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At the beginning of the 20th century, Europe is living in peace and prosperity. The “Belle Époque” is an outgrowth of previous important historical events and developments. The networks that are created and which evolve funnel both people and their products, tangible and intangible. It is within this multi-layered world that sound recording and sound reproduction is invented. Early record labels send mobile crews literally all over the world to record local musicians. The range of the repertoire is endless. Cosmopolitanism in large urban centers favors polystylisms and polymorphisms. Colonialism, revolutions, conflicts, refugee flows; the theater, cinema, radio, photography, orchestras’ tours, but also circulations in all kinds of commercial channels in a world that evolves dynamically and anisotropically, form a complex network of “centers” and “peripheries” in alternating roles setting musical idioms in motion, both literally and figuratively. The network in which the Greek-speaking urban popular song participates, constantly conversing with its co-tenants, is magnificent. Discography has already provided important tools in understanding the relationships that developed between “national” repertoires. The result of this ongoing research is “Cosmopolitanism in Greek Historical Discography”.
There was no previous management model in the early period of discography. Each company creates their own networks, something that will allow them to take a dynamic lead in the market. New specialties and professions are created and new conditions emerge, or the need to update older facts, with the most serious being intellectual property. The latter, until then, concerned mostly printed commercial musical scores and the publishers’ rights. New small companies are constantly springing up, trying to claim a share of the market, which, sooner or later, takes on global dimensions. They are often bought by larger companies, along with their already recorded repertoires and their existing agreements with agents, producers and musicians. Sooner or later, most of the smaller labels are under the control of a few growing companies. Over the years, and as the recording market becomes more complex, factories-branches are built on all continents. These offices are taken over by local actors who gradually draw up their own policies: they know their markets better. The ever-evolving recording industry proves to be centripetal: the decisions that are taken follow the policies centrally dictated by the managements of the companies and their subsidiaries. This entire environment, this entire layered landscape, becomes even more complex in America. There, “national” repertoires live a new, parallel life. This situation is not static and, to a large extent, is molded by discography, which attends to and “tunes” the overlapping relationships that have already developed in the “Old World”. Repertoires communicate with each other once again; a familiar and already dynamic condition in Europe. The circulation of musics is already a reality before the 20th century with theatrical and musical performances tours, but also with the networks of music publishing houses. Discography is not only embedded in this context, but also plays a key role in its transformation. This time, the network is adjusted in a programmatic manner, under new terms and via new paths.
The inextricable relation between music and performing arts is more than vital. The theater (and later the cinema as well) traffics music on its own terms and plays a key role in diffusing it to places that are often far away. It also builds a special network that communicates with discography. Some of the songs written for the plays are often the tip of the spear as regards their popularity. What Thodoros Chatzipantazis notes (Chatzipantazis - Maraka, 1977, 1: 157-158) about the importance of music in the Athenian revue is indicative: "In the revue, music has at least the same rights as the script, and, in some cases, even more. [...] The avid spectators used to go again and again in order to see the same revue mostly for the songs; they used to protractedly applaud every night for the songs, and they used to persistently ask for repetitions for a third and fourth time."
This recording contains an act from an unidentified revue which includes and combines:
a) an excerpt (chorus) from the song "M’ ekapses" or "M’ ekapses geitonissa" (0:01''-0:18"), right after, as a bridge - musical interlude,
b) the musical theme of "Karotsieris", (0:19''-0:31") and, after the interjection of a short prose,
c) an arrangement with Greek lyrics of a short excerpt from Mario Cavaradossi's aria "E lucevan le stelle" ("And the stars shone") from the third act of the opera "Tosca" (1:26''-1:52").
While the song "M' ekapses" or "M' ekapses geitonissa" has so far not been found in any other recorded revue act, the musical theme of "Karotsieris" (or Karotseris), which has been extremely popular in the Greek-speaking repertoire, appeared as a minor transitional theme in other songs as well, such as “To kalokairi tora”, “I Marika i daskala”, “Tampachaniotikos manes” (shift), “Akou Duce mou ta nea”, “Varvara”.
A possible surprise, even for the standards of the Greek revue, is the coexistence in one act of the above musical excerpts with the aria from "Tosca".
Giacomo Puccini’s opera premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on January 14, 1900, with the Italian tenor Emilio De Marchi cast in the role of Mario.
The Italian libretto by Luigi Illica - Giuseppe Giacosa is based on Victorien Sardou's French drama "La Tosca", which premiered on November 24, 1887 at the Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin in Paris, with Sarah Bernard in the title role.
