Rigoletto Metropolitan Opera 1940

This is a rare, perhaps even unique, example of a non-Saturday-matinee broadcast from the Met. This was a special Tuesday night broadcast in aid of the 'Free Milk Fund' and was not even broadcast on the usual New York radio station, WJZ (760AM), instead featuring on WINS (1180AM). Although the opera was broadcast complete only 8 minutes apparently survive but they document the Rigoletto of Italian baritone Giuseppe De Luca, even though he was in his 60s by 1940. De Luca sang this role about 100 times at the Met and started out with Caruso as the Duke. Very few live recordings exist with De Luca, so it is nice to have these fragments.



De Luca as Rigoletto




Metropolitan Opera House
March 12, 1940 Broadcast


RIGOLETTO {234}
Giuseppe Verdi--Francesco Maria Piave

Rigoletto...............Giuseppe De Luca
Gilda...................Lily Pons
Duke of Mantua..........Charles Kullman
Maddalena...............Anna Kaskas
Sparafucile.............Virgilio Lazzari
Monterone...............Norman Cordon
Borsa...................Giordano Paltrinieri
Marullo.................George Cehanovsky
Count Ceprano...........Wilfred Engelman
Countess Ceprano........Maxine Stellman
Giovanna................Thelma Votipka
Page....................Edith Herlick

Conductor...............Gennaro Papi

https://rapidshare.com/files/2117917877/1940Rigoletto.mp3

Siegfried Teatro Colon 1938

Max Lorenz as Siegfried

 Here's another performance from the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires conducted by Erich Kleiber. This upload is of the first act of Siegfried with Max Lorenz in the title role. Lorenz was the leading European heldentenor of the 1930s and 1940s, dominating at Bayreuth, Berlin and Vienna. This recording shows why Lorenz was so highly regarded, far more than some of his 1950s recordings when his voice had lost some of its potency. Some portions of act 2 of this performance also apparently exist, but I don't have them. The sound is more than reasonable for 1938.

 

Wagner - Siegfried Act 1

Conductor Erich Kleiber 

Teatro Colón (Buenos Aires) October 4, 1938

Siegfried - Max Lorenz

Mime - Erich Witte

Wanderer - Herbert Janssen

https://rapidshare.com/files/2194627663/1938SiegfriedAct1.mp3

Die Meistersinger, Teatro Colon, 1949

In response to a request for some of Erich Kleiber's performances from the Teatro Colon here is just over 30 mins of Meistersinger from 1949. The extracts consist of the Overture plus some extracts from act 3. It is perhaps most notable for being the earliest example of Hans Hotter singing Sachs. In Suthaus the performance has a heavyweight Walther  and in Weber a truly great Pogner. The sound is not too bad for the era.




https://rapidshare.com/files/2087542600/1949Meistersinger.mp3

Wagner - Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
Teatro Colon, Buenos Aires
 Sept 2 1949
c. Erich Kleiber.

INTERPRETE	CUERDA	PAPEL
Hotter, Hans	(barítono)	Hans Sachs
Weber, Ludwig	(bajo)	Pogner
Bandini, Alvaro	(tenor)	Vogelgesang
Feller, Carlos	(bajo)	Nachtigall
Kunz, Erich	(bajo)	Beckmesser
Mattiello, Angel	(barítono)	Kothner
Savorini, Mario	(tenor)	Zorn
Tavini, Virgilio	(tenor)	Eisslinger
Giusti, Carlos	(tenor)	Moser
Matthaeis, Duilio de	(barítono)	Ortel
Barbieri, Héctor	(barítono)	Schwarz
Gagliardo, Tulio	(bajo)	Foltz
Suthaus, Ludwig	(tenor)	Walther
Dermota, Anton	(tenor)	David
Hoerner, Germaine	(soprano)	Eva
Hoengen, Elizabeth	(mezzo)	Magdalene
Feller, Carlos	(bajo)	Sereno

Samson et Dalila Metropolitan Opera 1941

Rise Stevens as Dalila

Risë Stevens recently celebrated her 98th birthday so I thought it would be fitting to post one of her most famous roles, Dalila in Samson et Dalila. This 1941 aircheck is missing the first ten minutes or so of act 1 and can be noisy at times, but since the opera was not broadcast very much it is a rare document.

Metropolitan Opera House
December 13, 1941 Matinee Broadcast


SAMSON ET DALILA

Samson..................René Maison
Dalila..................Risë Stevens
High Priest.............Leonard Warren
Abimélech...............Norman Cordon
Old Hebrew..............Nicola Moscona
Philistine..............John Dudley
Philistine..............Arthur Kent
Messenger...............Emery Darcy
Dance...................Ruthanna Boris
Dance...................Monna Montes
Dance...................Michael Arshansky
Dance...................Alexis Dolinoff
Dance...................Alexis Kosloff
Dance...................Leon Varkas

Conductor...............Wilfred Pelletier
https://rapidshare.com/files/4161198084/1941SamsonAct1.mp3
https://rapidshare.com/files/2113296903/1941SamsonAct2.mp3
https://rapidshare.com/files/3379828794/1941SamsonAct3.mp3