La Bohême - Acoustic

 For opera fans, here's a half hour of some legendary voices of the early 20th century, performing selections from one of the great operas - Puccini's La Bohême. These recordings, drawn from the Victor catalog, were made from 1906 to 1916, so they are all recorded acoustically. There are a few key selections missing, but most of the favorite arias and ensemble pieces from the opera are here. The great Enrico Caruso is heavily featured.

Of particular interest is Caruso's famous rendition of "Vecchia zimarra," the "Coat Song." This is a bass aria, but Caruso's voice was so flexible that he had no trouble bailing out Andrés de Segurola when that singer lost his voice during a Metropolitan Opera performance in Philadelphia; with his back to the audience, Caruso sang the piece while Segurola mimed the performance. The famous tenor was persuaded to record the aria the next day in Victor's Camden, New Jersey studios, but the recording was never intended to be issued. In the late 1940s, radio personality Wally Butterworth obtained a test pressing of the aria and issued it on a privately pressed vinyl 78, with an explanatory talk on the other side.

All of the other records are one-sided, as were all of Victor's Red Seal classical records in those years. The company didn't start making double-sided Red Seal discs until the 1920s. Part of the reason for this was economics. In order to attract the biggest stars of the opera world, Victor gave them lucrative contracts, with generous royalties on each record sold. So the company tried to maximize its profit by charging as much as possible for each issued selection. The royalties demanded by Victor's two biggest stars, Caruso and Nellie Melba, resulted in a duet record priced at five dollars for three and a half minutes of music - and that's the equivalent of over $150 in today's dollars. The star-studded Quartet cost six dollars - nearly $200 when adjusted for inflation. 

So here's a generous chunk of La Bohême, transferred with minimal noise reduction. Apologies for the occasional spots of "blasting" distortion in loud passages.

Act I:

Enrico Caruso: Che gelida manina (Rudoph's Narrative) - Victor 88002, recorded 1906

Frances Alda: Mi chiamano Mimi - Victor 74448, recorded 1915

Nellie Melba & Enrico Caruso: O soave fanciulla - Victor 95200, recorded 1907

Act III:

Geraldine Farrar & Antonio Scotti: Mimi, Io son! - Victor 89016, recorded 1909

Geraldine Farrar: Addio! - Victor 88406, recorded 1912

Geraldine Farrar, Gina Viaforo, Enrico Caruso & Antonio Scotti: Quartet: Addio, dolce svegliare - Victor 96002, recorded 1908

Act IV:

Enrico Caruso & Antonio Scotti: Ah Mimi, tu piu - Victor 89006, recorded 1907

Enrico Caruso: Vecchia zimarra (Coat Song) - RCA Victor 87499 (private pressing), recorded 1916

Wally Butterworth & Frances Alda -Why Caruso recorded the Coat Song - RCA Victor 87499, recorded c. 1949