Release Date: 01 June 2003
Label: Naxos - Historical / Naxos Historical
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 2
Barcode: 636943178126
Genres: Classical
Composer/Series: GREAT SINGERS
Description
From the earliest days of opera, that combination of all thearts, singers, the prima donna and the primo uomo, heroine and hero, have hadextraordinary prominence, dramatic, social and commercial. The presentanthology includes examples of the art and charisma of many of the greatestsingers of the earlier ages of recording.Among the legendary prima donnas is Dame Nellie Melba(1861-1931), the Australian diva who claimed to have put her native country onthe map. There are many stories about her regal behaviour and apparentdisregard for colleagues of whom she disapproved. Born Helen Mitchell, she tookher stage name from her native Melbourne, and left it to Melba toast and toEscoffier's P?â?¬che Melba. In London she appeared at Covent Garden, which she regardedas her artistic home, and secured a place for herself in society. She appearedat the Metropolitan Opera in New York and at La Scala, Milan, toured inAustralia and did much to promote music there, in spite of her reported adviceto Clara Butt to 'sing 'em muck: it's all they can understand', counsel thatshe indignantly denied having given. She made her farewell appearance at CoventGarden in 1926 and spent her final years at home in Australia. She recordedfrom 1904, and the aria here included is Sweet bird that shunn'st the noise offolly, from Handel's setting of Milton's Il penseroso. This was recorded in1904 at Melba's London home in Great Cumberland Place, a retake, after anearlier recorded lapse in concentration.Dame Maggie Teyte (1888-1976) followed Mary Garden inDebussy's Pelleas et Melisande. She was a pupil in Paris of Jean de Reszke, thetenor who had had the unfortunate task in 1896 of singing Siegfried to theinappropriate Br?â??nnhilde of Melba. After earlier operatic success that alsobrought appearances in London and America, she turned her attention to operettaand musical comedy, returning in the later 1930s to re-establish herself inFrench recital repertoire, often performing songs by composers whom she hadknown in France, Debussy, Ravel, Reynaldo Hahn and others. She recordedDebussy's Chansons de Bilitis in 1936 with Alfred Cortot.One of Maggie Teyte's later appearances in London was withthe Norwegian soprano Kirsten Flagstad (1895-1962) in Purcell's Dido and Aeneasat Bernard Miles's newly established Mermaid Theatre. Flagstad's earlier careerhad been in Oslo, where she sang a variety of r?â??les, and in the 1930s began toappear in Wagner. She sang Isolde in Oslo in 1932 and followed this with thesame r?â??le at Bayreuth. In 1935, after coaching with George Szell, she appearedat the Met as Sieglinde, followed by Isolde, Br?â??nnhilde and Kundry,establishing a reputation as one of the great Wagnerian sopranos. She spent thewar years at home in German-occupied Norway, where her husband was lateraccused of collaboration, and her return to the stage, while welcomed inLondon, was hotly opposed in America, although she was eventually able torecover something of her former position. Heard her
Tracklisting
Various Artists
Various
Various
Various
Tullio Serafin
Soloists
Soloists
Soloists
Various
Various
Various
Various
Various
Various
Various
Various
