The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

“On This Day in the History of Recorded Sound…”

November 18, 1882: Born: Amelita Galli-Curci, popular lyric coloratura soprano whose exclusive contract with Victor spanned 1916-1930.

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My favourite soprano on record. The acoustic process was ideally suited to her effortless voice production.
Her death on 26th November 1963 went almost unnoticed, because the world was still reeling from the assassination of President John F Kennedy on 22nd November.

Her records are very much loved here too!

With apologies for slight thread drift, but this reminds me of the extreme kindness and generosity (almost unbelievable by modern standards) Amelita Galli-Curci extended to two girls of humble origins, the Cook sisters, who were avid opera stars - and later became war heroines:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMRZvFAnWTQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVUgUcd79J4

In 1962 the elderly Galli-Curci received Joan Sutherland as a guest at her California home. In my view, Joan Sutherland was the only soprano of the post war era who could stand comparison with those of Galli-Curci's generation.

I remember finding her recording of "La Capinera" when I was around twelve or thirteen. I've been captivated since and have several of her records.

Oh my thank you for this reminder.
Amelita has been a favourite of mine since I was 12. I don’t know why I loved her voice so much at that time—I just did.
Incidentally, I hosted a musical soiree at my house last weekend. I sang and played jazz at the piano and a colleague played also. A close friend who is not operatically inclined but who loves GC’s voice nonetheless, requested I play a couple of her discs. Everyone loved them.
And so today we listened to a selection from my favourites of her electrical recordings:
Jurame
La Paloma
Serenata ((Tosti)
Parla!
Polonaise from “Mignon”
Variations by Proch
Cantata by Scarlatti
Grand Air from Meyerbeer’s Etoile du Nord
Traviata duets with Schipa, De Luca
Don Pasquale duet with Schipa

Like Caruso, Ruffo, Ponselle, Battistini, Plancon,McCormack, Nezhdanova, Kruszeniski, Boninsegna, and a few others from the acoustical era, I find her irresistible.

Steven

Add me to the chorus of admirers. One of my favorites among her records: Bourbonnaise (Laughing Song, L'Eclat de rire) from Act I of Auber's Manon Lescaut, Victor 64669 (March 5, 1917).

And no less than Una voce poco fa, which I have both in the acoustic and electric versions... She's sweet and magnificent.

I have several of Amelita’s Victor records. One oddity is “Twilight”, which is beautiful. At 37 seconds in, Amelita finds herself being accompanied by the Campbell’s Soup Company factory whistle…. This is one of these most famous background noises on Victor.