Cylinder of the Month

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From 1907 – Miserere from "Il Trovatore" sung by Marie Dietrich and Carl Jorn.

Miserere from "Trovatore"

Company Edison's National Phonograph Company
Cylinder # 26303 (also 15359)
Category Duet
Title Miserere from "Trovatore"
Performed by Marie Dietrich and Carl Jorn
Circa 1907
Announcement "Miserere aus Troubadour, gesungen vom koeniglichen hofopernsangerin Fraulein Dietrich und Herr Jorn.  Edison record."

Enjoy this well-recorded operatic selection featuring German royal opera singers Marie Dietrich (soprano; 1865-1940) and Karl Jorn (tenor; 1873-1948).   This cylinder, recorded in Berlin in 1906, is notable also for the clarity of the chorus, which is a bit unusual for a wax cylinder of this period.

Jorn moved to the USA in 1908, continuing his singing career with the New York Metropolitan Opera.   Dietrich remained singing with the Berlin Imperial Opera through 1915.   She later died, as so many did, in the Berlin of 1940.

Giuseppe Verdi's "Il Trovatore" ('The Troubadour') was first performed in 1853.

To hear Miserere from "Trovatore"   —

For help playing these sounds, click here.

— This cylinder is from the Frank V. de Bellis collection at San Francisco State University —
— Many thanks to my friend Art Guenther for his research assistance —