Two of the earliest recordings of the aria were those made in Milan in 1902 by the Italian tenors Carlo Caffetto (Gramophone 4272a - 52399) and Enrico Caruso (April 11, 1902, Gramophone 1790b - 5010 91009 52349 DA547 VA29).
The aria has been recorded and arranged countless times in historical discography, in various forms, languages and locations. For the performances, see here, here and here, in the database that emerged from Alan Kelly’s research as well as on Yuri Bernikov's archive website.
It was staged for the first time by the Greek National Opera in the summer theater of Klathmonos square on August 27, 1942, during the German occupation. The title role was played by the then 18-year-old Elpida Kalogeropoulou, later Maria Callas, in her first participation as a protagonist in an opera performance.
In Greek historical discography, it was recorded either in Greek or Italian, by Antonis Melitsianos, Ioannis Kokkinis, Odysseas Lappas, Kostas Mylonas, Lysandros Ioannidis, Kostas Petropoulos, Giorgos Kanakis, Antonis Delendas and others.
It should also be noted at this point that, although popular repertoires play a very important part in the vital issue of the movement of musical tunes from place to place, and in their appropriation, recording and often complete incorporation into the repertoires of other ethno-cultural groups, scholar musical forms also participate in this transportation network: symphonic or soloistic pieces, arias, duets and trios from all kinds of operas, but also songs by composers such as Schubert, are translated and recorded in other languages, often with diversified orchestral ensembles. “Classical” music, originating mainly from the German-speaking, Italian-speaking, French-speaking and Russian-speaking world, through the new diffusion tools offered by discography, seek not only to penetrate international markets as a new medium, but to enter, in fact, into people’s own homes.
In any case, the “convergence” of geographical coordinates is often accompanied by another one, the “convergence” of internal cultural “coordinates”. These are the fields of scholar and popular music, which have traditionally been treated not only as independent, but also as segmented. The popular and the scholar enter into a creative dialogue in a variety of ways, introducing in-between “places” depending on historical conditions.
According to the website of the Discography of American Historical Recordings, the matrix number of the original recording from which the record was produced through the process of the production of a new matrix, is CS-1170.
Research and text: Leonardos Kounadis and Nikos Ordoulidis
At the beginning of the 20th century, Europe is living in peace and prosperity. The “Belle Époque” is an outgrowth of previous important historical events and developments. The networks that are created and which evolve funnel both people and their products, tangible and intangible. It is within this multi-layered world that sound recording and sound reproduction is invented. Early record labels send mobile crews literally all over the world to record local musicians. The range of the repertoire is endless. Cosmopolitanism in large urban centers favors polystylisms and polymorphisms. Colonialism, revolutions, conflicts, refugee flows; the theater, cinema, radio, photography, orchestras’ tours, but also circulations in all kinds of commercial channels in a world that evolves dynamically and anisotropically, form a complex network of “centers” and “peripheries” in alternating roles setting musical idioms in motion, both literally and figuratively. The network in which the Greek-speaking urban popular song participates, constantly conversing with its co-tenants, is magnificent. Discography has already provided important tools in understanding the relationships that developed between “national” repertoires. The result of this ongoing research is “Cosmopolitanism in Greek Historical Discography”.
There was no previous management model in the early period of discography. Each company creates their own networks, something that will allow them to take a dynamic lead in the market. New specialties and professions are created and new conditions emerge, or the need to update older facts, with the most serious being intellectual property. The latter, until then, concerned mostly printed commercial musical scores and the publishers’ rights. New small companies are constantly springing up, trying to claim a share of the market, which, sooner or later, takes on global dimensions. They are often bought by larger companies, along with their already recorded repertoires and their existing agreements with agents, producers and musicians. Sooner or later, most of the smaller labels are under the control of a few growing companies. Over the years, and as the recording market becomes more complex, factories-branches are built on all continents. These offices are taken over by local actors who gradually draw up their own policies: they know their markets better. The ever-evolving recording industry proves to be centripetal: the decisions that are taken follow the policies centrally dictated by the managements of the companies and their subsidiaries. This entire environment, this entire layered landscape, becomes even more complex in America. There, “national” repertoires live a new, parallel life. This situation is not static and, to a large extent, is molded by discography, which attends to and “tunes” the overlapping relationships that have already developed in the “Old World”. Repertoires communicate with each other once again; a familiar and already dynamic condition in Europe. The circulation of musics is already a reality before the 20th century with theatrical and musical performances tours, but also with the networks of music publishing houses. Discography is not only embedded in this context, but also plays a key role in its transformation. This time, the network is adjusted in a programmatic manner, under new terms and via new paths.
