I just purchased and am listening on my Itunes to the Robert Weede CD
issued by Preiser.

He was a remarkable baritone. This recital is, I believe, mostly from
a Capitol LP released in the mid 50's. His rendition of Ford's
monologue from Falstaff is surely one of the finest that I have ever
heard. This recital was all Verdi.

There is also the entire Germont-Violetta scene with an uncredited (as
far as I can tell) Licia Albanese. It sounds like the early 50's, and
must have been from a live concert or broadcast- probably Standard
Hour.

The CD finishes with the Prologo from Pag, the Toreador Song from
Carmen, and Valentin's aria from Faust. I believe Weede recorded the
Toreador Song in a mid 40's Carmen highlights disc, with Swarthout and
Jobin, but the Faust and Pag arias must either be from 78's, or from
live radio concerts.

The sound is excellent on all of these transfers, as Preiser always
is, and I would certainly highly recommend this set.

Ed

On Oct 24, 4:41 pm, "premiereop... at (no spam) aol.com" <edop... at (no spam) gmail.com> wrote:





I just purchased and am listening on my Itunes to the Robert Weede CD
issued by Preiser.

He was a remarkable baritone. This recital is, I believe, mostly from
a Capitol LP released in the mid 50's. His rendition of Ford's
monologue from Falstaff is surely one of the finest that I have ever
heard. This recital was all Verdi.

There is also the entire Germont-Violetta scene with an uncredited (as
far as I can tell) Licia Albanese. It sounds like the early 50's, and
must have been from a live concert or broadcast- probably Standard
Hour.

The CD finishes with the Prologo from Pag, the Toreador Song from
Carmen, and Valentin's aria from Faust. I believe Weede recorded the
Toreador Song in a mid 40's Carmen highlights disc, with Swarthout and
Jobin, but the Faust and Pag arias must either be from 78's, or from
live radio concerts.

The sound is excellent on all of these transfers, as Preiser always
is, and I would certainly highly recommend this set.

Ed

I just realized that I left out two selections on this fine CD. There
is another, live, Cortigiani, in addition to the one from the Capitol
LP, and the last Act Forza duet with Weede and Jan Peerce, from a
radio broadcast in 1948.

Ed- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Thanks for posting this; the CD will be a Gala treat for those of us
having loving remembrance of this too-seldom mentioned giant among
baritones.

His influence is audible in the recordings of Earl Wrightson, one of
his finest pupils.

Best
LT

On Oct 24, 4:50 pm, "premiereop... at (no spam) aol.com" <edop... at (no spam) gmail.com> wrote:



On Oct 24, 4:41 pm, "premiereop... at (no spam) aol.com" <edop... at (no spam) gmail.com> wrote:

I just purchased and am listening on my Itunes to the Robert Weede CD
issued by Preiser.

He was a remarkable baritone. This recital is, I believe, mostly from
a Capitol LP released in the mid 50's. His rendition of Ford's
monologue from Falstaff is surely one of the finest that I have ever
heard. This recital was all Verdi.

There is also the entire Germont-Violetta scene with an uncredited (as
far as I can tell) Licia Albanese. It sounds like the early 50's, and
must have been from a live concert or broadcast- probably Standard
Hour.

The CD finishes with the Prologo from Pag, the Toreador Song from
Carmen, and Valentin's aria from Faust. I believe Weede recorded the
Toreador Song in a mid 40's Carmen highlights disc, with Swarthout and
Jobin, but the Faust and Pag arias must either be from 78's, or from
live radio concerts.

The sound is excellent on all of these transfers, as Preiser always
is, and I would certainly highly recommend this set.

Ed

I just realized that I left out two selections on this fine CD. There
is another, live, Cortigiani, in addition to the one from the Capitol
LP, and the last Act Forza duet with Weede and Jan Peerce, from a
radio broadcast in 1948.

Ed- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Robert Weede sang the Toreador Song in a Columbia 78rpm set of
highlights from _Carmen_ (Columbia set M-607, five disks, later on LP as
Columbia ML-4013). This was my first set of operatic disks, given to me
back in the late 1940's after my enthusiasm for opera began with seeing
_Carmen_ in San Antonio in 1946. I no longer have the 78's, but I do
still have the LP. I never heard Jobin live, and the Jose in San Antonio
in 1946 was Frederick Jagel, opposite Rise Stevens, Walter Cassel and
Frances Yeend. I was hearing Cassel and Yeend as late as the 1960's, but
I last heard Stevens around 1959. I heard Weede in performance as
Scarpia and Rigoletto, both also in San Antonio. I do have that Capitol
LP of Verdi arias that was mentioned.

The tenor as Jose in the RCA-Victor 78rpm set with Swarthout was Ramon
Vinay. I have a 45rpm (!) boxed set of these recordings. The selections
with Swarthout and Vinay have appeared on LP and CD from Preiser in
their respective disks of recordings by these two artists.

Raoul Jobin sang Don Jose in a complete recording of _Carmen_ in
Columbia set MOP 33 and LP SL-109. I have this on CD (EMI 5 65318 2, two
CD's). The other singers are Solange Michel, Michel Dens, and Marthe
Angelici, cond. Cluytens. This is one of my favorite sets of _Carmen_,
performed by the Opera Comique with spoken dialogue. Jobin also sang the
role in four Met broadcasts from 1943 to 1945, but I have not heard any
of these.

