54 Series, whatever its shortcomings as a business venture, had the fortunate end result of stimulating Victor to produce a similar series. Columbia Red Sealf Aged Fifty had let it be known that they were "the only ones in the talking machine business who have the means to employ singers whose time is valued ROLAND GELATT pany to begin I'ecording operatic ce­ at several dollars per second." The lebrities thi'oughout Europe. In March rising young Victor Talking Machine 1902 this firm engaged Enrico Caruso Company would not allow this sort of HEN the popular Australian to record ten arias—the first truly talk to go unchallenged. It countered contralto Ada Crossley re­ satisfactory operatic discs in the his­ with plans of its own for a Victor Wcorded the first Victor Red tory of the phonograph—and this ses­ celebrity seiies. An agreement was Seal discs fifty years ago this month, sion was soon followed by others in effected with the Gramophone Com­ she did not so much establish a pre­ which such notables as Emma Calve. pany whereby Victor could issue the cedent as she did an institution. In Maurice Renaud. Mattia Battistini. former's operatic recordings in the 1903 "celebrity recording" as such and Pol Plangon took part. United States. At the same time, was no longer a novelty. During the Early in 1903 the Columbia Phono­ Victor laid plans for its own cata­ Nineties the studio of Lt. Gianni Bet- graph Company, of New York, fol­ logue of celebrity discs. The new tini on Fifth Avenue offered cylinder lowed suit. At that time this company series, comprising both imported and recordings of Nellie Melba, Emma was the major talking-machine power domestic issues, would be called Keel Calve, Lillian Nordica, Francesco in America. Organized in 1889, Co­ Seal Records. Tamagno, Victor Maurel, and others. lumbia had built up an extensive dis­ A recording studio was opened in How successful they were as musical tribution network, covering the United Room 826 of Carnegie Hall specifically documents we do not know. A con­ States and the major cities of Europe, for Red Seal repertoire. The first temporary account averred that they to market the "graphophones" and session took place on April 30, 1903, were "calculated not only to delight cylinders produced in its large when Ada Crossley recorded foui- the present generation, but to charm Bridgeport factory. Toward the close songs from her recital repertoire. and edify in equal measures genera­ of 1901, Columbia had added discs to C.H.H. Booth provided the piano ac­ tions still to come." Alas, the gen­ its thriving cylinder business and for companiment, as he did for many of erations to come have found Bettini a while concentrated on recording the Victor's early recordings. Two weeks cylinders to be even rarer than Shakes­ popular staples of the day—senti­ later the mezzo-soprano Zelie de peare quartos. All that remain are mental ballads, "coon songs," humor­ Lussan recorded three operatic selec­ some catalogues to whet the imagi­ ous recitations, and the like. But be­ tions and two songs. After that, Red nation. ginning in January 1903 and continu­ Seal recording activity halted for the By the turn of the century, the cyl­ ing through April of that year Colum­ summer, but beginning in September inder as a form of recorded entertain­ bia's recording studio echoed to more 1903 the Carnegie Hall studio was busy ment was giving way to the increas­ elevated fare. In those four months again, and before the end of the year ingly popular flat disc. The Berliner Columbia recorded seven of the recording sessions had been held with Gramophone Company of Philadel­ Metropolitan's most notable stars: Lillian Blauvelt, Giuseppe Campanari, phia, which began issuing disc re­ Suzanne Adams, Giuseppe Campanari. Louise Homer, Johanna Gadski, Pol cordings in 1895, offered nothing in Edouard de Reszke, Charles Gilibert, Plancon. and Antonio Scotti. the celebrity classification, though its Ernestine Schumann- This was an auspi­ catalogue did contain some operatic Heink. Antonio Scotti. cious list but it lacked recordings by Ferruccio Giannini and Marcella Sem- a tenor, and Victor de­ (father of Dusolina) and Alberto del brich. These records— cided to repair that Campo, neither of much renown. single-sided, ten inch omission by signing When the Victor company was formed —formed the Colum­ up the Metropolitan's in 1901 it took over the Berliner cata­ bia Grand Opera Se­ outstanding new sing­ logue, but for well over a year made ries: they sold for two er, Enrico Caruso. He no effort to entice artists of celebrity dollars each, and the had already, as noted status to its roster. first issues were re­ above, made record­ That distinction fell to