votto. This launched her international career. 

Renata Tebaldi - Aida
7½ ips reel-to-reel
reel 1
photo by Styrous®

Renata Tebaldi - Aida
7½ ips reel-to-reel tape detail
reel 1
photo by Styrous®

Renata Tebaldi - Aida
7½ ips reel-to-reel
reel 2
photo by Styrous®

Renata Tebaldi - Aida
7½ ips reel-to-reel tape detail
reel 2
photo by Styrous®

There was an infamous rivalry between Tebaldi and Maria Callas so intense it was known outside the opera world (link to more about Callas below). How much of the rivalry was real, and how much whipped up by fans and the press, is open to question. Some believe the rivalry was instigated by their respective recording companies in order to boost sales, and that they were instructed to play along. According to Time magazine, when Callas quit La Scala, "Tebaldi made a surprising maneuver: she announced that she would not sing at La Scala without Callas.

'I sing only for artistic reasons; it is not my custom to sing against anybody', she said." 

Nevertheless, Tebaldi apparently felt that the public perception of a rivalry was ultimately good for both their careers, since it aroused so much interest in the two of them.     

Renata Tebaldi - Aida
libretto
photo by Styrous®

Tebaldi retired from the stage in 1973 and from the concert hall in 1976. By the end of her career, she had sung in 1,262 performances, 1,048 complete operas, and 214 concerts.

Tebaldi never married. In a 1995 interview with The Times, she said she had no regrets about her single life.

"I was in love many times," she said. "This is very good for a woman." But she added, "How could I have been a wife, a mother and a singer? Who takes care of the piccolini when you go around the world? Your children would not call you Mama, but Renata." 

She spent the majority of her last days in Milan. She died on December 19, 2004, at age 82 at her home, in San Marino, Italy. She is buried in the family chapel at Mattaleto cemetery, Langhirano, Italy.   

Renata Tebaldi - Aida
libretto back
photo by Styrous®

Maria Callas Sings Great Arias From French Opera    

Leontyne Price ~ A Christmas Offering            



Aida on YouTube:         

   (Act1 Scene2) - Part 1       

   (Act1 Scene2) - Part 2               

           

Renata Tebaldi ~ Aida is for sale on eBay        

       

Styrous® ~ Thursday, September 24, 2015 

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