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I also enjoy the various recordings of "Last rose of summer" by the sopranos mentioned, particularly Barrientos, Boronat, and Galli-Curci. The recordings of Lionel's aria by Plancon and Battistini are also mighty fine--Plancon's trill always impressive!

Steven

Speaking of forgotton operas that once were popular, how about the operas and other works of William Wallace, (the composer, not the 13th century Scottish knight) such as his Maritana, known for the aria

Scenes that are brightest

, and Lurline. These and other works of Wallace have been given new recordings on Naxos CDs. I was listening to an old etched label Diamond Disc and saw that it was an aria from Wallace's Lurline. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Vincent_Wallace

Or Michael Balfe's The Bohemian Girl, with the aria

I dreamt I dwelt in marble halls

.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_William_Balfe

Yes--Maritana and Bohemian Girl were very popular, with many versions of the principal arias listed in early record catalogs. Two examples, out of many, which stand out are "Scenes that are Brightest" from Maritana sung by Rosa Ponselle, and "Then you'll remember me" from Bohemian Girl sung by John McCormack.

Steven

I forgot to add one more thing about "Last Rose of Summer."
There is a very effective, intimate, and deeply felt performance by the great Nina Simone from the 1960's with a lovely orchestral arrangement. Another of my favourite versions.

Steven

marcapra wrote:This opera may be almost forgotten these days, but it has one of the most famous arias in all opera: The famous "M'appari" and sung by all the great tenors including Caruso.

Marta along with Gounod's Faust were also the operas that Caruso recorded the most extended parts of, rather than just one or two arias. Marta, with Marcel Journet, Frances Alda and Josephone Jacoby. The Dormi pur and all those things. A little dated, but the singing is marvelous.

Indeed it is!

Everybody and her sister Sue recorded the Last Rose. Without really pursuing the thing deliberately, over the years I've accumulated versions (in no particular order) by Frieda Hempel (Victor 88567), Grace Hoffman (Pathé 52001), Alice Nielsen (Victor 74121), Marcella Sembrich (Victor 88102), Bessie Abott (two versions, Victor 87003 and Edison 2 minute Grand Opera cylinder B 56), Adelina Patti (Victor 95030), Lillian Blauvelt (Columbia A5019), Amelita Galli-Curci (Victor 74536), Maria Barrientos (Columbia 49113), Marie Rappold (Edison diamond disc 83076), Edith Mason (Brunswick 30115), Olimpia Boronat (G&T G.C.-53354), Amy Evans (Edison wax amberol cylinder 12183), Gwen Catley (HMV B.9574), and Eileen Farrell (in Columbia set M 662). I'd be astonished if that began to cover the waterfront of its recordings from the 78 era.

Did Flotow actually include the song in his score? I vaguely remember something about its having been somebody or other's (Patti's, maybe?) interpolation that came to be traditional.

marcapra wrote:Speaking of forgotton operas that once were popular, how about ... Michael Balfe's The Bohemian Girl, with the aria

I dreamt I dwelt in marble halls

.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_William_Balfe

Not to mention that perennial favorite of old-time tenors, "Then You'll Remember Me."

My daughter, about to turn 14, was in the chorus of a semi-staged production mounted by a local company called "The Victorian Lyric Opera Company" a couple of years back. The plot is a bit improbable, but no worse than average for opera, and it's a good, tuneful show that really should be revived more often. She also was in a production by the same group of Reginald De Koven's Robin Hood, again a once-popular stage vehicle that has fallen into obscurity and again one that deserves revival.

As to Martha, I particularly enjoy de Gogorza's recording of the "Canzone del Porter," which I have him doing on a black label Monarch as Sig. Francisco. Hmmm...haven't played that in ages. Really should dig it out and give it a whirl!

As we have discussed Balfe's Bohemian Girl and Wallace's Maritana, perhaps I may mention the third component of what was facetiously called 'The English Ring': The Lily of Killarney by the German-born Julius Benedict. Although this was considerably more recent than the other two (it was first produced in 1862), it seems to have suffered the earliest and most complete lapse into obscurity of the three; all that is usually heard, even on old records, is the tenor-and-bass duet 'The moon hath raised her lamp above' (or, as British basses would often render it, 'Thoh moon hoth roizd hor lomp obov').

Oliver Mundy.

drh wrote:Everybody and her sister Sue recorded the Last Rose. Without really pursuing the thing deliberately, over the years I've accumulated versions (in no particular order) by Frieda Hempel (Victor 88567), Grace Hoffman (Pathé 52001), Alice Nielsen (Victor 74121), Marcella Sembrich (Victor 88102), Bessie Abott (two versions, Victor 87003 and Edison 2 minute Grand Opera cylinder B 56), Adelina Patti (Victor 95030), Lillian Blauvelt (Columbia A5019), Amelita Galli-Curci (Victor 74536), Maria Barrientos (Columbia 49113), Marie Rappold (Edison diamond disc 83076), Edith Mason (Brunswick 30115), Olimpia Boronat (G&T G.C.-53354), Amy Evans (Edison wax amberol cylinder 12183), Gwen Catley (HMV B.9574), and Eileen Farrell (in Columbia set M 662). I'd be astonished if that began to cover the waterfront of its recordings from the 78 era.

Did Flotow actually include the song in his score? I vaguely remember something about its having been somebody or other's (Patti's, maybe?) interpolation that came to be traditional.

Yes the song was included from the beginning. "Letzte Rose" sung by Marta at the fair is a version of the Irish melody "The Grove of Blarney" made famous by the addition of Thomas Moore's lyrics as "The Last Rose of Summer".

"Marta" is one glorious musical set piece after another, and deserves to be performed more often.