The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Orchorsol wrote:I don't have any time to search and peruse at present, but maybe there's a resource to be found here, or via:
http://www.charm.kcl.ac.uk/index.html

I couldn't find anything there, except an essay by the late Roger Beardsley that covers the basic points about 78 speeds.

Neat site though. Thanks for the link. The music sound files are very good quality.

A general guide to the most common speeds was also provided here -- http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... 71&start=0

OF

I notice on the Celebrity catalog that it shows the Patti record I put up at 76 and the listing my friend has says its 73.47. So there is still some disagreement as to what the correct speed is. Too bad they couldn't have figured out sooner that since they were calling them 78s they might play at that speed!

To me, as a musician, the correct speed is the one that puts the piece in the right key. All other considerations become secondary, IMO. Two problems with this approach, though: 1) you need access to the score, or some other source to identify the original key, and a means (pitch recognition, pitch pipe, electronic tuner, etc.) of establishing the tonal center when you hear it; and 2) you cannot assume that the piece was recorded in the original key, as opera arias were sometimes transposed for the convenience of the singer (IOW, a particular aria may not have been recorded in the original key).

Other than that, it's easy!

Caruso Records, a History and Discography, John R. Bolig, lists the playing speeds of all Caruso records, based on the work of Aida Faria-Artsay in Caruso on Record. Both are fairly easy to dig up via ABE Books.

William R. Moran's Caruso discography with speeds for the records, including the electrical re-recordings, is included in Enrico Caruso Jr.'s biography of his father.

If memory serves, Moran did the same in his own book on Nellie Melba.

It appears that the book The Metropolitan Opera On Record has playing speeds. Looks like a good resource.

https://books.google.com/books?id=BsPMW ... ds&f=false

None of this is really addressing the OP's question, unfortunately. But I'm betting that such an online source doesn't yet exist.

Henry wrote:To me, as a musician, the correct speed is the one that puts the piece in the right key. All other considerations become secondary, IMO. Two problems with this approach, though: 1) you need access to the score, or some other source to identify the original key, and a means (pitch recognition, pitch pipe, electronic tuner, etc.) of establishing the tonal center when you hear it; and 2) you cannot assume that the piece was recorded in the original key, as opera arias were sometimes transposed for the convenience of the singer (IOW, a particular aria may not have been recorded in the original key).

Other than that, it's easy!

And 3) Concert pitch has changed over the years, i.e. a standard note such as A was not the same back then as it's been standardised to in more recent years.

Orchorsol wrote:

Henry wrote:To me, as a musician, the correct speed is the one that puts the piece in the right key. All other considerations become secondary, IMO. Two problems with this approach, though: 1) you need access to the score, or some other source to identify the original key, and a means (pitch recognition, pitch pipe, electronic tuner, etc.) of establishing the tonal center when you hear it; and 2) you cannot assume that the piece was recorded in the original key, as opera arias were sometimes transposed for the convenience of the singer (IOW, a particular aria may not have been recorded in the original key).

Other than that, it's easy!

And 3) Concert pitch has changed over the years, i.e. a standard note such as A was not the same back then as it's been standardised to in more recent years.

So true. Another complication. And let's not even begin to talk about pitch in earlier periods, e.g., the Baroque. One recoils in horror.

One of my favorite quotations apropos pitch, from George Bernard Shaw (attrib.): "Perfect pitch is the pitch of your mother's piano."