NRR Project: the 1953 Callas 'Tosca'

NRR Project: “Tosca”

Composed by Giacomo Puccini

Performed by Maria Callas, Giuseppe Di Stefano, Tito Gobbi, et al

La Scala Opera Orchestra, Victor de Sabata, conductor

Recorded 1953

1 hr., 48 min.

Wow. It’s simply the best opera recording of all time, that’s all. (Read Paul Gruber's essay on it at the National Recording Registry here.)

Seen as the high-water mark of soprano Maria Callas’ recording career, it’s a ravishing reading of the highly emotional, intensely melodic three-act tragic melodrama of 1900 by composer Giacomo Puccini.

The opera itself was adapted from Victorien Sardou’s 1887 play of the same name by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. The story is gripping. As in most operas, the reactions are exaggerated and the plot is complex. But Puccini keeps things at least plausible as the action snowballs. As always, Puccini’s musical sense is profoundly catchy, so even if you have no idea what’s going on you will still enjoy it.

Basically, it’s Rome, 1800. Napoleon has control, then he doesn’t, then he does again. The chief of police, the evil Scarpia (baritone – usually the bad guy), is hunting Italian freedom fighters. We find the painter Cavaradossi (tenor – the tenor is always the good guy) working on a painting in the church of Sant’Andrea della Valle; he is also a friend of the revolution. He hides an escaped prisoner in a nearby chapel.

Then his jealous girlfriend, Tosca (soprano – the soprano is always the heroine), a noted diva, enters. They have a spat; he tells her he loves her. She leaves. Scarpia enters! Quickly, he and his minions search the church. The prisoner has escaped again. Scarpia hates Cavaradossi, lusts for Tosca. Tosca comes back. Scarpia manipulates her jealously, then has her followed. Then Scarpia, as a procession sings the Te Deum in the background, he vows to kill Cavaradossi and have Tosca. Crazy, right?

In Act II, we go to Scarpia’s apartment. He commands Tosca to come to him. He busts Cavaradossi, has him brought in, tortures him, trying to find the hiding place of the escaped prisoner. Cavaradossi refuses to rat out his buddy, of course. Tosca arrives; her lover is dragged off. Scarpia tortures him until Tosca reveals the hiding place. They drag the painter back in; he’s overwrought because Tosca was a stool pigeon.

Cavaradossi is condemned to execution. Off they drag him again. Scarpia now has a proposition. If Tosca will do the nasty with him, he will set Cavaradossi free. She then sings the central aria (aka solo song) the incredible Vissi d’arte, in which she sadly asks God why He has abandoned her. She gives in. Scarpia orders up a mock execution for Cavaradossi. Then, when he’s not looking, she stabs him to death. And leaves.

In the third act, we move to the execution ground high atop the Castel Sant’Angelo. Poor old tortured Cavaradossi is told he has an hour to live. He sings E lucevan le stelle, the other killer aria in the opera, about how sad he is and how he wishes he could snog with Tosca again.

Tosca dashes in tells him to fake dying when they pretend to shoot him. The two sing about how happy they will be. Soon they will snog! Oops, execution time, Tosca hangs out for it. They shoot! Cavaradossi slumps! The bad guys march away. Tosca runs up to the execution post. Hey – he’s actually dead. Scarpia, that skunk! He is avenged from beyond the grave! Those were real bullets. O life is bitter.

Bad guys reenter, tell Tosca to give up. She runs to the top of the castle and flings herself off the top to her death. Curtain. (I have heard of Toscas trampolining back up into view when they’ve flung themselves off the parapet. I personally saw one crossing not so discreetly upstage right after her supposed demise.)

Tosca is the grade-A emotional roller coaster that makes it perfect for the intensity, the dark fatalism that seems to pervade it. Every beat is efficiently carried by the music; there are little themes but it’s not too bad; they are simply markers. The characters are three-dimensional. When properly acted, this work is mesmerizing, impossible to ignore.

Here Maria Callas (1923-1977) shone. She made this a signature piece of hers, her unique property, and you can hear it in this recording. She is more fully developed in the art of acting than any other opera singer before or since. She was vivid and clear, her tone impeccable . . . and not affected by the wobble that plagues her later in her career. Her phrasing, her precision make her a consummate performer whose work transcends its genre.

Her Tosca is many things: imperious, mournful, shocked, elated, and ultimately murderous. In killing she is protecting Cavaradossi, and the revolution, and her autonomy. Her fate is tragic, but in Callas she is fiercely alive.

