20,000 vinyl LPs 347: Gian Carlo Menotti ~ Amahl And The Night Visitors

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Gian Carlo Menotti  ~ Amahl And The Night Visitors

vinyl LP front cover 

photo of album cover by Styrous®

Today is the birthday of Italian composer, librettist, director, and playwright Gian Carlo Menotti who was born on December 24, 1911, in Cadegliano-Viconago, Italy, near Lake Maggiore and the Swiss border. He is primarily known for his output of 25 operas.         

 

It seemed elementary to me to write about his opera, Amahl And The Night Visitors, on Christmas Eve for three reasons; first it's about the birth of Christ, second it premiered on his birthday on the 24th of December in 1951, and third, I remember seeing it when it was televised.        

 

Menotti was commissioned by Peter Herman Adler, director of NBC's new opera programming, to write the first opera for television. Menotti took his inspiration from the painting by Hieronymus Bosch, The Adoration of the Magi hanging in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. 

 

 

Hieronymus Bosch ~ The Adoration of the Magi 

 Metropolitan Museum of Art

 

 

Menotti's partner, Samuel Barber, was brought in for the orchestrations. After the dress rehearsal, NBC Symphony conductor Arturo Toscanini told Menotti, "This is the best you've ever done."        

 

The premier occurred in New York City at NBC Studio 8H in Rockefeller Center, where it was broadcast live on television from that venue as the debut production of the Hallmark Hall of Fame. It was the first opera specifically composed for television in the United States. At its debut, it was estimated that it had audience of 5 million people – a record for any opera. It was replayed on NBC every year until the original video recording was lost.   

 

There is a video of the original 1951 broadcast with Chet Allen as Amahl and an introduction by Gian Carlo Menotti on YouTube (link below).     

 

Menotti distinctly wanted Amahl to be performed by a boy. In the "Production Notes" contained in the piano-vocal score he wrote: "It is the express wish of the composer that the role of Amahl should always be performed by a boy. Neither the musical nor the dramatic concept of the opera permits the substitution of a woman costumed as a child."         

Amahl And The Night Visitors

Photo: Indiana University 

Amahl And The Night Visitors tells the story of Amahl, a shepherd boy who tends to tell tall tales, and his mother. His most recent story is about a star with a tail that moves across the sky like a chariot on fire. When three splendid strangers knock on the door and ask to rest in their tiny home, Amahl is thrilled and fascinated. When the visitors describe the miraculous child they are seeking, both Amahl and his mother are moved to give reverence to the child as well. Their humble faith conjures a miracle.          

The recording came with an 8-page booklet with a full libretto . . . 

 

 

Gian Carlo Menotti  ~ Amahl And The Night Visitors

vinyl LP libretto 

 libretto photo by Henri Dauman 

photo of libretto by Styrous®

The booklet with the original cast recording contains the following anecdote:

"This is an opera for children because it tries to recapture my own childhood. You see, when I was a child I lived in Italy, and in Italy we have no Santa Claus. I suppose that Santa Claus is much too busy with American children to be able to handle Italian children as well. Our gifts were brought to us by the Three Kings, instead.

I actually never met the Three Kings—it didn't matter how hard my little brother and I tried to keep awake at night to catch a glimpse of the Three Royal Visitors, we would always fall asleep just before they arrived. But I do remember hearing them. I remember the weird cadence of their song in the dark distance; I remember the brittle sound of the camel's hooves crushing the frozen snow; and I remember the mysterious tinkling of their silver bridles.

My favorite king was King Melchior, because he was the oldest and had a long white beard. My brother's favorite was King Kaspar. He insisted that this king was a little crazy and quite deaf. I don't know why he was so positive about his being deaf. I suspect it was because dear King Kaspar never brought him all the gifts he requested. He was also rather puzzled by the fact that King Kaspar carried the myrrh, which appeared to him as a rather eccentric gift, for he never quite understood what the word meant.

