(Rare!) Mary Garden with Claude Debussy at the Piano - Green (1904)

Another rarity; this time, a SUPER-rarity.

The Scottish Soprano, Mary Garden (1874.2.20 ~ 1967.1.3) sings Debussy's "Green (Ariette No. 5)". Words from the series of lovely poems by Paul Verlaine. Piano accompaniment is no other than Claude Debussy Himself! This was recorded in 1904 at the G&T's recording studio in Paris. Garden recorded 3 other sides with Debussy, one contains an excerpt from Debussy's "Pelleas et Melisande", which Garden herself created the title role.

Surprisingly, this record had very, very short catalogue life, and the circulation was extremely poor. The original G&T pressings of these records are so rare that only two have been offered for sale during the last 50 years. What made the matter worse, Mary Garden herself hated the recording, and during her later years, she threw away her own copies of the records along with those belonged Maggie Teyte!

Actually, Garden's behavior was understandable, since the recording was made with a faulty cutting turntable - a chronic illness of French G&T studio in Paris. Almost every single recordings made at that studio between 1901 and 1905 are the victims of this illness, causing a pitch instability and flutter, creating very bizarre "Vibrato" on the piano sound, thus making those very hard to be enjoyed.

In 1937, William H. Seltsam of Bridgeport, Conneticut, the Head of International Record Collectors' Club, borrowed the copies of this record which was then belonged to Fred Gaisberg, and re-recorded at the HMV Studio in London. It was then released again in a "limited" edition on IRCC 106. This is the record which I have.

Played on my Numark turntable. Unfortunately, the shellac compound on this record is somewhat bad (even this is a 1940s Victor pressing!), and there are some unwanted surface noises which is similar to those "Hayes Mix noises", so I decided to filter little bit of surface noise by proper equalizing. I also played this record at 78rpm, since I can't decide the correct playing speed. As a result, Garden sounds somewhat sharp.

Here's the original poem, "Green", by Paul Verlaine, from "Romances sand Paroles";

Voici des fruits, des fleurs, des feuilles et des branches
Et puis voici mon coeur qui ne bat que pour vous.
Ne le déchirez pas avec vos deux mains blanches
Et qu'à vos yeux si beaux l'humble présent soit doux.

J'arrive tout couvert encore de rosée
Que le vent du matin vient glacer à mon front.
Souffrez que ma fatigue à vos pieds reposée
Rêve des chers instants qui la délasseront.

Sur votre jeune sein laissez rouler ma tête
Toute sonore encor de vos derniers baisers;
Laissez-la s'apaiser de la bonne tempête,
Et que je dorme un peu puisque vous reposez.

(English translation follows;)

Here - some fruit, some flowers, some leaves and branches,
And here - my heart which beats for you alone.
Do not rend it with your two pale hands,
But let it be a small gift, sweet to your beauteous eyes.

I arrive covered with dew,
Which the morning wind freezes upon my brow.
Suffer me in my fatigue to lie at your feet,
Dreaming of sweet moments that will revive me.

On your young bosom let my head rest,
Still filled with your last kisses;
Let my thoughts subside after such a wondrous storm
And let me sleep a little while you lie by my side.

****************************************­************************ Copyright Disclaimer under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Mary
• Garden
• Claude
• Debussy
• Green
• Ariette
• No.5
• 1904
• G&T
• IRCC
• 78rpm
• Phonograph
• Gramophone

[MrRom92DAW]

This is awesome, thanks for posting. I wonder if you have heard of historic masters, or subscribe to them? their releases would be your cup of tea i think. :)

Which numark turntable do you have? I have the ttx-usb. the +/- 50% pitch control is a godsend. I dont think there is a better 78 rpm capable machine on the planet. Only way it could possibly improved is with a linear tracking air bearing tonearm! wondering how i can modify mine to work nicely with one. the Terminator sure is a nice one.

[transformingArt]

@MrRom92DAW Thanks for your comment. I use the generic PT-01 USB model. They are not so good machines, of course, and their pitch control is VERY unsatisfying, but it is simply okay for me to use.

At least I have some variety of stylus which improves the sound quality fairly well sometimes.

By the way, I recently got a Califone 12V-9 turntable from the 1960s which has lots of interesting features - very surprising for a 'school phonograph'. I'll post some records using this machine soon.

[transformingArt]

@MrRom92DAW And by the way, I know very well about Historic Masters and their Vinyl reissues, but since there are lots of their reissues which has lots of disappointing sonic flaws (mostly caused by deteriorated/corroded masters), I'm not that crazy about their materials. I think I'll stuck to Shellac whenever possible.

[CurzonRoad]

At which speed was this transfer made? Sounds just a tad fast. Thanks!

[MrGer2295]

Since 1907, the United States. In 1910 she sang at the Chicago Opera, where she sang mostly the party of French repertoire (Carmen, Marguerite, Ophelia in "Hamlet" Tom, a number of roles in operas by Massenet). Was director of the theater in 1921-22 (in 1921 when it was here promoting the world premiere of the opera "Love of Three Oranges" by Prokofiev).

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

[MrRom92DAW]

@transformingArt Hm. I have two of their sets, (tamagno 12" and melba) and while I am aware of the issues caused by deterioration in the masters, I find that the noise floor is still far lower than even the best shellac - Most of, if not all of the noise heard on those pressings is actually sound from the cutter that was amplified and cut into the groove, thus, all issues will have slight noise. I love their issues, i hope to get more, but i'll never turn down a nice shellac disc either :)

[paulostroff99]

Very interesting!TY for posting.

[pianopera]

I understand that the original is a collector's item, but the recordings of Garden/Debussy are not rare at all, they were all transferred onto CD several times, by several labels... I think you did a good job with the audio quality!

[merrihew]

You certainly did your homework on this one. The fluttering is a bit annoying but the historic significance is what's most important.

[gmmix]

What a gem this is, and certainly it IS a rarity...and a treat for the ears. Thank you for this posting. I knew this disc existed but never had the chance to hear it.