Can you believe that this is a Live recording from 1903?!

This is one of the most precious early live Operatic performance recording; The Opening Scene excerpt from Act 2 of Leoncavallo's "I Pagliacci". Recorded Live by Lionel Mapleson at Metropolitan Opera House, New York. Recorded on a two minute Wax cylinder on January 30th, 1903(!)

The recording is mostly with chorus, but the famous Italian baritone, Antonio Scotti, can be heard clearly on some passages.

Now, can you believe that this is a LIVE performance, from 1903, recorded on a primitive Wax cylinder? I couldn't believe it even after I listened this over and over.

I didn't do any filtering job or any sound modification on this one. This audio came directly from a tape copy of lacquer disc transcriptions made by William H. Seltsam of IRCC with a collaboration of New York public Library in 1941. Later transfers made in the 1960s and 1980s doesn't sound much vivid and clear as this one.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Mapleson
• Cylinder
• 1903
• Pagliacci
• Antonio
• Scotti
• Edison
• cylinder

[elias01]

Beautiful. Thanks..

[nozmoking1]

Amazing - the fidelity and accuracy of the recording was purely a function of the design of the diaphragm, and the meticulous calculations and lever ratios needed to transfer the sound to accurate movement of the cutting needle. Then, the reverse - to create enough energy to move the diaphragm sufficiently and produce enough audible sound pressure without distorting or damaging the delicate groove on the wax cylinder was an incredible feat of engineering. Thanks for posting this.

[morlac2]

@TheOrderoftheOwl xDDD this was epic

[TheOrderoftheOwl]

It beats protools for sure. Long live analog recordings!

[ferociousgumby]

How many cylinders to record the whole thing?!

I agree, this is amazing, very vibrant sound quality. The voices have real resonance. But it's over too soon!

[MrGer2295]

Antonio Scotti (January 25, 1866 - February 26, 1936) was an Italian baritone. He was a principal artist of the New York Metropolitan Opera for more than 33 seasons, but also sang with great success at London's Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and Milan's La Scala.

Molto Bello!!! Thank you for sharing this video.

[MrGer2295]

Antonio Scotti was born in Naples. His family wanted him to enter the priesthood but he emarbarked instead on a career in opera. He received his early vocal training from Esther Trifari-Paganini and Vincenzo Lombardi.

Molto Bello!!! Thank you for sharing this video.

[MrGer2295]

According to most sources, he made his debut at Malta's Theatre Royal in 1889, performing the role of Amonasro in Giuseppe Verdi's Aida. Engagements at various Italian operatic venues ensued and he later gained valuable stage experience singing in Spain, Portugal, Russia and South America.

Molto Bello!!! Thank you for sharing this video.

[MrGer2295]

In 1898, he debuted at Italy's most renowned opera house, La Scala, Milan, as Hans Sachs in Die Meistersinger. (This now seems a surprising choice of role for Scotti because his subsequent career did not encompass the operas of Richard Wagner.)

Molto Bello!!! Thank you for sharing this video.

[MrGer2295]

Scotti's American debut took place in the fall (autumn) of 1899, when he sang in Chicago.

Molto Bello!!! Thank you for sharing this video.

[MrGer2295]

On December 27, 1899 he made his first appearance in New York City at the Metropolitan Opera, undertaking the title role in Mozart's Don Giovanni.

Molto Bello!!! Thank you for sharing this video.

[MrGer2295]

He would become an audience favorite at the Met, earning acclaim for his graceful singing of Donizetti's bel canto music as well as for the touch of elegance that he brought to his more forceful Verdi and verismo interpretations. Scotti appeared at Covent Garden in London for the first time in 1899, singing Don Giovanni. He would return to London on many occasions prior to World War I.

Molto Bello!!! Thank you for sharing this video.

[MrGer2295]

At the Met in 1901, Scotti became the first artist to sing the role of Baron Scarpia in Giacomo Puccini's Tosca in America. He appeared, too, in the American premieres of Francesco Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur, Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari's Le donne curiose, Umberto Giordano's Fedora, Franco Leoni's L'Oracolo and Isidore de Lara's Messaline.

Molto Bello!!! Thank you for sharing this video.

[MrGer2295]

Scotti also sang a variety of mainstream baritone parts during his time at the Met, including Rigoletto, Malatesta, Belcore, Iago, Falstaff, Marcello, Sharpless and, as we have seen, Don Giovanni and Scarpia. He performed opposite his close friend Enrico Caruso when the illustrious tenor made his Met debut as the Duke of Mantua in 1903, and partnered 15 different Toscas over the course of his long career at the house.

Molto Bello!!! Thank you for sharing this video.

[MrGer2295]

In 1912, Scotti's arrival in the United States with Pasquale Amato and William Hinshaw for his next Met season received extensive newspaper coverage (see photograph, right).

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[MrGer2295]

He performed at Covent Garden on a regular basis until 1910, with additional appearances in the 1913-1914 season. During this period, he became not only London's first Scarpia but also its first Sharpless in Puccini's Madama Butterfly (in 1900 and 1905 respectively). In 1917, he was elected an honorary member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, the American fraternity for male musicians, at the New England Conservatory of Music.

Molto Bello!!! Thank you for sharing this video.

[MrGer2295]

He formed his own troupe of singers in 1919, calling it, naturally enough, the Scotti Opera Company. He managed it for several seasons while touring the United States. Scotti celebrated his 25th anniversary with the Met on January 1, 1924 in a gala performance of Tosca.

Molto Bello!!! Thank you for sharing this video.

[MrGer2295]

By the 1930s, Scotti's voice had declined considerably but he retained his place on the Met's roster of singers due to his outstanding histrionic ability. His final Met appearance occurred on January 20, 1933, when he sang Chim-Fen in L'Oracolo; he had created the role in 1905.

Molto Bello!!! Thank you for sharing this video.

[MrGer2295]

Scotti returned to Italy to spend his retirement. He died in poverty in Naples in 1936, aged 70.

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[MrGer2295]

Scotti can be heard singing snatches of Scarpia's music in part of a clearly exciting performance of Tosca that was recorded live at the Met on faint and crackly Mapleson Cylinders in 1903. He is partnered by soprano Emma Eames and tenor Emilio De Marchi, with Luigi Mancinelli conducting.

Molto Bello!!! Thank you for sharing this video.

[MrGer2295]

He also made intermittent visits to commercial recording studios from 1902 until the outbreak of hostilities in Europe in 1914. Records which he cut for the British Gramophone and Typewriter Company and the American Victor Talking Machine Company and Columbia Phonograph Company have been reissued on CD.

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[MrGer2295]

Featuring a range of solo arias and some operatic duets with Caruso, Marcella Sembrich and Geraldine Farrar, these records of Scotti's confirm that he was a stylish, well-trained and aristocratic singer. His voice was not particularly large or resonant; but it was rock steady, smooth toned and accurate in its execution of difficult vocal ornaments.

Molto Bello!!! Thank you for sharing this video.

[MrGer2295]

Recordings and vocal characteristics -- A striking and extroverted person on stage and off, Scotti was adept at portraying both dramatic and comic characters.

Molto Bello!!! Thank you for sharing this video.

[1854Sherlock]

by the way piano and oboe(?) was recorded on wax cylinder in Chrystal Palace in London in 1888.

[RollaArtis]

I think the original wax recordings were like this - very good, but the quality deteriorated every time they were played. Sonic limitations meant that vocal music (and bells) came out particularly well but instrumental music not.