Jobin was also heard anonymously in a smaller 78rpm set of highlights
(MA set 201, not sure how many disks), a set which also appeared, still
anonymously, on RCA Camden CAL-221 and in the set RCA Camden CFL-101,
the latter containing six LP's with most of the remaining anonymous
opera highlights sets that had originally been offered by the NY Post.
This set does not contain the single LP of highlights from _Tristan_
(originally Set MApp 0211 (A & B) -- from which reference I guess that
the 78rpm set came in two volumes and likely contained about an hour of
music -- the Camden LP was CAL-224;  four excerpts from this recording
were issued on CD on VAIA 1084, with other recordings by the soprano
Rose Bampton).   (NOTE: Sorry about the extended discographical
exegesis...)

Sirius XM has occasionally broadcast Jobin's performance as Tonie in the
1940 Met braodcast of _La fille du regiment_. He sings "Ah, mes amis,"
but not "Pour mon ame." I regret this, as I am rather sure that he could
have sung it. --E.A.C.

premiereop... at (no spam) aol.com <edop... at (no spam) gmail.com> wrote:
 I believe Weede recorded the
Toreador Song in a mid 40's Carmen highlights disc, with Swarthout and
Jobin

--
hrabanus

I believe Weede recorded the
Toreador Song in a mid 40's Carmen highlights disc, with Swarthout and
Jobin

The RCA-Victor 78 rpm set of _Carmen_ highlights -- the one I have on
45's -- offers the following principal singers:

Carmen - Gladys Swarthout
Don Jose - Ramon Vinay
Escamillo - Robert Merrill
Micaela - Licia Albanese
Also the RCA-Victor Chorale and Orchestra, cond. Erich Leinsdorf. The
chorus is directed by Robert Shaw.
Other soloists heard include Lucille Browning, Thelma Votipka, Anthony
Amato and George Cehanovsky. These are the "gypsies" and are heard
primarily in the Quintet of Act 2.

This set (on 45's it's WDM 1078, six 45 rpm disks) offers a very
consistent and fluid survey of the highlights of this opera, much more
music than was contained on the Columbia highlights set with Stevens,
Weede, Conner and Jobin. The RCA set includes the following:

Side 1 - Act 1. Chorus of Dragoons; March; Chorus of Cigarette Girls.
(Note that the Prelude is not heard, nor are any of the Entr'actes!)
Side 2 - Entrance of Carmen and Habanera.
Side 3 - Seguidilla and Duet.
Side 4 - Act 2. Gypsy Song
Side 5 - Chorus, Song of the Toreador, Exit of the Toreador
Side 6 - Quintet
Side 7 - Flower Song
Side 8 - Act 3. Card Scene
Side 9 - Micaela's Air
Side 10 - Act 4. March and Chorus.
Sides 11 and 12 - Final Duet.

I suppose one could locate appropriate recordings of the Prelude and the
Entr'actes and add them to the "mix" of the above. Side 5 is very
interesting: Merrill sings Zuniga's lines ("Une promenade aux
flambeaux," etc.) as well as those of Escamillo. He sings only one verse
of the Toreador Song, after which we hear the exchanges of "L'amour"
before the exit of the Toreador.

The Preiser CD devoted to Vinay (89619) includes sides 7, 10, 11 and 12
of this set, but it also adds the Jose-Micaela duet from Act 1,
originally on RCA-Victor 12-0687, on which the RCA-Victor Symphony is
conducted by Jean Paul Morel. And the Preiser CD devoted to Swarthout
(89561) includes sides 2, 3, 4, 6, 11 and 12. The Final Duet is
therefore heard on both CD's. I don't know of any representation on CD
of sides 1 and 10. Albanese's performance of Micaela's aria is surely on
a CD devoted to that soprano. I have it on a BMG/RCA CD of recordings by
Albanese, but that one is likely no longer available. And Merrill's
performance of the Toreador Song is likely on some CD devoted to him.

To be sure, Merrill and Albanese reprised their roles in the Reiner
complete recording that was made around 1951 or 1952, in which Rise
Stevens and Jan Peerce are also heard. --E.A.C.

premiereop... at (no spam) aol.com <edop... at (no spam) gmail.com> wrote:
I believe you're correct about the Carmen highlights recording, but
wasn't there also a highlight version on RCA from the 40's with
Stevens & Merrill, or Swarthout and Merrill? This was a few years
before the complete set, and must have been originally released on 78,
though it could have been an early LP taken from various 78's.  I
can't recall the tenor, but I would have guessed Vinay on this RCA
set. For some reason, Jobin remains in my mind for one of the two
highlight recordings, but I imagine I am wrong.

Ed

--
hrabanus

I believe you're correct about the Carmen highlights recording, but
wasn't there also a highlight version on RCA from the 40's with
Stevens & Merrill, or Swarthout and Merrill? This was a few years
before the complete set, and must have been originally released on 78,
though it could have been an early LP taken from various 78's. I
can't recall the tenor, but I would have guessed Vinay on this RCA
set. For some reason, Jobin remains in my mind for one of the two
highlight recordings, but I imagine I am wrong.

Ed

And the Preiser CD devoted to Swarthout
(89561) includes sides 2, 3, 4, 6, 11 and 12.