The inextricable relation between music and performing arts is more than vital. The theater (and later the cinema as well) traffics music on its own terms and plays a key role in diffusing it to places that are often far away. It also builds a special network that communicates with discography. Some of the songs written for the plays are often the tip of the spear as regards their popularity. What Thodoros Chatzipantazis notes (Chatzipantazis - Maraka, 1977, 1: 157-158) about the importance of music in the Athenian revue is indicative: "In the revue, music has at least the same rights as the script, and, in some cases, even more. [...] The avid spectators used to go again and again in order to see the same revue mostly for the songs; they used to protractedly applaud every night for the songs, and they used to persistently ask for repetitions for a third and fourth time."
This recording contains an act from an unidentified revue which includes and combines:
a) an excerpt (chorus) from the song "M’ ekapses" or "M’ ekapses geitonissa" (0:01''-0:18"), right after, as a bridge - musical interlude,
b) the musical theme of "Karotsieris", (0:19''-0:31") and, after the interjection of a short prose,
c) an arrangement with Greek lyrics of a short excerpt from Mario Cavaradossi's aria "E lucevan le stelle" ("And the stars shone") from the third act of the opera "Tosca" (1:26''-1:52").
While the song "M' ekapses" or "M' ekapses geitonissa" has so far not been found in any other recorded revue act, the musical theme of "Karotsieris" (or Karotseris), which has been extremely popular in the Greek-speaking repertoire, appeared as a minor transitional theme in other songs as well, such as “To kalokairi tora”, “I Marika i daskala”, “Tampachaniotikos manes” (shift), “Akou Duce mou ta nea”, “Varvara”.
A possible surprise, even for the standards of the Greek revue, is the coexistence in one act of the above musical excerpts with the aria from "Tosca".
Giacomo Puccini’s opera premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on January 14, 1900, with the Italian tenor Emilio De Marchi cast in the role of Mario.
The Italian libretto by Luigi Illica - Giuseppe Giacosa is based on Victorien Sardou's French drama "La Tosca", which premiered on November 24, 1887 at the Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin in Paris, with Sarah Bernard in the title role.
Two of the earliest recordings of the aria were those made in Milan in 1902 by the Italian tenors Carlo Caffetto (Gramophone 4272a - 52399) and Enrico Caruso (April 11, 1902, Gramophone 1790b - 5010 91009 52349 DA547 VA29).
The aria has been recorded and arranged countless times in historical discography, in various forms, languages and locations. For the performances, see here, here and here, in the database that emerged from Alan Kelly’s research as well as on Yuri Bernikov's archive website.
It was staged for the first time by the Greek National Opera in the summer theater of Klathmonos square on August 27, 1942, during the German occupation. The title role was played by the then 18-year-old Elpida Kalogeropoulou, later Maria Callas, in her first participation as a protagonist in an opera performance.
In Greek historical discography, it was recorded either in Greek or Italian, by Antonis Melitsianos, Ioannis Kokkinis, Odysseas Lappas, Kostas Mylonas, Lysandros Ioannidis, Kostas Petropoulos, Giorgos Kanakis, Antonis Delendas and others.
It should also be noted at this point that, although popular repertoires play a very important part in the vital issue of the movement of musical tunes from place to place, and in their appropriation, recording and often complete incorporation into the repertoires of other ethno-cultural groups, scholar musical forms also participate in this transportation network: symphonic or soloistic pieces, arias, duets and trios from all kinds of operas, but also songs by composers such as Schubert, are translated and recorded in other languages, often with diversified orchestral ensembles. “Classical” music, originating mainly from the German-speaking, Italian-speaking, French-speaking and Russian-speaking world, through the new diffusion tools offered by discography, seek not only to penetrate international markets as a new medium, but to enter, in fact, into people’s own homes.
In any case, the “convergence” of geographical coordinates is often accompanied by another one, the “convergence” of internal cultural “coordinates”. These are the fields of scholar and popular music, which have traditionally been treated not only as independent, but also as segmented. The popular and the scholar enter into a creative dialogue in a variety of ways, introducing in-between “places” depending on historical conditions.
According to the website of the Discography of American Historical Recordings, the matrix number of the original recording from which the record was produced through the process of the production of a new matrix, is CS-1170.
Research and text: Leonardos Kounadis and Nikos Ordoulidis
© 2019 KOUNADIS ARCHIVE