To these Three Kings I mainly owe the happy Christmas seasons of my childhood and I should have remained very grateful to them. Instead, I came to America and soon forgot all about them, for here at Christmas time one sees so many Santa Clauses scattered all over town. Then there is the big Christmas tree in Rockefeller Plaza, the elaborate toy windows on Fifth Avenue, the one-hundred-voice choir in Grand Central Station, the innumerable Christmas carols on radio and television—and all these things made me forget the three dear old Kings of my old childhood.

But in 1951 I found myself in serious difficulty. I had been commissioned by the National Broadcasting Company to write an opera for television, with Christmas as deadline, and I simply didn't have one idea in my head. One November afternoon as I was walking rather gloomily through the rooms of the Metropolitan Museum, I chanced to stop in front of the Adoration of the Kings by Hieronymus Bosch, and as I was looking at it, suddenly I heard again, coming from the distant blue hills, the weird song of the Three Kings. I then realized they had come back to me and had brought me a gift.

I am often asked how I went about writing an opera for television, and what are the specific problems that I had to face in planning a work for such a medium. I must confess that in writing "Amahl and the Night Visitors," I hardly thought of television at all. As a matter of fact, all my operas are originally conceived for an ideal stage which has no equivalent in reality, and I believe that such is the case with most dramatic authors."

—Gian-Carlo Menotti        

         
        

   

Tracklist:
       
Side 1:

        

Amahl And The Night Visitors (Part 1)

       
Side 2:
       
Amahl And The Night Visitors (Concluded)
       
Companies, etc.
       
    Copyright © – Radio Corporation Of America
    Pressed By – RCA Records Pressing Plant, Rockaway
    Recorded At – Webster Hall
       
Credits:
       
    Baritone Vocals [The Page] – Julian Patrick
    Bass Vocals [Bass-baritone. King Melchior] – Richard Cross
    Bass Vocals [King Balthazar] – Willis C. Patterson
    Composed By, Libretto By, Liner Notes – Gian Carlo Menotti
    Conductor [Orchestra And Chorus Conducted By] – Herbert Grossman
    Engineer [Recording] – Lewis Layton
    Painting [" Adoration Of The King "] – Hieronymus Bosch (3)
    Photography By – Henri Dauman
    Producer – Richard Mohr
    Soprano Vocals [Mother] – Martha King
    Tenor Vocals [King Kaspar] – John McCollum
    Vocals [Amahl, A Crippled Boy Of About 12] – Kurt Yaghjian
       
Notes:
       
Recorded at Webster Hall, with the cast of the NBC Opera Company December 1963 television production
(first performed by the NBC Television Theater on Christmas Eve, 1951)

"Dynagroove Recording" noted on front cover and labels include "MONO DYNAGROOVE" at bottom.

"© 1964, Radio Corporation of America · Printed in U.S.A." printed at bottom of back cover.

Includes 8-page booklet with full libretto

       
Barcode and Other Identifiers
        

    Matrix / Runout (Side A label matrix): (PRRM-4987)
    Matrix / Runout (Side B label matrix): (PRRM-4988)
    Matrix / Runout (Side A stamped, exc. A etched): PRRM-4987--6S A3 R
    Matrix / Runout (Side A stamped, exc. 498, 2S & 1B etched): PRRM--4988--2S 1B R
    Pressing Plant ID (Stamped in run-outs): R

Menotti* – Amahl And The Night Visitors
Label:    RCA Victor Red Seal – LM-2762, RCA Victor Red Seal – LM 2762
Format:    Vinyl, LP, Album, Mono, Rockaway Pressing
Country: US
Released: 1964
Genre:    Classical, Stage & Screen
Style:    Opera, Modern

         

Viewfinder links:        

        

Peter Herman Adler         

Chet Allen          

Samuel Barber          

Hieronymus Bosch        

Gian Carlo Menotti        

Arturo Toscanini        

        

Net links:        

        

Barn Opera ~ Amahl and the Night Visitors - A Musical Hug after a Fight    

Interlude ~ The Gift: Bosch and Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors    

SmugMug ~ Amahl and the Night Visitors ( photos)         

US Opera ~ Amahl and the Night Visitors         

        