the Gramo­ leased in April 1903. ings for the Gramo­ phone Company in Europe, which was Columbia had made a phone Company; and a prosperous, three-year-old concern large investment in even then he was no when Victor was formed. In 1901 the this series (the artists neophyte in the re­ Gramophone Company sent its re- were said to have been cording studio. In 1900 cordi'rrg engineers to Russia and there paid from $100 to $1000 he had made three cyl­ made some records of the reigning a side) and sales were inders for the Anglo- favorites at the Imperial Opera, disappointing. So much Italian Commerce among them the soprano Medea Mei- so, in fact, that Co­ Company (an Italian Figner, the tenor Leonid SobinofiE, and lumbia stopped celeb­ associate of Pathe the basso Feodor Chaliapin. To dis­ rity recording as Fi'eres) and two years tinguish them from discs of a more quickly as it had begun. A few years later recorded seven discs for the popular character they were given later this company staged a comeback International Zonophone Company red labels—to go with the red plush in the operatic field with recordings (which offered stiff competition to the of the elegant stores in which they by Lillian Nordica, Mary Garden, Gramophone Company until it was were to be sold. Despite their high Olive Fremstad, and Alessandro Bon- bought out in 1903). But these alli­ price, these red-label records found ci, but by then it had fallen far behind ances were temporary. With the a ready market, and their success a formidable rival. Victor company Caruso signed an emboldened the Gramophone Com­ Columbia's ill-fated Grand Opera exclusive contract, which fact was PRODUCED BY UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED 55 - announced with a full-page ad­ Despite these warnings the Red Red Seal recording of the symphonic vertisement in the Saturday Evening Seal boom continued in full spate for repertoire, however, still lagged far Post. At his first recording session— well over a decade. It would be behind that of Europe. At the Beetho­ in the Carnegie Hall studio, February hard to say how much of it derived ven centennial, in March 1927, not 1, 1904—ten titles were recorded, most from a genuine desire for good music. one Beethoven symphony had yet of them remakes of earlier Gramo­ There was an undeniable snob appeal been recorded electrically in this phone discs which the Victor engineers attached to Red Seal records. They country, though England could supply thought they could improve upon. were very expensive for their day us with all nine. It took many, many At his second Victor session a year (as much as $7 for a single-sided, years for the Red Seal catalogue to later, Caruso recorded five more four-minute disc) and their acquisi­ catch up with the progress in Europe, discs, this time in Victor's new studio tion established one as both a person but catch up it did. Today—to pursue at 234 Fifth Avenue. When he re­ of culture and of property. An album the Beethoven example—the Red turned in February 1906 for his third of choice Red Seal records became Seal catalogue offers at least two recording session, the piano accom­ as much a part of the refined Ameri­ versions of each symphony. And it panist had been supplanted by an can flarlor as a leather-bound set is worthy of note that the complete orchestra (if one can dignify the re­ of Dickens. But whatever the over­ set of Beethoven symphonies just cording ensembles of that day with riding impetus, the result was the issued in Toscanini's interpretation the name). The earliest Caruso re­ creation of a priceless catalogue of was recorded in the very same build­ cordings reissued by RCA Victor in operatic mementoes and their dif­ ing as Ada Crossley's "Caro mio ben" the Treasury series date from this fusion throughout the country to a of 1903. third Victor session in 1906. large and avid public. The program which Victor em­ Why had Victor persevered in a The year 1920 witnessed the cul­ barked upon fifty years ago has field that Columbia had found so un­ mination of the operatic Red Seal. yielded much precious fruit. And profitable? Mainly because Victor's Caruso's last recording session took fortunately there has been no break directors were not interested in mak­ place in September of that year, and in the continuity of Red Seal record­ ing immediate fabulous profits from other famous Red Seal vocalists— ing nor in the regard which the the Red Seal list; rather were they Farrar, Melba, Gluck, and Scotti— Victor company has placed upon it. concerned with establishing the Vic­ had reached, or were shortly to reach, With relatively few exceptions, a tor talking machine as a respectable the end of their recording careers.