L'Incognita - Mystery Singer
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- Victor IV
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L'Incognita - Mystery Singer
This record arrived with a pile I just bought. Played by L'Incognita, whom I presume had reasons to remain unamed. Her voice sounds good, a real soprano, not a mezzo. Any guesses? The handwritten note indicates "purchased June (?) 18, 1912".
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- Wolfe
- Victor V
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- Victor IV
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Re: L'Incognita - Mystery Singer
Nice to find more info on the singer, thanks!
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- Victor II
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Re: L'Incognita - Mystery Singer
Violet Mount seems to have had a very considerable coloratura technique. I suspect that a difficulty with Italian may have had something to do with her failure to establish herself in opera; at any rate, her pronunciation in a Zonophone Grand Opera recording of 'Sempre libera' from Traviata seems very odd, with many words ending in a sound like the English word 'ear' – a sound which, I believe, does not exist in Italian. I like her best in a late English-language version of an aria ('None can gainsay') from Donizetti's Fille du régiment where she shows a real sense of humour; unfortunately I forget where I heard this.
Somewhere on the Internet, I once came across an Australian newspaper article of about 1906 which described Mount as Australia's best soprano (an extraordinary statement when Melba, though far from young, was still only in the afternoon of her career) and stated that her forthcoming trip to England for study would be financed by either the provincial or the national government.
Late in her career she worked with the distinguished flautist John Amadio.
Oliver Mundy.
Somewhere on the Internet, I once came across an Australian newspaper article of about 1906 which described Mount as Australia's best soprano (an extraordinary statement when Melba, though far from young, was still only in the afternoon of her career) and stated that her forthcoming trip to England for study would be financed by either the provincial or the national government.
Late in her career she worked with the distinguished flautist John Amadio.
Oliver Mundy.
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- Victor IV
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Re: L'Incognita - Mystery Singer
Thanks for the additional information, Oliver, very interesting. This being the only record I own (and heard) of her, it is difficult to share the opinion of the Australian newspaper that she was the best Australian singer of her time. Melba sounds much better to my ears.