YouTube links:        

        

Amahl and the Night Visitors (original 1951 broadcast)         

Amahl and the Night Visitors             

        

        

         

        

        

        

Styrous® ~ Christmas Eve, Sunday, December 24, 2023       
       

 

 

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Gian Carlo Menotti articles/mentions

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Amahl and the Night Visitors     

     

     

     

mentions:     

    

     

     

     

     

     

Gian Carlo Menotti - 1944    

photo by Carl Van Vechten   

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

 

 

 

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20,000 vinyl LPs 277: Marian Anderson ~ Sings

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Marian Anderson ~ Sings

10" vinyl LP front cover detail 

detail photo by Styrous®

Today is the birthday of Marian Anderson, who was born on February 27, 1897, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She had a rich, vibrant contralto voice that could reach the far depths of any concert hall and Arturo Toscanini described as a voice "heard once in a hundred years."       

    

Anderson was an instrumental force in the civil rights movement that was to emerge 15 years later. One of the United States' most successful classical singers at the time, she had been scheduled to perform at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C, on Easter Sunday, April 9, in 1939, a celebrated venue operated by the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR).   

 

However, the DAR, under a "white performers-only" policy in effect at the time, refused to allow Anderson, an African-American woman, to perform to an integrated audience. Led by First Lady Eleanor Roosevel, thousands of members of the DAR resigned in protest. The venue was changed and Anderson gave a free open-air concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.      

 

 

 

Marian Anderson - Lincoln Memorial 

Easter Sunday, April 9, 1939 

photographers unknown 

 

 

 

The moment brought even greater awareness to the issues of racial injustice during that time period as more than 75,000 people attended as well as a national radio audience of millions; FAR more then would have been able to attend at the hall. It always amazes me that small minds tend to do stupid things that only amplify what they want to suppress.           

 

 

Anderson was photographed at the end of the day standing in front of the sculpture of Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial.       

Marian Anderson - Easter Sunday, April 9, 1939 

Abraham Lincoln sculpture by Daniel Chester French

photo: Harris & Ewing

 

 

The event inspired a mural by Mitchell Jamieson in 1943, entitled, An Incident in Contemporary American Life, which was installed at the United States Department of the Interior Building.        

 

 

Mitchell Jamieson - 1943 

An Incident in Contemporary American Life 

 

 

Two months later, in conjunction with the 30th NAACP conference in Richmond, Virginia, Eleanor Roosevelt gave a speech on national radio (NBC and CBS) and presented Anderson with the 1939 Spingarn Medal for distinguished achievement. In 2001, a documentary film of the event was chosen for the National Film Registry, and NBC radio coverage of the event was selected for the National Recording Registry.        

 

 

Eleanor Roosevelt & Marian Anderson - 1939 

photo: Prints and Photographs Division, 

Library of Congress
 

 

On January 6, 1943, Anderson greeted members of the audience at the ceremony held in the auditorium of the United States Department of the Interior at the dedication of the mural painting commemorating the free public concert given by her on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on Easter Sunday, 1939.       

 

 

 

Marian Anderson - January 6, 1943 

 photographer unknown

 

 

Anderson attended Stanton Grammar School, graduating in 1912. Her family could not pay for music lessons or high school. Still, she continued to perform wherever she could and learn from anyone who was willing to teach her. Throughout her teenage years, she remained active in her church's musical activities, now heavily involved in the adult choir. She became a member of the Baptists' Young People's Union and the Camp Fire Girls, which provided her with some limited musical opportunities. Eventually, the People's Chorus of Philadelphia and the pastor of her church, Reverend Wesley Parks, along with other leaders of the black community, raised the money she needed to get singing lessons with Mary Saunders Patterson and to attend South Philadelphia High School, from which she graduated in 1921.        

 

After high school, she applied to an all-white music school, the Philadelphia Music Academy (now University of the Arts), but was turned away because she was black. The woman working the admissions counter replied, "We don't take colored" when she tried to apply. Anderson pursued studies privately in her native city through the continued support of the Philadelphia black community.       

