POSTILLON VON LONJUMEAU--'Gehenkt, gehenkt, gehenkt' (1908).

[Viva-Tonal]

PVL is an opera composed by Adolphe Adam, known for that Christmas evergreen originally called 'Cantique de Noel' but known in English as 'O holy night'. About the only other thing I discovered is that 'gehenkt' is German for 'hanged'.

The singers are Arthur Preuss, tenor; Gerhard Stehmann, baritone; Richard Mayr, bass.

I can't remember where I found this record, but I think I've had it for about 20 years. It's a black label Victor batwing, 63156-B, and the EDVR shows it was also released on single face Victor 98425, and in Europe on HMV 2-44489.

The Victor label does not state this was recorded in Europe, but per EDVR this was recorded in Vienna in 1908. (The stamped Victor catalogue number has the crown at its right, as done for all imported matrices.) The record has the matrix number intact in the dead wax area: 13866 ½ u. The ½ designation indicates this is a second take, the 'u' a code indicating the recording 'expert' (engineer) who recorded it, possibly Charles Scheuplein.

It's also one of those records that makes you wish for a speed designation! At 78.26 rpm (excerpt) it's much too fast. A couple of years ago I played this record for a friend of mine whose first language is German, with it slowed down to about 74 rpm. She said 'Nobody can sing German THAT fast--it's still too fast!'

Recently I looked this record up on EDVR, and when I saw that the vocal trio is tenor/baritone/bass, I decided to have a go at transferring it with that in mind as to how it should sound. I also considered that sometimes the Gramophone Company engineers ran their recording machines at slower speeds than most others did, in the early acoustic era. And this was very likely one of those ultra-slow ones, along the lines of the early Caruso sides recorded at 67.92 rpm or so.

I have a strobe disc made from a scan of a page in the April 1973 issue of HIGH FIDELITY magazine, for speeds between 70.59 and 85.71 rpm (60 Hz). I slowed down my turntable until this record sounded as near 'right' as I could make it, then looked at the strobe. It was turning slower than any of those patterns would reveal. I resorted to counting the revolutions in 15 seconds of time, then multiplying the count by 4. It looked like 17 ⅕ revolutions, about 68.88 rpm at the end of it all.

Here's what this sounds like at this speed: http://www.box.net/shared/paitazuud8

Now I just hope I got it close!

(Edit: Updated link; glitch at beginning fixed.)

[Wolfe]

It sounds like it could be about right, the voices sound fairly natural to me.

If I had this record I would possibly think that about .5 rpm faster might really hit the spot. But I think you got it.

Thanks for posting!

[Viva-Tonal]

I know what you mean, it is a bit flat at first. Glad it's OK otherwise. Thanks for the feedback!