The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

She may be known to some here through her Caruso On Records book, Hobbies columns on historical singers, etc.

I assume she's deceased. There really isn't any biographical information that I can find on the 'net, a Wiki article or anything...

I remember her columns in Hobbies well. .....But I never actually read them with zeal, as I was always much more interested in the Jim Walsh columns. I think she was a minor Opera Singer by profession. Aida always revued LP reissues of classic Opera recordings.

Wolfe wrote:She may be known to some here through her Caruso On Records book, Hobbies columns on historical singers, etc.

I assume she's deceased. There really isn't any biographical information that I can find on the 'net, a Wiki article or anything...

She died sometime in the 1980s, I believe, but I can't recall exactly when. I know Larry Holdridge and one other dealer had a part in selling her record collection when she passed. I just sent off an email to someone who knew her rather well and I'll post when I hear back.

Sean

OrthoSean wrote:
She died sometime in the 1980s, I believe, but I can't recall exactly when. I know Larry Holdridge and one other dealer had a part in selling her record collection when she passed. I just sent off an email to someone who knew her rather well and I'll post when I hear back.

Sean

I also contacted some person who knew Aida Favia-Artsay rather well some time ago - her record collection and her articles were fascinating. I know you can share some more information with us, Sean, but here's some little bit of infos I can add first.

She was born December 5th, 1904 in Russia, and died on February 14th, 1998, at the age of 93, in Westchester, NY. Her father, Raffaele Favia, a Russian baritone of Italian descent, sang and taught professionally, and he and his daughter even made a record together with Victor in 1920, although it was never published.

She started record collecting in late 1930s and corresponded with a lot of old-time Opera stars, such as Titta Ruffo, Geraldine Farrar (now was there any serious Opera fans of the day who didn't corresponded with her?! ), and some other rather unknown artists such as Edith Helena and Fritzi Scheff - the former later appeared on the TV show "Life begins at 80" with the help of Ms. Favia-Artsay in 1955.

She married an engineer, who helped her a lot with some technical stuffs such as the stroboscope that was the part of "Caruso on Records" book that could cover up from 67.92rpm to 87.80rpm - which is very, very useful. A friend of mine copied it for me from the book and I use it everytime on my HMV 102 and on my turntable.

From 1950s to 70s she made some private LP reissues from her collection ; mostly with Edward J. Smith. Also, she even provided some of Mapleson Cylinders that were missing from the NYPL's collection when they were making those fascinating LP set.

Her final article appeared on Opera Quarterly, Fall of 1993. As Sean have pointed out, Larry Holdridge got a big part of her record collection and some of them occasionally appear on his annual auction listings. I believe there was a only known copy of a Titta Ruffo record that was given from Ruffo to Ms. Favia-Artsay on the last year's catalog.

1998? I didn't realize it was such a short time ago! Thanks for clearing that up, she had one amazing collection of stuff from stories I've heard.

Her articles are always lots of fun to read as well, of course.

Sean

Thanks for all the info!

I amazes me that Hobbies once employed two such knowledgeable and quality writers contributing monthly (or semi monthly as was sometimes the case with Ms. Artsay) early recording history articles.

She isn't listed in Kutsch/Riemens as a singer with a great career, but who cares, as she was the greatest female record collector of all time. Thank you for the biographical information!

transformingArt wrote:
She started record collecting in late 1930s and corresponded with a lot of old-time Opera stars, such as Titta Ruffo, Geraldine Farrar (now was there any serious Opera fans of the day who didn't corresponded with her?! ), and some other rather unknown artists such as Edith Helena and Fritzi Scheff - the former later appeared on the TV show "Life begins at 80" with the help of Ms. Favia-Artsay in 1955.

In the July, 1969 (Giovanni Martinelli obit) issue there is a photo of her accompanying Martinelli at the piano.

Wolfe wrote:
In the July, 1969 (Giovanni Martinelli obit) issue there is a photo of her accompanying Martinelli at the piano.

Can you share that photograph with us in this thread?

Mark.

transformingArt wrote:
Can you share that photograph with us in this thread?

From the looks of it, I'd say it was taken maybe around the early 1960's. Clothing style and all.