 

 

Marian Anderson ~ Sings

10" vinyl LP front cover

photo by Styrous®

In 1925, Anderson got her first big break at a singing competition sponsored by the New York Philharmonic. As the winner, she got to perform in concert with the orchestra on August 26, 1925, a performance that scored immediate success with both the audience and music critics. Anderson continued her studies with Frank La Forge in New York. During this time, Arthur Judson became her manager. They met through the New York Philharmonic. Over the next several years, she made a number of concert appearances in the United States, but racial prejudice prevented her career from gaining momentum. Her first performance at Carnegie Hall was in 1928.         

Marian Anderson recital

     Carnegie Hall - December 30, 1928

photo: Carnegie Hall Archives

Anderson went to Europe, where she spent a number of months studying with Sara Charles-Cahier, before launching a highly successful European singing tour. In the summer of 1930, she went to Scandinavia, where she met the Finnish pianist Kosti Vehanen, who became her regular accompanist and her vocal coach for many years. She met Jean Sibelius through Vehanen after he had heard her in a concert in Helsinki. The two struck up an immediate friendship, which blossomed into a professional partnership, and for many years Sibelius altered and composed songs for Anderson. He created a new arrangement of the song Solitude and dedicated it to Anderson in 1939 (link below). Originally The Jewish Girl's Song from his 1906 incidental music to Belshazzar's Feast, it later became the "Solitude" section of the orchestral suite derived from the incidental music.        

 

In 1933, Anderson made her European debut in a concert at Wigmore Hall in London, where she was received enthusiastically. In the first years of the 1930s, she toured Europe, where she did not encounter the prejudices she had experienced in America. Accompanied by Vehanen, she continued to tour throughout Europe during the mid-1930s. Before going back to Scandinavia, where fans had "Marian fever", she performed in Russia and the major cities of Eastern Europe. She quickly became a favorite of many conductors and composers of major European orchestras. During a 1935 tour in Salzburg, the conductor Arturo Toscanini told her she had a voice "heard once in a hundred years."       

 

In 1934, impresario Sol Hurok became her manager, and he persuaded her to come back and perform in America. On December 30, 1935, Anderson made her second recital appearance at The Town Hall, New York City (link below), which received highly favorable reviews from music critics. She spent the next four years touring throughout the United States and Europe. She was offered opera roles by several European houses, but due to her lack of acting experience, Anderson declined all of them. She did, however, record a number of arias in the studio, which became bestsellers.       

 

Marian Anderson recital - 1943

Carnegie Hall concert flyer

photo: Carnegie Hall Archives

Anderson's accomplishments as a singer did not make her immune to the Jim Crow laws in the 1930s. Although she gave approximately seventy recitals a year in the United States, Anderson was still turned away by some American hotels and restaurants. Because of this discrimination, Albert Einstein, a champion of racial tolerance, hosted Anderson on many occasions, the first being in 1937 when she was denied a hotel room before performing at Princeton University. She last stayed with him months before he died in 1955.       

Marian Anderson ~ Sings

10" vinyl LP back cover 

Catalogue of Varsity Records

photo by Styrous®

On June 15, 1953, Anderson headlined The Ford 50th Anniversary Show (link below), which was broadcast live from New York City on both NBC and CBS. Midway through the program, she sang He's Got the Whole World in His Hands. She returned to close the program with her rendition of the Battle Hymn of the Republic. The program attracted an audience of 60 million viewers. Forty years after the broadcast, television critic Tom Shales recalled the broadcast as both "a landmark in television" and "a milestone in the cultural life of the '50s"       

 

 

Franz Rupp & Marian Anderson 
 Carnegie Hall - 1955

photo: Carnegie Hall Archives

 

 

On January 7, 1955, Anderson became the first African-American to sing with the Metropolitan Opera in New York. At the invitation of director Rudolf Bing, she sang the part of Ulrica in Un ballo in maschera by Giuseppe Verdi (opposite Zinka Milanov as Amelia). 