She is ably supported by the exacting conductor Victor de Sabata, whose only commercial opera recording this was. Her Cavaradossi, Giuseppe Di Stefano, is in peak form. Tito Gobbi, her Scarpia, was masterful portrayer of operatic villains who is always worth a listen. Backed by the prestigious La Scala Opera Orchestra, the entire enterprise is first-rate. The recording is excellent, unlike many memorable but grainy bootleg recordings of Callas.

As always with opera, you need to study up on it a bit. It helps if you can get a translation in front of you. After a while, your brain figures it out and you can follow along. If you must listen to only one opera, listen to this recording of this one.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next time: Songs by Tom Lehrer.

 

 

NRR Project: 'My Funny Valentine' (1956)

NRR Project: “My Funny Valentine”

Composed by Richard Rodgers; lyrics by Larry Hart

Performed by the Gerry Mulligan Quartet featuring Chet Baker

Recorded May 20, 1953

5:18

Another selection I know little about. Read Jeroen de Valk’s superior essay on this piece and Chet Baker here at the National Recording Registry.

It’s a slow-burning, gut-wrenching take on this famous melody. Baker’s dark energy infuses the recording with yearning, aided by Mulligan’s artful contributions.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next time: the 1953 Maria Callas ‘Tosca’.

NRR Project: 'Let's Go Out to the Programs' (Nov. 1953)

NRR Project: “Let’s Go Out to the Programs”

Composed by Ira Tucker

Performed by the Dixie Hummingbirds

Recorded Nov. 1953

2:51

Another selection I, regrettably, know precious little about. Read Jerry Zolten’s comprehensive essay on this song and the milieu of its time at the National Recording Registry here.

Here, the group promotes the “programs,” basically song contests between gospel singing groups, which were popular at the time. The Dixie Hummingbirds show off their technical chops by imitating four of their competitors. And they do a great job – if you know these other groups, then the Hummingbirds hauntingly cop their styles.

It sold more than a half million copies. It’s a fun record that’s not mean-spirited in any way. These guys are having fun, and they invite us to have fun with them.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next time: My Funny Valentine.

 

NRR Project: 'John Brown's Body' (1953)

 

NRR Project: “John Brown’s Body”

Written by Stephen Vincent Benet

Adapted and directed by Charles Laughton

Performed by Tyrone Power, Raymond Massey, Judith Anderson et al

Recorded 1953

120 min.

This is a forgotten gem. In 1928, poet Stephen Vincent Benet wrote an epic, book-length poem on the Civil War, John Brown’s Body, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize. Decades later, the actor and director Charles Laughton had the remarkable idea to put on a staged reading of the work. Read Gary Grieve-Carlson’s essay on this piece at the National Recording Registry here.

Laughton had previous experience creating what was referred to then as “readers’ theater.” In this genre, dramatic works are staged without scenery and blocking, consisting simply of actors standing on stage reading their parts from music stands. Laughton successfully staged the “Don Juan in Hell” portion of George Bernard Shaw’s 1905 play Man and Superman in this manner.

Now Laughton marshalled his forces. He edited the poem down to a performable length, and conceived of an inventive presentation that incorporated three primary performers (the incredibly gifted Tyrone Power, Judith Anderson, and Raymond Massey), a chorus of 20, and music and sound effects created by Walter Schumann. The result is a fascinating, moving tapestry of sound, a historical drama that outlines the conflict in a journey that lasts for two absorbing and beautiful hours. It is well worth the listening.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next time: Let’s Go Out to the Programs.

NRR Project: 'Hound Dog' (Aug. 13, 1952)

 

NRR Project: “Hound Dog”

Composed by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller

Performed by Big Mama Thornton

Recorded Aug. 13, 1952; released 1953

3:01

First, read Michael Sporke’s exemplary essay on this piece at the National Recording Registry. It covers all the salient facts about this recording.

This raucous, fast-moving blues song set the stage for rock and roll. It was the brainchild of Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller, who were only 19 at the time. They were tasked with writing a song for blues singer Willie Mae Thornton (1926-1984), a formidable 350-pound shouter who growled and rasped her way through her material. They completed the song in about 15 minutes.

Thornton first began singing the song as a ballad, but Leiber and Stoller persuaded her to try an upbeat approach. She complied, backed only by drums (played by the great Johnny Otis), guitar, and bass – the foundational instruments of rock. The arrangement of the song is unusual for the time in that it used neither the saxophone nor the piano.

Her aggressive and angry attitude fit the content of the song, which was the rejection of a dependent male. The song became an immediate hit, riding high on the R & B charts for many weeks. Rapidly, others covered it and wrote “answer” songs to it.

