jmc's classics
I have seen some Facebook links to a video of Edouard De Reszke singing the Don Juan Serenade from 1903.
Edouard De Reszke (1853-1917) was a famous Polish basso, his brother Jean (1850-1925) was a tenor. Edouard made three commercial recordings. The other two are of Verdi's Enfalici from Ernani, and The Porter Song From Frederick von Flotow's opera Martha. The only recordings of Jean are some of the Mapleson Cylinders which were some live recordings mad at the beginning of the 20th century. He was played by the British actor Allen Napier in the 1951 movie The Great Caruso. The movie Stared Mario Lanza in the title Role. Napier also played in the Batman TV series in the 1960's. I liked these recordings. In fact I liked the aria from Martha so much that I purchased a CD of that opera. Unfortunately, it is not popular any more. This opera was featured in the 1943 film version of Phantom of the Opera with Nelson Eddy and Claud Rains. I liked this movie also. Don Juan was a mythical Spanish character from the 1500's. The opera Don Giovani by Mozart was based on this character. There have been other plays and musicals based on the legend of Don Juan. The opera singers of that era do not stack up today. If many of them were around today they probably would not make it. On many recordings from that era there was a vocal introduction of who was singing. On this recording De Reszke introduced himself as singing.
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