 

 

Marian Anderson - January 7, 1955 

Metropolitan Opera
photographer unknown

 

 

Anderson later said about the evening, "The curtain rose on the second scene and I was there on stage, mixing the witch's brew. I trembled, and when the audience applauded and applauded before I could sing a note, I felt myself tightening into a knot." Although she never appeared with the company again, Anderson was named a permanent member of the Metropolitan Opera company. The following year, her autobiography, My Lord, What a Morning, was published, and became a bestseller.       

 

In 1957, she sang for the inauguration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and toured India and the Far East as a goodwill ambassador through the U.S. State Department and the American National Theater and Academy. On January 20, 1961, she sang for the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy, and in 1962 she performed for President Kennedy and other dignitaries in the East Room of the White House.  

 

On Wednesday, August 28, 1963, she sang He's Got the Whole World In His Hands at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. 

 

 

Marian Anderson - August 28, 1963 

March on Washington

photographer unknown

 

That same year, she received one of the newly reinstituted Presidential Medal of Freedom, which is awarded for "especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interest of the United States, World Peace or cultural or other significant public or private endeavors."      

 

 

Presidential Medal of Freedom
 

 

Her achievements were recognized with many honors, including the University of Pennsylvania Glee Club Award of Merit in 1973; the United Nations Peace Prize, the New York City Handel Medallion, and the Congressional Gold Medal, all in 1977; Kennedy Center Honors in 1978; the George Peabody Medal in 1981; the National Medal of Arts in 1986; and a Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1991. A half-ounce gold commemorative medal was embossed with her portrait by the United States Treasury Department in 1980. Four years later, she was the first person to be honored with the Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Award of the City of New York. She has been awarded 24 honorary doctoral degrees, from Howard University, Temple University, Smith College and many others.       

 

Although Anderson retired from singing in 1965, she continued to appear publicly. She often narrated the Lincoln Portrait by Aaron Copland, with her nephew James DePriest conducting.     

 

 

Marian Anderson & Aaron Copland - 1965 

photographer unknown
 

 

Marian Anderson died at the home of her nephew, conductor James DePreist, in Portland, Oregon, on April 8, 1993, of congestive heart failure; she was 96 years old.       

 

Marian Anderson ~ Sings

10" vinyl LP front cover detail 

detail photo by Styrous®

 

Marian Anderson ~ Sings

10" vinyl LP, side 1

detail photo by Styrous®

Marian Anderson ~ Sings

10" vinyl LP, side 2

detail photo by Styrous®

   

Tracklist:

Side 1:

A1 - Marian Anderson - Oh Mio Fernando, Part 1
A2 - Marian Anderson - Oh Love From Thy Powers
A4 - Marian Anderson - Air Des Adieux

Side 2:

B1 - Marian Anderson - Heav'n Heav'n
B2 - Thelma Carpenter & The Harmonaires (12) - Joshua Fit De Battle Of Jerico
B3 - Thelma Carpenter & The Harmonaires (12) - Swing Low Sweet Chariot
B4 - Thelma Carpenter & The Harmonaires (12 - Deep River

Notes:

Track A1: From "La Favorita" (Donizetti) Parts 1& 2
Track A2: From Sampson and Delilah (Saint-Saens)
Track A4: From Jeanne D'Arc (Carafa)
Disc Labels: Made in U.S.A.
Back Cover: A Catalogue of Varsity Records, "Vinyl Filled- Hard Multi-Colored Jackets- Full Fidelity Recordings"
Printed in U.S.A.