However, it was Elvis’s cover of it in June 1956 that made it an international hit. His appropriation of Black blues style made him a messiah of rock and roll to millions of fans. This recording earned Lieber and Stoller thousands in revenue; however, both Thornton and bandleader Johnny Otis, who had a hand in writing and recording the song, got next to nothing.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next time: John Brown’s Body.

NRR Project: 'The Eagle Stirreth Her Nest' (1953)

 

NRR Project: “The Eagle Stirreth Her Nest”

Composed and spoken by Rev. C.L. Franklin

Recorded 1953

30:29

Evangelical Christianity has a long tradition of powerful, emotionally impactful speechifying. Whether a sermon from a minister or witness from a member of the congregation, inspired oratory is the norm in this branch of beliefs. What was in the Old World a staid practice turned, through the mouths of Americans, into a whirlwind, enthusiastic, transcendent activity.

One of the most admired practitioners of this soul-stirring style of declamation was the Rev C.L. Franklin, a Baptist preacher in Detroit. Such was his renown that record store owner Joe Von Battle recorded this sermon and released it on 78 rpm discs. Read Nick Salvatore’s excellent essay on this selection at the National Recording Registry here.

Franklin’s approach is intensely dramatic. Starting his sermon with slowly voiced statements, Franklin picks up in volume and intensity as he hits the main points of his lecture. The congregation, as is usual in evangelical churches, responds frequently with comment and encouragement. Finally, Franklin turns incantatory, expressing himself almost musically with rhythmic cadence and swooping phrasing, whipping his listeners up into an inspired frenzy, drawn ecstatically to God.

Franklin’s showmanship at the pulpit inspired many – not least, his daughter . . . Aretha.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next time: Hound Dog.

NRR Project: “Gunsmoke: The Cabin” (Dec. 27, 1952)

 

NRR Project: “Gunsmoke: The Cabin”

Broadcast Dec. 27, 1952

30 min.

This program was perhaps the best in the history of American network radio. It fully explored the medium’s potentialities, both in terms of content and sonically. The detailed and grim world of the frontier it created endures if listened to in the present. The show, a Western, began in 1952 and lasted well into the Television Age – and transitioned to television itself, in a show that ran concurrently with the original radio show from 1955 to 1961, then persisted itself to 1975.

There are many great resources out there on this show. You can read Charles Tranberg’s essay on it at the National Recording Registry here. The eminent historian John Dunning covers it in his On the Air, pages 302-306; another comprehensive record is SuzAnne and Gabor Barabas’ Gunsmoke: A Complete History.

It was the brainchild of director Norman Macdonnell and writer John Meston. For the first time, the two took a cliché-ridden genre and revitalized it completely, turning a kids’ subject into one starkly adult. The show was set in the frontier town of Dodge City, Kansas; there, all manner of characters and stories could spring to life. There would be violence, insanity, crime, and all of life’s foibles. But how to anchor the show?

Brilliantly, Meston created Matt Dillon, U.S. Marshal (William Conrad) – a lawman grim and largely unhumorous, capable of righteous rage and cold-blooded calculation, as close to an anti-hero as the time would permit. He is a man with a past and no great concern about his future. He deals justice with understated intensity. He is perpetually alert, guarded, lonely. Rarely would an episode go by without Dillon regretfully killing a miscreant, but there were splashes of mercy from him as well.

Characters were complex; real-sounding people learned hard truths about themselves in the short space of a half hour. Dillon’s companions were deputy Chester Proudfoot (Parley Baer), doctor Addams (Howard McNear) and Kitty Russell (Georgia Ellis). Together they faced up to the killers, the thieves, the gunfighters, the bankers, the tenderfeet, the loose women, the cavalrymen . . .It is surprising to see how varied the subject matter could be, within the solid confines of the outline of the show.

Macdonnell and Meston were aided by the excellent music of Rex Koury, and the “sound patterns” of the sound effects team consisting of Tom Hanley, Ray Kemper, and Bill James. Never before had such an artful backdrop of appropriate sounds been rendered over the air. Listen to it today: you can make out the burble of a crowded bar, or the prairie at midnight, or people trapped by a raging storm.

The episode chosen for inclusion here is typical of the series. It does not feature Chester, Doc, or Kitty – it is a Matt story, and a bloody one. Dillon, trying to ride home, confronts a deadly blizzard. He finds shelter inside a house – that turns out to be occupied by two psychotic criminals and their female hostage. How he extricates himself from his predicament I’ll leave to you – you can listen in to the episode on any of a number of sites; I prefer Radio Echoes and the Internet Archive.

The show’s strength was such that the network ran it for an entire decade, long after most other radio shows had dried up and blown away. Listening to it is an education in how to write, produce, direct, and perform a radio show.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next time: The Eagle Stirreth Her Nest.