The recordings of César Vezzani fall into three distinct groups based on recording dates—French Odeon acoustic discs, 1912–1914; acoustic French HMV discs, 1923–1925; and electric French HMV discs, 1927–1933. Volume 1 of our César Vezzani series contains his Odeon recordings and the first 12 sides from his acoustic HMV group. The Odeon discs show Vezzani at age 24, impetuous and full of bravado, but not yet completely secure with pitch and interpretation. During the nine years that passed between the Odeon and HMV recordings, Vezzani’s career had begun to flourish, and his voice had taken on a depth of commitment and maturity which can readily be heard on Vezzani’s HMV discs.

The present volume continues where Volume 1 ended. The first CD of the set contains the remainder of Vezzani’s acoustic recordings for HMV dating from July 1924 and February 1925. In order to make this set more enjoyable, I have arranged the recordings by composer rather than by chronological sequence. I should mention that there are two recordings from the 1925 session which, as far as I can determine, have never surfaced. They are “Un tal gioco” and “No, Pagliaccio non son” both from Pagliacci, sung in French. They were issued on opposite sides of Disque Gramophone P659 but were replaced in 1927 by Vezzani’s electrical recordings of the same arias. If, by chance, I am able to locate a copy, I will certainly include it in one of our next Vezzani releases. In fact, as a bonus in this volume, we have included an Odeon side which was unknown when we issued Volume 1. It is the opening portion of the Saint Sulpice scene from Massenet’s Manon in which Vezzani is paired with the charming soprano, Rose Heilbronner. (CD 1, Track 28.) Only two copies of this record have surfaced as yet, both of which are in less than excellent condition. I have attempted as much as possible to remove offensive clicks, and reduce the distortion caused by severely worn grooves.

Vezzani’s acoustic HMV discs are generally well recorded with one notable exception, the duet from Verdi’s Le trouvere, where the vocal quality of both singers is distant and unfocused. It is also evident that the recorded perspective of Vezzani’s voice changes somewhat from session to session, as might be expected. At best, the voice is full and vibrant, but at times, there is a deficiency in the lower frequencies that gives Vezzani’s voice a constricted quality, as if he were singing over the telephone. I have attempted to improve these deficiencies by making subtle changes in level and equalization. The orchestral sound is well represented throughout these recordings, and it is especially refreshing to hear the tympani, which adds so much to the otherwise lifeless sound of an acoustically recorded orchestra. There is occasional pitch flutter at the beginnings of several sides but this flaw is almost negligible. Most of these recordings are quite scarce since they had a very short catalogue life. Perhaps the most rare is the “Flower Song” from Carmen, which I have only seen twice. Unfortunately, both copies are flawed by significantly worn grooves, which produce noticeable blasts on loud notes. What I find most fascinating in this group of records is hearing Vezzani in arias from Puccini’s Manon Lescaut. This opera was rarely performed in France at this time because of the overwhelming popularity of Massenet’s Manon. It is unlikely that Vezzani ever sang the Puccini role and I can’t help but wonder why he was asked to record these arias. Whatever the reason may have been, they are, I believe, the only recorded excerpts from this opera sung in French.

In 1925 and 1926, the record buying public, worldwide, was made aware of a monumental development in sound recording technology, the making of recordings using a microphone and amplification. Electrical engineers at the Western Electric company had been experimenting with this concept since the late teens and in 1924, the company offered its recording system to Victor and Columbia, as well as to their European counterparts. The transition from acoustic to electric recording took place during 1925–1926, with record companies scrambling to make new recordings as quickly as possible. The sonic improvement of this innovation was so startling that acoustic discs were quickly deleted from record catalogues as soon as new recordings were manufactured.

César Vezzani’s first electrical recording sessions took place in April of 1927. Fourteen sides were published, of which nine were replacements for previously made acoustic recordings. Out of 26 sides that he recorded in 1929, ten were electrical replacements. In programming CD 2, I decided not to follow my usual chronological approach since so many of the arias would duplicate recordings on CD 1. Instead, I have chosen material dating from 1931 through 1933 including extended scenes from Wagner’s >Lohengrin and Saint Saëns’s Samson et Dalila. These recordings represent César Vezzani at his absolute best, both vocally and interpretively. As it happens, they also are among the tenor’s most elusive discs. All of the material presented on CD 2 is well recorded except for some rather severe bass distortion during forte passages. I find it curious that this type of distortion is often evident on French and Italian HMV recordings from this period, but is only occasionally heard on English and German recordings made by the same company. Looking ahead, Volume 3 in this series will contain the 1927 and 1929 recordings as well as duets from two of Vezzani’s most popular verismo roles, Turiddu in Cavalleria rusticana and Cavaradossi in Tosca.