 
Barcode and Other Identifiers

    Matrix / Runout (Side 1, Stamped (G On Its Back)): G LP61A
    Matrix / Runout (Side 2, Stamped (F On Its Back)): F LP61B
    Matrix / Runout (Both Sides, Hand Etched ): V

 

Marian Anderson / Thelma Carpenter, The Harmonaires (12) – Marian Anderson Sings
Label: Varsity – 6986
Format: Vinyl, LP, 10", Album
Country: US
Released: Genre:
Classical, Folk, World, & Country
Style: Opera, Religious

   

         

Viewfinder links:        

        

Marian Anderson         

Rudolf Bing       

Aaron Copland       

James DePriest      

Dwight D. Eisenhower         

Albert Einstein        

Ford 50th Anniversary Television Show         

Sol Hurok         

John Fitzgerald Kennedy        

Zinka Milanov

Eleanor Roosevelt              

Franklin D. Roosevelt        

Jean Sibelius       

Arturo Toscanini         

Giuseppe Verdi         

        

Net links:        

        

Connecticut History ~ Marian Anderson’s Role in the Civil Rights Movement   

        

National Geographic ~ Marian Anderson Performs on the National Mall    

The New Yorker ~ When Marian Anderson Defied the Nazis       

NPR ~ Listening For Marian Anderson In The Past And Present    

Philadelphia Tribune ~ 'Once in a Hundred Years' documentary   

Smithsonian ~ Newly Digitized Diaries and Letters of Marian Anderson   

        

YouTube links:        

        

Lincoln Memorial Concert         

Marian Anderson Performs at the Lincoln Memorial (complete) (29 mins, 43 secs.)     

Marian Anderson Sings at Lincoln Memorial   

PBS ~ Echoes from Marian Anderson's defiant performance       

        

Music:        

Marian Anderson ~        

     La favorita, Act III: Oh, mio Fernando!    

     Heav'n Heav'n   

     He's Got The Whole World In His Hands    

     Jean Sibelius ~ Solitude

Thelma Carpenter & The Harmonaires ~          

     Deep River      

     Joshua Fit De Battle Of Jerico   

        

        

        

         

        

Marian Anderson - 1945
photo by Yousuf Karsh

        

        

        

        

        

Styrous® ~ Saturday, February 27, 2021       
       

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78 RPMs 8: Giacomo Puccini ~ Butterfly = Licia Albanese

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Giacomo Puccini ~ Madama Butterfly

78 rpm 12" record album front cover detail 

detail photo by Styrous®

Two hundred and seventeen years ago today, on February 17, 1904, the premier of the opera, Madama Butterfly, by Giacomo Puccini, took place at the La Scala opera house in Milan, Italy.     

 

Madama Butterfly poster - 1904

illustration by Adolfo Hohenstein

 

Italian coloratura soprano, Rosina Storchio performed the title role of Cio Cio San at the 1904 premier of Madama Butterfly . . .

 

 

 

Rosina Storchio as Cio Cio San - 1904 

Photo by Varischi e Artico

 

 

. . . but it was Italian-born American operatic soprano, Licia Albanese who made the role of Cio Cio San hers when she made her unofficial debut in Milan in 1934 when she replaced another soprano in Puccini's Madama Butterfly, the role for which she would be celebrated. For over 40 years, she sang more than 300 performances of Cio-Cio-San.         

 

 

Licia Albanese as Cio Cio San - 1952

photographer unknown

 

 

Although Albanese has been praised for many of her roles, including Mimì, Violetta, Liù and Manon Lescaut, it is her portrayal of the geisha which has remained her best known. Her connection with that work began early with her teacher, Giuseppina Baldassare-Tedeschi, a contemporary of Puccini, and an important exponent of the title role in the previous generation.       

Giuseppina Baldassare-Tedeschi as Cio-Cio-San

 date & photographer unknown

 

Albanese appeared with the San Francisco Opera where she sang between 1941 and 1961, performing 22 roles in 120 performances over 20 seasons, remaining in part because of her admiration for its founder and director, Gaetano Merola. I saw her in one of those performances; it was the reason I bought this album.   

 Giacomo Puccini ~ Madama Butterfly

78 rpm 12" record album front cover

photo by Styrous®

 

 

This recording is from 1952 with German composer Frieder Weissmann conducting the RCA Victor Orchestra with Lucielle Browing in the role of Suzuki, her maid and James Melton in the role of U.S. Navy Lieutenant, B.F. Pinkerton.    

