El Blog de Carlos

Again, our dear Dan Colman brings us news about a superb video. For loving Bach fans (as myself) to see how the magic really works is more than a pleasure. There is no many things to say but to watch it!

Long time ago, when I was a kid of 7 or so years old, I had the good luck of being told about a kind of music I never heard of by a family friend that de facto acted and was as my grandfather. His family had had a long relation with music and in his house, opera was part of the daily life. I will always remember when he told me about his mother meeting Caruso in London in the late ’10s of the XXth century and how was so exciting and important for her. I did not know at the time who this Caruso was, I could barely understand that classic music or opera could be something worth to listen to. Eventually, I started to be more interested in classic music when I was 14, mainly because he and my parents were still passionate about that music. He was able to sing Madama Butterfly from memory. Today I have 3 versions of that opera and while cannot sing it, I know it by heart. This passion was one of the many gifts I received from him.

I am having this nostalgic post because Dan Colman from Openculture speaks about a vault sealed in April 1907 with recordings of the artists of the time, including Caruso.

In 1907, executives from the Gramophone Company headed to the basement of the Paris Opera and sealed up some wax recordings of famous opera singers. Now, a century later, these recordings have been opened, dusted off, and (yes) even commercialized. Later this month, EMI will release the recordings under the title, “Treasures From the Paris Opera Vaults.” If you click on this NYTimes article and scroll down a little to the Multimedia section, you can sample these century old recordings. The Times collection features outtakes from Verdi’s Aida, Otello and Rigoletto. Find them here.

I look forward to the reissuing of the contents of the vault by EMI. And to listen Caruso singing so I can go back to the happy days when I spent so many time with my “grandad”.

The song recorded by The Axis of Awesome shows that you just need 4 chords to be a pop star. Different recordings of “4 Chords” will vary as the band continually updates the song with the latest hits that use the structure. (from cataphract comment in youtube)

Here is the video: