Great Voices of Yesteryear

A Boy and his Victrola
Listenin’ to records on the Victor V

Victor RED SEAL Records

The Art of Great Singers and Players
Recorded in Imperishable Form
for the Benefit of the Present and Future Generations

The Real Music of the Future
Punch, 1888

Signor Foghorni, the great Hibernian basso-tenore robusto-profondo, is so disgusted at the frivolity of contemporary musical taste (which is not ripe enough to appreciate him), that he gives up all attempts to please the present generation: he buys a phonograph instead, and devotes his energies to singing for posterity. By applying his ear to this marvellous instrument immediately after singing into it, he not only hears his song echoed back to him out of the dim future, but he also hears the rapturous applause of unborn millions!

The cultured household of the early twentieth century boasted a talking machine--usually a Victrola--and the appropriate collection of recordings. As Roland Gelatt observed in The Fabulous Phonograph:

Across the land, in towns where opera companies had never set foot, a growing clientele for standard arias and ensembles was to be found patronizing Victor’s ten thousand authorized dealers. It would be hard to say how much of this trade derived from a genuine desire for good music. There was, aesthetic satisfaction aside, a redolent snob appeal attached to Red Seal Records... A collection of Red Seal Records established one as a person of both taste and prosperity. Along with the leather-bound sets of Dickens, Thackeray, and Oliver Wendell Holmes, Victor Red Seals became a customary adjunct of the refined American parlor, to be displayed with becoming pride to impressionable guests and relations.

Most of the sound clips on this site are taken from 78 rpm records. Some are acoustic, some are electrically recorded (such as Victor Orthophonic). If you are familiar with only CDs or modern vinyl, these recordings may sound pretty bad to you. Although the clarity of sound is missing, I find I enjoy these old records because they are the only inkling we have of how some of the great singers of the past sounded. They were made before the modern cut and paste style of recording was possible -- a soprano could not go into the studio and record a bank of high Cs for use in producing a full-length recording at a later date when she might not be in good voice. There was no spot fixing of mistakes, iffy intonation, less than optimal tone quality, etc., and the recordings were not amplified to unnatural levels and electronically enhanced. Thus, they were in some ways a closer representation of the real thing than modern recordings can offer (even “live” recordings get enhanced or have their volume cranked up). And, I might add, even these little clips miss the full glory of the recording played on the appropriate machine... the electric reproduction is actually less good than the non-electric Victrola.

Finally, before you dig into the samples, here is an article about the phonograph and recordings written by one of the finest artists of the century, Giuseppe de Luca:

While it is regrettable that the phonograph was not invented a century--or centuries--earlier, we are fortunate that it came in time to record the assortment of fabulous . . . artists like Caruso, Destinn, Melba, Rachmaninoff, Schumann-Heink and Ysaye [who] are worthy of study on the part of all those preparing for musical careers, even of those who have already established their fame, for the truly finished artist never considers himself as having finished studying. Much can be learned from the high standards and musicianship of the great celebrities who flourished in the first quarter of this century.

In addition to the breadth of their musical capabilities, the result of long, very intensive study, the singers of what we now call the “Golden Age of Opera” were recipients as well of direct, or almost direct, instruction at the hands of great composers themselves or their immediate disciples. This is equally true, of course, of instrumentalists such as those pianists who were pupils of Liszt. Tradition may live on, but the authority to re-enact it fades as it becomes more and more removed from the actual source. When we can hear, via the phonograph, the creators of Falstaff and Otello, we know that we are experiencing interpretations immortal in their concept because they were formed under the rigorous supervision of the exacting composer himself.

Music, being the most intangible of all the arts in spite of the written notes, stands in danger of having authentic qualities and nuances disappear forever with the performances unless something exists to perpetuate them. Acoustic recordings afford us a living re-creation of famous performances and thus constitute a direct link to the musical heritage we have received from the past, just as those of the present will link the future back to today. As such these prized discs are to be treasured.

All sound clips are in RealAudio® format. Most name brand computers have the RealPlayer (or RealOne Player) installed at the factory. If you do not have the RealPlayer already, download it here.

Enjoy our heritage! Choose the index page for the voice type you want to hear.

Soprano	Mezzo-Soprano Contralto	Tenor	Baritone Bass
Duets and Ensembles