 

 

Giacomo Puccini ~ Madama Butterfly

78 rpm 12" record album interior

photo by Styrous®

Although she specialized in Puccini and was associated with his Madama Butterfly more than with any other role, during her career Licia Albanese was one of the most beloved sopranos in the Italian repertoire, specializing in roles that suited her appearance. She was a leading singer with the Metropolitan Opera from 1940 to 1966. Her years at the Met included a number of Saturday afternoon broadcasts. 
   

 

 

 Giacomo Puccini ~ Madama Butterfly

78 rpm 12" record Notes 

photo by Styrous®

 

 

Licia Albanese became a United States citizen in 1945. On October 5, 1995, President Bill Clinton presented her with the National Medal of Honor for the Arts.       

 

  Giacomo Puccini ~ Madama Butterfly

78 rpm 12" record, side 1

photo by Styrous®

 

  

Licia Albanese, aka Cio-Cio-San, died on August 15, 2014, in her home in Manhattan, New York City; she was 105 years old.

       

        

  Giacomo Puccini ~ Madama Butterfly

78 rpm 12" record label, side 1

photo by Styrous®

 

 

  Giacomo Puccini ~ Madama Butterfly

78 rpm 12" record, side 1

photo by Styrous®

 

 

 

       

         

Tracklist:
 

Record 1:

A1 - Licia Albanese, James Melton – Love Duet (Part 1)
A6 - James Melton – Addio (Farewell)

Record 2:

B2 - Licia Albanese, James Melton – Love Duet (Concluded)
B5 - Licia Albanese, Lucielle Browning – Flower Duet (Concluded)

Record 3:

C3 - Licia Albanese – Un Bel Di, Vedremo (One Fine Day...)
C4 - Licia Albanese, Lucielle Browning – Flower Duet (Part 1)

Credits:

    Composed By – Puccini*
    Conductor – Frieder Weissmann (tracks: A1 to A5, B1), Victor Trucco (tracks: B2 to B7)
    Mezzo-soprano Vocals – Lucielle Browning (tracks: A1 to A5, B1)
    Orchestra – RCA Victor Orchestra*
    Sleeve Notes – Radio Corporation of America
    Soprano Vocals – Licia Albanese (tracks: B2 to B7)
    Tenor Vocals – James Melton (tracks: A1 to A5, B1)

Notes:

This differs from Licia Albanese In Highlights From Puccini's Madame Butterfly With James Melton And Other Operatic Arias in being a "Shaded white dog" label. Sleeve credit listed as "Copyright 1954, Radio Corporation of America". 

Barcode and Other Identifiers

    Matrix / Runout (Stamped side 1): E4 RP8309-6S B4
    Matrix / Runout (Stamped side 2): E4 RP8310-6S B1
    Matrix / Runout (Label side 1): E4 RP 8309
    Matrix / Runout (Label side 2): E4 RP 8310          

Giacomo Puccini, Frieder Weissmann, Victor Trucco, RCA Victor Orchestra*, Licia Albanese, James Melton, Lucille Browning – Licia Albanese In Highlights From Puccini's Madame Butterfly With James Melton And Other Operatic Arias
Label: RCA Victor Red Seal – LM-1839
Format: Vinyl, LP, Mono
Country: US
Released: 1954
Genre: Classical
Style: Opera

         

         

Viewfinder links:       

        

Licia Albanese         

Giuseppina Baldassare-Tedeschi      

Bill Clinton         

James Melton     

Gaetano Merola       

Giacomo Puccini       

Rosina Storchio                

Arturo Toscanini       

Frieder Weissmann      

        

Net links:       

        

Bruce Duffie ~ Conversation w/Licia Albanese   

        

        

        

        

        

       

YouTube links:       

        

Licia Albanese ~ Un bel di vedremo (1953)       

Licia Albanese & Lucielle Browning - Una nave da guerra (Flower duet)    

Licia Albanese & James Melton ~ Love Duet       

James Melton – Addio (Farewell)       

        

        

        

       

Licia Albanese

date & photographer unknown

        

        

        

        

        

Styrous® ~ Wednesday, February 17, 2021       

       

 

 

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