Nellie Melba - Aria and Song 1904-1921

 

Dame Nellie Melba GBE (born Helen Porter Mitchell; 19 May 1861 – 23 February 1931) was an Australian operatic lyric coloratura soprano. She became one of the most famous singers of the late Victorian era and the early 20th century, and was the first Australian to achieve international recognition as a classical musician. She took the pseudonym "Melba" from Melbourne, her home town.

Melba studied singing in Melbourne and made a modest success in performances there. After a brief and unsuccessful marriage, she moved to Europe in search of a singing career. Failing to find engagements in London in 1886, she studied in Paris and soon made a great success there and in Brussels. Returning to London she quickly established herself as the leading lyric soprano at Covent Garden from 1888. She soon achieved further success in Paris and elsewhere in Europe, and later at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, debuting there in 1893. Her repertoire was small; in her whole career she sang no more than 25 roles and was closely identified with only ten. She was known for her performances in French and Italian opera, but sang little German opera.

During the First World War, Melba raised large sums for war charities. She returned to Australia frequently during the 20th century, singing in opera and concerts, and had a house built for her near Melbourne. She was active in the teaching of singing at the Melbourne Conservatorium. Melba continued to sing until the last months of her life and made a large number of "farewell" appearances. Her death, in Australia, was news across the English-speaking world, and her funeral was a major national event. The Australian $100 note features her image.

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This title attempts to convey the distinctive voice of Dame Nellie Melba, re-recorded and mastered by the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia utilising an innovative process. The original disc recordings were played using archival Gramophone equipment, and the music recorded through ambient microphones. The recordings took place in the Senate Chamber of Old Parliament House in Canberra - a location already associated with Melba as she sang in person at the opening of Parliament House in 1927.

PART 1 - Arias from Operas (15 tracks)

1. God Save the King (Trad)

2. Puccini: LA BOHÈME: Mi chiamano Mimi

3. Puccini: LA BOHÈME: O soave fanciulla

4. Puccini: LA BOHÈME: Donde lieta uscì al tuo grido d'amore

5. Mozart: IL RE PASTORE: l'amero saro costante

6. Mozart: LE NOZZE DE FIGARO voi che sapete

7. Mozart: LE NOZZE DE FIGARO porgi amor

8. Massenet: DON CÉSAR DE BAZAN: À Séville, belle Señoras (Sevillana),

9. Lalo: LE ROI D'YS: Puisqu'on ne peut fléchir… Vainement, ma bien aimée (Aubade)

10. Verdi: RIGOLETTO: Caro nome

11. Verdi LA TRAVIATA: Ah! Fors'è lui… Follie! Follie!... Sempre libera

12. Donizetti: LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR: Del ciel clemente un riso (Mad Scene)

13. Charpentier: LOUISE: Depuis de jour

14. Wagner: LOHENGRIN: Sola ne miei prim anni (Elsa's Dream)

15. Rimsky-Korsakov: SADKO: Les diamants chez nous… (Chanson Hindoue)

PART 2 - Songs (16 tracks)

1. Arditi: Se saran rose

2. Hahn: Si mes vers avaient des ailes

3. Bemberg: Sur le lac

4. Bemberg: Chant hindou

5. Bemberg: Les anges pleurent

6. Lottie: Pur dicesti, o bocca, bocca bella

7. Bizet: Pastorale

8. Hahn: D'une prison

9. Hue: Soir paiën

10. Debussy: (i) Romance (ii) Mandoline

11. Duparc: Chanson triste

12. Chausson: Le temps des lilas

13. Ronald: The White Sea Mist

14. White: Andersen. My Jo

15. Lehmann: Magdalen at Michael's Gate

16. Dvorak: Songs my mother taught me

Nellie Melba - Aria and Song 1904-1921

Scott Joplin...Original Rags...historical piano roll recordings from the King of Ragtime

Scott Joplin (1868-1917) was an African-American composer and pianist. Joplin achieved fame for his ragtime compositions and was dubbed the King of Ragtime. During his brief career, he wrote 44 original ragtime pieces, one ragtime ballet, and two operas. One of his first and most popular pieces, the "Maple Leaf Rag", became ragtime's first and most influential hit, and has been recognized as the archetypal rag.

Joplin was born into a musical family of railway laborers in Texarkana, Arkansas, and developed his musical knowledge with the help of local teachers. He grew up in Texarkana, Texas, where he formed a vocal quartet and taught mandolin and guitar. During the late 1880's he left his job as a railroad laborer and travelled the American South as an itinerant musician. He went to Chicago for the World's Fair of 1893, which played a major part in making ragtime a national craze by 1897.

Joplin moved to Sedalia, Missouri, in 1894 and earned a living as a piano teacher. There he taught future ragtime composers Arthur Marshall, Scott Hayden and Brun Campbell. He began publishing music in 1895, and publication of his "Maple Leaf Rag" in 1899 brought him fame. This piece had a profound influence on writers of ragtime. It also brought Joplin a steady income for life, though he did not reach this level of success again and frequently had financial problems. In 1901 Joplin moved to St. Louis, where he continued to compose and publish, and regularly performed in the community. 

In 1907, Joplin moved to New York City to find a producer for a new opera. He attempted to go beyond the limitations of the musical form that made him famous, but without much monetary success. 

In 1916, Joplin descended into dementia as a result of syphilis. He was admitted to a mental institution in January 1917, and died there three months later at the age of 48. Joplin's death is widely considered to mark the end of ragtime as a mainstream music format; over the next several years, it evolved with other styles into stride, jazz, and eventually big band swing.

Joplin's music was rediscovered and returned to popularity in the early 1970's with the release of a million-selling album recorded by Joshua Rifkin. This was followed by the Academy Award-winning 1973 film The Sting that featured several of Joplin's compositions, most notably "The Entertainer", whose performance by pianist Marvin Hamlisch received wide airplay. In 1976, Joplin was posthumously awarded a Pulitzer Prize.

Piano Rags