The
Mapleson Cylinders are a group of more than 100
phonograph cylinderPhonograph cylinders were the earliest medium for recording and reproducing sound. Commonly known simply as "records" in their era of greatest popularity , these cylinder shaped objects had an audio recording engraved on the outside surface which could be reproduced when the cylinder was played on...
s recorded live at the
Metropolitan OperaThe Metropolitan Opera Association of New York City, founded in April 1880, is a major presenter of all types of opera including Grand Opera. Peter Gelb is the company's general manager. The music director is James Levine....
, primarily in the years 1901-1903, by Lionel Mapleson.
They contain short fragments of actual operatic performances and are historically important because of the aural picture they present of pre-
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
singers performing in a real opera house with a real orchestra, rather than with a piano accompaniment in a boxy room at a commercial recording studio. They also feature many famous singers and conductors who never recorded commercially.
History
On March 17, 1900, Lionel Mapleson (the librarian of the Metropolian Opera) purchased an
EdisonThomas Alva Edison was an American inventor, scientist and businessman who developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb...
Home
PhonographThe record player, phonograph or gramophone was the most common device for playing recorded sound from the late 1870s until the late 1980s.- Terminology :...
. Mapleson was apparently enchanted with the acoustic device, and on March 21, 1900, his friend the cellist and occasional composer
Leo SternLeo Stern was an English cellist, best remembered for being the soloist in the premiere performance of Antonín Dvořák's Cello Concerto in B minor in London in 1896.-Biography:...
presented him with a new machine: a
BettiniBettini is a surname of Italian origin. The name refers to:*Antonio Bettini , Italian clergyman and writer*Domenico Bettini , , Italian painter of the Baroque era...
cylinder recorder and reproducer. By the end of the month, Mapleson had persuaded the soprano
Marcella SembrichMarcella Sembrich was the stage name of the coloratura soprano, Prakseda Marcelina Kochańska. A Polish opera-singer, she was born at Wisniewczyk, in then Austrian Galicia now Ukraine. She first studied violin and piano with her father...
to record her
vocalizationA vocalise is a vocal exercise without words, which is sung on one or more vowel sounds. The singing of vocalise is called vocalization.[Owen Jander. "Vocalise." Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy. Accessed 25 Jun 05 .]Vocalise dates back to the mid-18th century...
of
Johann StraussJohann Strauss II was an Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas...
's "
Frühlingsstimmen Frühlingsstimmen op. 410 is a waltz by Johann Strauss II that was written in 1882. The work was intended as a waltz with a solo voice accompaniment of whom the famous coloratura soprano Bertha Schwarz was to sing the waltz at a grand matinée charity performance at the Theater an der Wien in...
" into it.
The following year, Mapleson came up with the idea of putting the recorder in the prompter's box of the Met. His first effort recorded Nellie Melba during
MassenetJules Massenet was a French composer best known for his operas. His compositions were very popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and he ranks as one of the greatest melodists of his era. Soon after his death, his style went out of fashion, and many of his operas fell into almost...
's
Le CidLe Cid is an opera in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Louis Gallet, Édouard Blau and Adolphe d'Ennery. It is based on the play of the same name by Pierre Corneille....
on January 16, 1901. He recorded several more times from the prompter's box, although often with mediocre results. After a short cessation and with the beginning of the 1901-1902 season he resumed his recording activity from the flies of the Metropolitan Opera House, this time with a huge recording horn that would be able to capture the sounds emanating from singers and orchestra below. It was with this arrangement that enabled Mapleson to unobtrusively record many performances and artists from 1901 through 1903. The morning after his recording, he would invite the artists to listen to playbacks of their performances. His recording activity continued until the end of the 1902-1903 season. At that point Mapleson either lost interest or was terminated by management from recording activity (although a few cylinders exist of orchestral rehearsals or concerts from 1904).
IRCC
Alerted to the cylinders' existence from an article in
The New YorkerThe New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry published by Condé Nast Publications...
, William H. Seltsam, secretary (actually head) of the International Record Collectors' Club (IRCC), met with Mapleson a few months before his death. Mapleson offered two cylinders with the challenge to derive something from them. Seltsam's experiment met with success and after Mapleson's death, was able to borrow 120 cylinders from his estate for the purpose of releasing them on IRCC issues. Over the remainder of Seltsam's lifetime, the IRCC was able to issue about 60 sides on 78 rpm records and LPs.
