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(More customer reviews)In 1990 Amadeus Press issued this oversized work covering the complete writings for the Gramophone by Herman Klein, probably the most uniquely situated opera critic in history. Klein had previously written several book on opera singers, including the tremendous Thirty Years of Musical Life in London, 1870-1900, Klein's extraordinary chronicle of what many call the Golden Age of opera. Among other works was The Reign of Patti, a book approved by the great diva herself.
In this volume the late William Moran put together all of Klein's columns and reviews from his last decade written for a new just starting magazine called the Gramophone. Klein's writings helped shape and set the highest standard from the very beginning, and what a treasure the material he covers contains. There are 3 basic sections. A reprinting of Kleins' short work, The Bel Canto, an article addressing singing from the view of a teacher. The Gramophone and the Singer, 300 pages of articles written for the Gramophone magazine covering live concerts, types of singing - there are five articles back to back on The Singing of Lieder, and an endlessly fascinating and eccentric mixture of all sorts of wonderful essays on opera and singers in general. Analytical Notes and First Reviews, a third section encompassing all Klein's record reviews of single recordings, for the most part, this running nearly two hundred small type pages. Thanks to the invention of the electrical process many full length opera recordings appear during this period, and Klein reviews practically all of them with care and, in most instances, pleasure.
The possessor of a superb memory and a student of the great voice teacher Garcia, who taught downstairs in the home of Klein's parents when Klein was just getting started, Klein came to know practically everyone in the world of not only opera, but also music and the theater. He was familiar with an astonishing array of names now legendary, from all the great operatic impresarios and singers to the great conductors of the age, many of whom were his close friends. According to Moran's foreword, Klein "was a very good friend of Arthur Sullivan and attended and wrote critical reviews on every first performance of a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta from 1878 to 1896." In 1901 he moved for awhile to New York city and taught among others Clara Clemens, the daughter of Samuel Clemens. Klein acted as music critic for the New York Herald. His reviews, sharply written and with a professional's understanding of singing,(he helped Garcia with his book, Hints on Singing), are as good as any ever written about opera.
What makes this work so extremely valuable is Klein's ability to draw fair comparisons between singers of past and the present(1924 - 1934) when he was writing for the Gramophone. As Moran writes in the introduction, Klein "attended the first performances in London of many of the now "standard" operas of Verdi, Wagner, Puccini, Massenet, Gounod, and of course many lesser works. He was present at the local debuts of such singers as Nordica, Eames, Calve, DeLussan, Plancon, the De Reszke brothers, Lassalle, Cotogni, Tamagno,...He was also present at the debuts of Ternina, Tetrazzini, Sembrich. The list could go on for pages."
As Klein writes about various recordings he often stops to recall hearing the premiere or a particularly memorable version many years before. The number of new vocal recordings made at the end of the acoustic era and the beginning of electrical recording is covered in great detail. We read not only reviews of the records, but also Klein's comments about how the artist sounded at a recent concert in comparison to the record. Anyone interested in historical singing must have this book. There is nothing remotely close.
Moran has provided a full index for checking on the singers, so you can look up recordings or just search out references. There are also articles on the opera in England, written with the same care. At the back is a short section including correspondence to the Gramophone answered by Klein. One learns such charming trivia as the actual date of Lilli Lehmanns's birthday, confused with her sister Marie's, also a singer.
A very handsome production and one you can read for a lifetime without ever growing tired.
Highest possible recommendation.
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From Klein's comments on early recordings that remain available today, the reader can get a glimpse of what legendary singers such as Patti and Lind sounded like more than a century ago. The essays of Herman Klein that appeared in The Gramophone from 1924 until 1934 are indispensable sources of information on the singers of the Golden Age.
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