O Lola from Cavalleria Rusticana. Composed by Pietro Mascagni. Performed by Enrico Caruso. Zonophone – X–1556, 1903. Acoustical recording. Listen
What is music like without the sound of a space? Historian Emily Thompson discusses the aesthetics, technology and politics of spatial absence at the dawn of the recording era while John and Susan Edwards Harvith explain how musicians coped with, adapted to and sometimes thrived in the acoustically dead confines of the recording studio.
DownloadO Lola from Cavalleria Rusticana. Composed by Pietro Mascagni. Performed by Enrico Caruso. Zonophone – X–1556, 1903. Acoustical recording. Listen
O Lola from Cavalleria Rusticana. Composed by Pietro Mascagni. Performed by Luciano Pavarotti with the National Philharmonic Orchestra. Decca – SXL 6986, 1981. Stereo recording.
The Jewel Song from Faust. Composed by Charles Gounod. Performed by Emma Calvé with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus. Unreleased Edison phonograph recording by Lionel Mapleson, 1902. Acoustical recording. Listen
Seguidille from Carmen. Composed by Georges Bizet. Performed by Emma Calvé. Victor 5000 RED SEAL – 91002, 1902. Acoustical recording. Listen
Ou va la Jeune Indoue from Lakmé. Composed by Léo Delibes Performed by Yvonne de Treville. Source unknown. Listen
Symphony No. 9 in D minor, op. 125, ‘Choral.’ Composed by Ludwig van Beethoven. Performed by the Neues Symphonie–Orchester, cond. Bruno Seidler–Winkler. Deutsche Grammophon – Grammophon 69607–69613, 1923. Acoustical recording. Listen
Brindisi from Lucrezia Borgia. Composed by Gaetano Donizetti. Performed by Margaret Mazzenauer. Edison – 83081, 1916. Acoustical recording.
Casta Diva from Norma. Composed by Vincenzo Bellini. Performed by Rosa Ponselle. Columbia – 49720, 1919. Acoustical recording. Listen
Scherzo Fantastique, Op. 25, ‘Round of the Goblins.’ Composed by Antonio Bazzini. Performed by Jascha Heifetz, accompanied by Andre Benoist. Victor – 6159–A, 1917. Acoustical recording. Listen
Danse Macabre, Op. 40. Composed by Camille Saint–Saëns. Performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra, cond. Leopold Stokowski. HMV – D1121, 1925. Electrical recording. Listen
Danse Macabre, Op. 40. Composed by Camille Saint–Saëns. Performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra, cond. Leopold Stokowski. Victor Red Seal – 14162, 1936. 78 RPM recording. Listen
Danse Macabre, Op. 40. Composed by Camille Saint–Saëns. Performed by the National Philharmonic Orchestra, cond. Leopold Stokowski. Stokowski Spectacular. Pye Records – PCNH 4, 1976. LP recording. Listen
O Soave Fanciulla from La Bohème. Composed by Giacomo Puccini. Performed by Enrico Caruso and Geraldine Farrar. Victor 1912. Unreleased acoustical recording. Listen
O Soave Fanciulla from La Bohème. Composed by Giacomo Puccini. Performed by Enrico Caruso and Geraldine Farrar. Spatialized remaster of 1912 Victor recording. Listen
Adeus Ema from Canções típicas brasileiras, W158. Composed by Heitor Villa–Lobos. Performed by Phyllis Curtin. Cantigas y Canciones of Latin America. Vanguard – VRS 1125, 1965. LP recording. Listen
Dove sono i bei momenti from The Marriage of Figaro, K. 492. Composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Performed by Joan Sutherland with the National Philharmonic, cond. Richard Bonynge. Decca – SXL 6933, 1979. LP recording. Listen
Gigue from Cello Suite No. 3 in C Major, BWV 1009. Composed by Johann Sebastian Bach. Performed by Steven Isserlis. The Cello Suites. Hyperion – CDA67541/2, 2007. CD recording.
Producer
Willem Boning
Issue Editor
Willem Bonig
Senior Editors
Joseph Bedford and Curt Gambetta
Production Consultant
Griffin Ofiesh
Technical Assistant
Brendan Smith
Announcer
Trudy Watt
Interviews
Emily Thompson and John and Susan Edwards Harvith
Special Thanks
Anne Guthrie and Michael Osman