Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Preface
- A Biographical Note
- Introduction
- 1 Adam
- 2 Alfvén
- 3 Atterberg
- 4 Beethoven
- 5 Bizet
- 6 Borodin
- 7 Brahms
- 8 Donizetti
- 9 Gounod
- 10 Grieg
- 11 Handel
- 12 Leoncavallo
- 13 Mascagni
- 14 Massenet
- 15 Meyerbeer
- 16 Mozart
- 17 Puccini
- 18 Rangström
- 19 Rossini
- 20 Schubert
- 21 Sibelius
- 22 Richard Strauss
- 23 Verdi
- 24 Wagner
- 25 Björling's Remaining Recordings: A Survey of the Best (1920–60)
- 26 Evolution and Influence
- Notes
- Discography
- Bibliography
- Index
15 - Meyerbeer
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Preface
- A Biographical Note
- Introduction
- 1 Adam
- 2 Alfvén
- 3 Atterberg
- 4 Beethoven
- 5 Bizet
- 6 Borodin
- 7 Brahms
- 8 Donizetti
- 9 Gounod
- 10 Grieg
- 11 Handel
- 12 Leoncavallo
- 13 Mascagni
- 14 Massenet
- 15 Meyerbeer
- 16 Mozart
- 17 Puccini
- 18 Rangström
- 19 Rossini
- 20 Schubert
- 21 Sibelius
- 22 Richard Strauss
- 23 Verdi
- 24 Wagner
- 25 Björling's Remaining Recordings: A Survey of the Best (1920–60)
- 26 Evolution and Influence
- Notes
- Discography
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
L'Africaine
“Ô paradis” (“O paradiso”)
September 4, 1937: Stockholm, Concert Hall
Unspecified orchestra, cond. Nils Grevillius
Naxos 8.110701
December 5, 1937: New York, Carnegie Hall
General Motors Symphony Orchestra, cond. Erno Rapee
WHRA-6036
June 8, 1939: Hilversum, AVRO Studio
AVRO Hilversum Orchestra, cond. Frieder Weissmann
Bluebell ABCD 006
July 6, 1950: Stockholm, Gröna Lund
Harry Ebert, pf.
Bluebell ABCD 114
October 23, 1950: New York, Rockefeller Center
Bell Telephone Orchestra, cond. Donald Voorhees
WHRA-6036
March 9, 1951: New York, Manhattan Center
RCA Victor Orchestra, cond. Renato Cellini
RCA 88697748922
May 25, 1952: Stockholm, Skansen
Harry Ebert, pf.
Bluebell ABCD 1001
On several occasions Björling recorded arias from operas he was yet to perform on stage, but only once did he sing an aria in Italian on disc before interpreting the whole role in Swedish. That role was Vasco de Gama in Meyerbeer's L'Africaine, the last opera in which he debuted at the Royal Opera in Stockholm (October 1938). Both the Italian and Swedish texts were translations from the original French, but for much of the twentieth century tenors generally preferred to record the G-flat major Andantino (in which the explorer marvels at the beauty of his exotic surroundings) in Marco Marcelliano Marcello's Italian version, which involves a number of modifications to the melodic line. The Swede's first recording immediately stands out as one of the best ever made, for the unalloyed lyricism of his sound mirrors the uncontaminated luxuriance of the setting.
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- The Bjorling SoundA Recorded Legacy, pp. 115 - 117Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2012