The operas of Giacomo Meyerbeer captivated the entire musical world for more than four decades. His arias and ensembles served as fantastic vehicles for many of the greatest singing stylists of all time, while his flare for pageantry was supreme among composers of his day. By the turn of the nineteenth to the twentieth century and only thirty-six years after his death, Meyerbeer’s music was already seen as old fashioned as his operas began receding into obscurity. Yet, his more well-known arias remained popular staples of concert programs and continued to be sung by many of the singers who made early recordings. During the first quarter century of recording, arias such as the “Shadow Song” from Le pardon de Ploërmel or the “Slumber Song” and “Ô paradis” from L’Africaine, were recorded by dozens of singers, and the “Coronation March” from Le prophète was recorded hundreds of times by various instrumental ensembles. Thankfully, some of the less popular numbers from Meyerbeer’s operas were also recorded, permitting us to hear Meyerbeer’s music as it was performed a century ago and rarely heard today. Dissemination of this rich legacy of historic recordings might well help to foster a renewed interest in Meyerbeer’s music. Close examination of this legacy reveals a lost world of performance style, elements of which certainly hark back to Meyerbeer’s own time. No doubt singing styles were changing during the years between Meyerbeer’s death in 1864 and the emergence of commercial recording in about 1900, but one has to assume that many of the singers who recorded in the quarter century after 1900, schooled in the traditions of the “old music,” would have certainly retained at least some of the elements of style and technique that formed their basic musical education.

Previously, Marston produced “Meyerbeer on Record,” a three- CD survey of early recordings of music from the composer’s first three operas written for the Paris Opéra: Robert le diable, Les Huguenots, and Le prophète. We presented at least one acoustic (pre-1925) recording of every aria and ensemble from those operas, with emphasis on recordings sung in French by French singers. This second volume presents recordings of the same vintage from Meyerbeer’s final three operas: L’étoile du nord, Le pardon de Ploërmel (also called Dinorah), and L’Africaine. Following the same format as volume one, the main section proceeds through each opera chronologically with one and occasionally two recordings of each excerpt for which there exists a recorded example. We have selected mainly French-sung recordings by the most important singers of that time, and especially those recordings that contain the most extensive musical excerpts. Where no French language recording exists, we have used Italian and German performances. The second section is an appendix of “extra” recordings–classic renditions sung in French, Italian, and German. Such familiar names as Margarethe Siems, Pol Plançon, Rosa Ponselle, and Ricardo Stracciari are here represented together with lesser known ones such as Elvira de Hidalgo, Amélie Talexis, and Barbara Kemp.

This release contains the largest booklet we have yet produced, primarily due to the biographies of the singers, many of which are more detailed than in our previous releases. Until recently, very little primary research has been done on French singers who did not have international careers, and over the years, reference works on music and musicians have published and re-published much incorrect biographical information for even the most renowned singers. With pains-taking tenacity, our dear friend Luc Bourrousse has corrected much of this information and has provided us with hitherto unknown biographical data on some of the more obscure French singers heard in this compilation. He has also updated and corrected inaccuracies in our previous Meyerbeer volume.

At the beginning of the twentieth century and the arrival of commercial recording, L’étoile du nord, had already vanished from the repertory. Yet we are fortunate that several arias were recorded by exemplary singers. We present two very early recordings–Rosalia Chalia’s exquisite 1900 Zonophone disc of the barcarole from Act 1, and Ellen Beach Yaw’s 1899 Berliner recording of the cadenza from Catherine’s Act 3 finale. There is no recording of the entire aria in French, but it is impossible to conceive of a more brilliantly sung version than Louisa Tetrazzini’s virtuosic performance in Italian. Although Le pardon de Ploërmel had also been relegated to relative obscurity, two arias from the opera were still immensely popular during the early days of recording–Dinorah’s “Shadow Song” from Act 2 and the “Chant du chasseur” from Act 3. More than fifty recordings were made of the “Shadow Song” and choosing examples for this volume was not an easy task. All recordings of the aria are somewhat abridged, with those in French especially so. I decided upon three French recordings: Jane Mérey’s version, for it comprises a bit more music than any of the other French versions; Cécile Merguillier because it was one of her roles at the Opéra-Comique at the beginning of her career; and Gabriella Ritter-Ciampi, because it is particularly well-sung. In the appendix section, I have added Elvira de Hidalgo’s 1925 recording in Italian, and Margarethe Siems’s 1903 version in German, both among the finest. The “Chant du chasseur” is represented by two of the great French basses of early recording: Hippolyte Belhomme and Juste Nivette. Two particularly rare recordings from this opera also deserve mention: Corentin’s Act 1 entrance aria exists solely on a 1906 Odeon disc sung in Italian by Gaetano Pini-Corsi, who had sung the part in Italian theaters, but whose recording seemed to have vanished. Recently it was discovered that the late Richard Bebb had owned the disc, and his son has graciously given us access to it. The second rarity is the 1903 Pathé cylinder of Hoël’s aria from Act 3, sung by Max Bouvet, who had performed the role at the Opéra-Comique in 1886 opposite Cécile Merguillier. Numerous baritones have recorded the aria in Italian as “Sei vendicata assai,” but this Bouvet cylinder is one of only four recordings sung in French. Because of the primitive sound on the cylinder, we have included a second more listenable French version sung by Daniel Vigneau.

L’Africaine is Meyerbeer’s longest opera and many of the important numbers were recorded by excellent singers between 1900 and 1915. Most frequently recorded were Sélika’s “Slumber Song” in Act 2, with more than thirty-five recordings, and Vasco’s “Pays merveilleux” in Act 4, numbering well over one hundred. I tried to hear as many of these as possible since the range of performance quality is huge. I have selected three recordings of the “Slumber Song”: Félia Litvinne, who sang the part throughout her long career and whose recording for Odeon, though abridged, is stunning; Sabine Kalter, whose recording in German contains the complete aria; and, in the appendix, Rosa Ponselle, who also sang the role on stage and whose performance in Italian is without peer. For “Pays merveilleux,” my choice for the primary recording was simple, for Léon Escalaïs’s performance is the best on early records, rivaled only by that of Émile Scaramberg, previously issued on Marston 52059-2 “Early French Tenor Recordings.” The rarely-recorded second part of the aria presented a challenge, for very few singers recorded it in any language. For the primary recording, I chose Agustarello Affre, one of only three recordings in French. Included are two alternative performances, which combine both parts of the aria in highly abridged form–Léon Beyle’s 1905 G&T, which includes chorus, and Paul Dangély’s virtually unknown Edison cylinder. Jean de Reszke, perhaps the most famous tenor of the late-nineteenth century, is represented by a group of “Mapleson” cylinder recordings made during a Metropolitan Opera performance in 1901. These include two fragments from “Pays merveilleux” and three fragments from the Vasco/Sélika duet with de Reszke and Lucienne Bréval. These are among the earliest attempts to record a live performance and the sound is extremely faint. I have tried to reduce some of the cylinder noise and bring de Reszke’s voice forward so that at least a hint of his vocal timbre can be heard. Sadly, Bréval is almost inaudible.

Some of the recordings presented here are exceedingly rare, but with the help of many friends and supporters, we were able to locate every recording I had wanted to use. Orchestral interludes and ballet music have not been included. The exhaustive research on Meyerbeer recordings that was undertaken during the last thirty years by the late Richard Arsenty uncovered details of numerous recordings that otherwise would have remained completely unknown. His Meyerbeer discography, recently posthumously published, has been an invaluable resource in producing this survey, and we are pleased to dedicate this volume to his memory.