After Mapleson's death, a number of cylinders were found in a junk store in Brooklyn, and were purchased by various collectors.
New York Public Library and CD Reissue
With the co-operation of collectors, by 1962 eventually all existing Mapleson Cylinders had wound up in the
Rodgers and HammersteinRichard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II were a well-known American songwriting duo, usually referred to as Rodgers and Hammerstein. They created a string of popular Broadway musicals in the 1940s and 1950s during what is considered the golden age of the medium...
Archives of Recorded Sound, a division of The
New York Public LibraryThe New York Public Library is one of the leading public libraries of the world and is one of the United States's most significant research libraries. It is composed of a very large circulating public library system combined with a very large non-lending research library system...
. In 1985, under the direction of
David HallDavid Hall is a sound archivist and writer.-Early life:Hall's parents were Fairfax and Eleanor Raeburn Hall. He married Bernice Dobkin on June 8, 1940. Their children are Marion Hall Hunt, Jonathan Hall, Peter Dobkin Hall, and Susannah Hall.-Education:After graduating from Phillips Exeter...
, the library transferred all the existing cylinders to six LPs which were released with a 72-page booklet containing translations and extensive historical and biographical notes.
In 2000, David Hamilton and Seth Winner gave a lecture-demonstration to determine if any more sound information could be retrieved from the cylinders using the most modern technology then available. Their verdict was that the cylinders are now too deteriorated to retrieve much more information than previous dubbings.
A number of the cylinders have been reissued on CD by the Romophone and Marston record labels. A comprehensive but unauthorized CD transfer of the cylinders was issued in 1987 by the British company Symposium Records (
Symposium 1284).
Artists
Singers included on existing Mapleson Cylinders are:
Suzanne AdamsSuzanne Adams was an American lyric coloratura soprano. Known for her agile and pure voice, Adams first became well known in France before establishing herself as one of the Metropolitan Opera's leading sopranos at the beginning of the twentieth century.-Biography:Adams was born in Cambridge,...
, Albert Alvarez, Georg Anthes, Jacques Bars,
Mathilde BauermeisterMathilde Bauermeister was an opera singer who for decades held the record for most performances by a female artist at the Metropolitan Opera, a record now held by Thelma Votipka....
, Bernard Bégué,
David BisphamDavid Scull Bispham was the first American–born operatic baritone to win an international reputation.- Early life and family:...
, Robert Blass, Lucienne Bréval, Carrie Bridewell,
Alois BurgstallerAlois Burgstaller, was a German operatic tenor.A trained watchmaker, Alois always loved to sing and his vocal talent was discovered during an amateur theatre performance in church. Alois was encouraged to sing professionally by Cosima Wagner, the widow of Richard Wagner, and he made a serious...
,
Emma CalvéEmma Calvé, born Rosa Emma Calvet , was a French operatic soprano.Calvé was probably the most famous French female opera singer of the Belle Époque. Hers was an international career, and she sang regularly and to considerable acclaim at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, and the Royal Opera...
, Giuseppe Campanari, Carlo Dani,
Emilio de MarchiEmilio De Marchi was a prominent Italian operatic tenor during the late 19th century and early 20th century. In 1900, he entered musical history as the creator of the role of Cavaradossi in Giacomo Puccini's Tosca.De Marchi's voice was discovered during military service...
,
Edouard de ReszkeEdouard de Reszke, born as Edward, was a Polish operatic bass born in Warsaw.Edouard de Reszke learnt singing first in Warsaw, then in Italy. Initially, he did not want to become an operatic singer, but persuaded by his sister, Józefina, he accepted an engagement with the Paris Opéra...
,
Jean de ReszkeJean de Reszke, born Jan Mieczyslaw, was a Polish tenor. He enjoyed international renown for the quality of his singing and the elegance of his bearing and he became the biggest male opera star of the late 19th century.-Biography:He was born in Warsaw in 1850...
