French Operatic 10" Berliner "Les Hugenots"

[donniej]

We could probably count on our hands and toes how many E condition 10" Berliners are left, so I'm incredibly grateful that John Levin loaned me this one to copy. At 65rpms it plays for ~4 minutes and sounds wonderful. This one was special enough that I even swapped out to the Exhibition reproducer for closer to historically accurate playback.

https://youtu.be/GNRMlR2JgRM

[marcapra]

Thanks to John Levin and you for making these recordings available! Great operatic soprano singing the Page's song "Nobles seigneurs, salut!" from Act I of an opera that is no longer frequently performed in the U.S., Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots! This opera was first performed in 1836 at the Paris Grand Opera, and won the praise of the young Richard Wagner. The background story of Les Huguenots concerns the violence surrounding the clash of the French Protestants, or Huguenots, and the Catholics, as the Queen of France, Catherine de Medici, ordered the mass slaughter of thousands of the Huguenots in 1572.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Barth ... y_massacre

[gramophone-georg]

As many decades as I have been a "record geek"... I never knew such a thing as a 10" E. Berliner existed. Yay! A new quest!

[Governor Flyball]

As many decades as I have been a "record geek"... I never knew such a thing as a 10" E. Berliner existed. Yay! A new quest!

Eldridge Johnson introduced the Berliner 10" disc in 1900 so it follows that British Berliner Gramophone would have a pre-paper label version. This record must date from 1900-1901.

If you lived in Canada, you'd find plenty of Berliner 10" and 12" discs. The Berliner Gramophone Company in Canada existed until 1924. Here is a 1921 10" Berliner disc.

[drh]

...and here's one that I recently sold as part of a 75-record Caruso lot. It's pressed in brown shellac, a bit darker than that of a Vocalion red record.

[gramophone-georg]

As many decades as I have been a "record geek"... I never knew such a thing as a 10" E. Berliner existed. Yay! A new quest!

Eldridge Johnson introduced the Berliner 10" disc in 1900 so it follows that British Berliner Gramophone would have a pre-paper label version. This record must date from 1900-1901.

If you lived in Canada, you'd find plenty of Berliner 10" and 12" discs. The Berliner Gramophone Company in Canada existed until 1924. Here is a 1921 10" Berliner disc.

I knew about the Canadian 10 and 12 inch issues- have a few myself. That's why I specified "E.Berliner" records- meaning the early non paper label type.

[donniej]

The only 10" discs made by Emile Berliners company were made by the European company between April - June of 1902. Not many were made and this is the only one I've actually seen in person. The disc is so clean I couldn't bring myself to play the original, not even on my nice modern turntable.

[Mlund2020]

Will you have copies for sale? If so I will take one.

[Menophanes]

Charlotte Agussol (1863–1953) had sung this same role, Urbain the page, in her début at the Paris Opéra in 1888. Her repertoire included both Berlioz (Les Troyens, then a great rarity) and Wagner (Walküre, in French). In 1904 she stood in for Antoinette Laute as Marguerite on two of the 24 (or more) sides of Gramophone & Typewriter's set of Gounod's Faust, which I believe to be the first really substantial opera set ever made.

Oliver Mundy.