Rosa Ponselle

On the Air, Volume 1

COMPLETE TRACK LISTING
LINER NOTES
A NOTE FROM WARD MARSTON

Rosa Ponselle was arguably this century's greatest soprano. Artists such as Callas and Caruso acknowledged her vocal supremacy. Ponselle's voice had volume, beauty, emotion, sure intonation and remarkable flexibility. Before Rosa Ponselle (1897-1981), there had been no leading American singer who had not first made his or her mark abroad. This two CD-set marks the first volume of her on the air recordings. By Ponselle's own account, her broadcasts captured her true voice and she preferred these performances to her numerous commercial recordings. This set chronicles the Chesterfield broadcasts from 1934-1936 which demonstrate Ponselle at her best.

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Track Listing
     
CD 1 (77:59)
CHESTERFIELD HOUR
1 October 1934
1. DON GIOVANNI: Batti, batti, o bel Masetto (Mozart) 4:37
2. I Love You Truly (Bond) 2:50
3. The Cuckoo Clock (Schaefer) 1:29
4. Homing (Del Riego) 3:05
 
8 October 1934
5. Ave Maria (Adapted from Cavalleria Rusticana: "Intermezzo") (Mascagni/Weatherly) 4:10
6. In Luxembourg Gardens (Lockhart-Manning) 2:28
7. CARMEN: Chanson bohème (Bizet) 2:51
8. THE CHOCOLATE SOLDIER: My Hero (O. Straus) 3:09
 
15 October 1934
9. Blue Danube Waltz (J. Strauss) 4:41
10. La Golondrina (Serradell) 4:12
11. Will-o'-the-Wisp (Spross) 1:27
12. Wiegenlied (Brahms) 2:51
 
29 October 1934
13. SAMSON ET DALILA: Printemps qui commence (Saint-Saëns) 6:32
14. La Violetera (Padilla) 3:19
15. The Last Rose of Summer (Traditional) 4:10
 
19 November 1934
16. Ave Maria (Sandoval) 4:44
17. Estrellita (Ponce) 3:02
18. The Sleigh (Tchervanow-Kountz) 1:17
19. DIE LUSTIGE WITWE: Waltz Song (Lehár) 3:13
 
26 November 1934
20. CARMEN: Habanera (Bizet) 4:18
21. A Dream (Bartlett) 3:54
22. What's in the Air Today (Eden) 2:05
23. The Rosary (Nevin) 3:22
 
All tracks originally broadcast from New York City
All tracks accompanied by orchestra, conducted by André Kostelanetz
Languages: Italian [1, 16]; English [2-5, 6, 8-9, 11, 15, 18-19, 21-23]; French [7, 13, 20]; Spanish [10, 14, 17]; and German [12]
 
CD 2 (67:48)
 
3 December 1934
1. ALCESTE: Divinités du Styx (Gluck) 4:31
2. Mariä Wiegenlied (Reger) 2:34
3. The Big Brown Bear (Mana-Zucca) 2:00
4. Good-bye (Tosti) 4:56
 
26 February 1936
5. Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt (Tchaikowsky) 3:47
6. HERE'S TO ROMANCE: I Carry You in My Pocket (Grosvenor) 3:21
7. CARMEN: Air des cartes (Bizet) 4:12
8. CARMEN: Séguedille (Bizet) 2:20
 
4 March 1936
9. Der Erlkönig (Schubert) 4:09
10. Danny Boy (Traditional) 4:19
11. Clavelitos (Valverde) 1:25
12. CARMEN: Chanson bohème (Bizet) 3:02
 
11 March 1936
13. CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA: Voi lo sapete (Mascagni) 3:17
14. The Old Refrain (Kreisler) 4:13
15. Comin' Thro' the Rye (Traditional) 2:12
16. L'ultima canzone (Tosti) 3:56
 
18 March 1936
17. FEDRA: O divina Afrodite (Romani) 4:31
18. Humoresque (Dvorák) 4:18
19. When I Have Sung My Songs (Charles) 2:04
20. Ouvre ton coeur (Bizet) 2:41
 
All tracks originally broadcast from New York City
All tracks accompanied by orchestra, conducted by André Kostelanetz except Track 3 which is accompanied by piano, Charles Henderson
Languages: French [1, 7-8, 12, 20]; German [2, 5, 9]; English [3-4, 6, 10, 14-15, 18-19]; Spanish [11]; and Italian [13, 16-17]

Photographs: Bill Park and The Rosa Ponselle Foundation

Producers: Bill Park and Ward Marston

Audio Conservation: Ward Marston

Booklet Design: Takeshi Takahashi

Marston would like to thank Elayne Duke, Robert Fazio, Lawrence F. Holdridge, Peter Lack and William Shaman for their help in the production of this CD release.