, Andreas Dippel,
Emma EamesEmma Eames was an American soprano. She sang lyric and lyric-dramatic roles in opera and enjoyed a brilliant career in New York, London and Paris during the last decade of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th century.-Her Early Years:The daughter of an international lawyer, Eames was...
,
Johanna GadskiJohanna Gadski was a German operatic soprano with a secure, powerful, ringing voice and an excellent technique....
, Emil Gerhäuser, Charles Gilibert,
Louise HomerLouise Homer was a American operatic contralto. She created the Witch in Engelbert Humperdinck's opera Louise Homer was a [[United States|American]] [[opera]]tic [[contralto]]...
,
Marcel JournetMarcel Journet , was a French bass. He enjoyed a prominent career in European and American opera houses in New York City and Chicago....
, Marguerite Marilly, Aristide Masiero, Marie Maurer,
Nellie MelbaDame Nellie Melba GBE , born Helen Porter Mitchell, was an Australian opera soprano. She became one of the most famous singers of the late Victorian Era and the early 20th century due to the purity of her lyrical voice and the brilliance of her technique. Melba was the first Australian to achieve...
, Adolph Mühlmann,
Lillian NordicaLillian Nordica , was an American opera singer.She established herself as one of the foremost dramatic sopranos of the late 19th century and early 20th century due to the high quality of her powerful voice and her ability to perform an unusually wide range of roles in German, French and Italian...
,
Pol PlançonPol-Henri Plançon was a French operatic bass and one of the most acclaimed singers active during the 1880s, '90s and early 1900s, a period often referred to as the "Golden Age of Opera"....
,
Albert ReissAlbert Reiss was a German operatic tenor who had a prolific career in Europe and the United States during the first third of the twentieth century. He spent much of his career performing at the Metropolitan Opera where he sang in more than 1,000 performances, including several premieres, between...
, Luise Reuss-Belce, Albert Saléza, Thomas Salignac,
Fritzi Scheff Fritzi Scheff was an American actress and vocalist.-Biography:Born in Vienna, Austria, she studied at Hoch's Conservatoire at Frankfurt and made her début at Munich in the title röle of Martha...
,
Ernestine Schumann-HeinkErnestine Schumann-Heink was a celebrated operatic contralto, noted for the beauty, tonal richness, flexibility and wide range of her voice.-Biography:...
,
Antonio ScottiAntonio Scotti was an Italian baritone. He was a principal artist of the New York Metropolitan Opera for more than 30 years but also sang with great success at London's Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.-Life:...
,
Marcella SembrichMarcella Sembrich was the stage name of the coloratura soprano, Prakseda Marcelina Kochańska. A Polish opera-singer, she was born at Wisniewczyk, in then Austrian Galicia now Ukraine. She first studied violin and piano with her father...
, Camille Seygard, Eugene Sizès,
Milka TerninaMilka Ternina or Milka Trnina was a Croatian dramatic soprano who enjoyed a high reputation in American and European opera houses...
, Marie Van Cauteren,
Anton van RooyAnton van Rooy was a Dutch baritone. He had a voice of enormous proportions and is most remembered for his association with the music of Richard Wagner....
, Roberto Vanni, Lodovico Viviani, Alexander Von Bandrowski, and Adolph Von Hübbenet.
Conductors included on existing Mapleson Cylinders are:
Walter Damrosch, Phillippe Flon,
Nahan FrankoNahan Franko was an American violinist, conductor and concert promoter. His brother was violinist and conductor Sam Franko.Franko was born in New Orleans, and studied the violin in Europe with Joseph Joachim and August Wilhelmj...
,
Alfred HertzAlfred Hertz , a German conductor born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.Hertz first came to prominence conducting Wagner at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Some of the performances he conducted were experimentally recorded by the Met's librarian Lionel Mapleson on what are now known as the...
, Luigi Mancinelli,
Felix MottlFelix Josef von Mottl was an Austrian conductor and composer.Born in Unter Sankt Veit, today Vienna, Mottl was regarded as one of the most brilliant conductors of his day. He composed some operas, of which Agnes Bernauer was the most successful, and numerous songs and other music...
, Armando Seppilli, and Artur Vigna.
External links
- The Mapleson Cylinders, digitized version of 72-page booklet accompanying six-LP set, with selected digitized examples.